A certain critical density property for invariant Harnack inequalities in H-type groups

We consider second order linear degenerate-elliptic operators which are elliptic with respect to horizontal directions generating a stratified algebra of H-type. Extending a result by Guti\'errez and Tournier for the Heisenberg group, we prove a critical density estimate by assuming a condition of Cordes-Landis type. We then deduce an invariant Harnack inequality for the non-negative solutions from a result by Di Fazio, Guti\'errez, and Lanconelli.