Cocycle rigidity of abelian partially hyperbolic actions

Suppose G is a higher-rank connected semisimple Lie group with finite center and without compact factors. Let G = G or G = G aie V, where V is a finite-dimensional vector space V. For any unitary representation (pi,H) of G, we study the twisted cohomological equation pi(a)f - lambda f = g for partially hyperbolic element a a G and lambda a U(1), as well as the twisted cocycle equation pi(a (1))f - lambda 1f = pi(a (2))g - lambda(2) g for commuting partially hyperbolic elements a (1), a (2) a G. We characterize the obstructions to solving these equations, construct smooth solutions and obtain tame Sobolev estimates for the solutions. These results can be extended to partially hyperbolic flows in parallel. As an application, we prove cocycle rigidity for any abelian higher-rank partially hyperbolic algebraic actions. This is the first paper exploring rigidity properties of partially hyperbolic that the hyperbolic directions don't generate the whole tangent space. The result can be viewed as a first step toward the application of KAM method in obtaining differential rigidity for these actions in future works.