Length minimizing geodesics and the length spectrum of Riemannian two-step nilmanifolds

In the first part of this article, we prove an explicit lower bound on the distance to the cut point of an arbitrary geodesic in a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group G with a lieft invariant metric. As a result, we obtaine a lower bound on the injectivity radius of a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant metric. We use this lower bound to determine the form of certain length minimizing geodesics from the identity to elements in the center of G. We also give an example of a two-step nilpotent Lie group G such that along most geodesics in this group, the cut point and the first conjugate point do not coincide. In the second part of this article, we examine the relation between the Laplace spectrum and the length spectrum on nilmanifolds by showing that a method developed by Gordon and Wilson for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yields manifolds with the same length spectrum. As a consequence, all known methods for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yield manifolds with the same length spectrum. In memory of Robert Brooks     

The marked length spectrum vs. the Laplace spectrum on forms on Riemannian nilmanifolds

The subject of this paper is the relationships among the marked length spectrum, the length spectrum, the Laplace spectrum on functions, and the Laplace spectrum on forms on Riemannian nilmanifolds. In particular, we show that for a large class of three-step nilmanifolds, if a pair of nilmanifolds in this class has the same marked length spectrum, they necessarily share the same Laplace spectrum on functions. In contrast, we present the first example of a pair of isospectral Riemannian manifolds with the same marked length spectrum but not the same spectrum on one-forms. Outside of the standard spheres vs. the Zoll spheres, which are not even isospectral, this is the only example of a pair of Riemannian manifolds with the same marked length spectrum, but not the same spectrum on forms. This partially extends and partially contrasts the work of Eberlein, who showed that on two-step nilmanifolds, the same marked length spectrum implies the same Laplace spectrum both on functions and on forms. Research at MSRI supported in part by NSF grant DMS-9022140. Research at MSRI and Texas Tech supported in part by NSF grant DMS-9409209.     

Length spectra and<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-spectra of compact flat manifolds

We compare and contrast various length vs Laplace spectra of compact flat Riemannian manifolds. As a major consequence we produce the first examples of pairs of closed manifolds that are isospectral on p-forms for some p ≠ 0, but have different weak length spectrum. For instance, we give a pair of 4-dimensional manifolds that are isospectral on p-forms for p = 1, 3and we exhibit a length of a closed geodesic that occurs in one manifold but cannot occur in the other. We also exhibit examples of this kind having different injectivity radius and different first eigenvalue of the Laplace spectrum on functions. These results follow from a method that uses integral roots of the Krawtchouk polynomials. We prove a Poisson summation formula relating the p-eigenvalue spectrum with the lengths of closed geodesics. As a consequence we show that the Laplace spectrum on functions determines the lengths of closed geodesics and, by an example, that it does not determine the complex lengths. Furthermore we show that orientability is an audible property for closed flat manifolds. We give a variety of examples, for instance, a pair of manifolds isospectral on functions (resp. Sunada isospectral) with different multiplicities of length of closed geodesies and a pair with the same multiplicities of complex lengths of closed geodesies and not isospectral on p-forms for any p, or else isospectral on p-forms for only one value of p ≠ 0.     

Line bundle Laplacians over isospectral nilmanifolds

We show that nontrivial isospectral deformations of a big class of compact Riemannian two-step nilmanifolds can be distinguished from trivial deformations by the behaviour of bundle Laplacians on certain non-flat hermitian line bundles over these manifolds.

     

The inaudible geometry of nilmanifolds

Summary We show that isospectral deformations of compact Riemannian two-step nilmanifolds can be systematically detected by simple changes in the behavior of their geodesics, in spite of the fact that the length spectrum (which measures the lengths of all closed geodesics) remains constant.Oblatum 22-III-1992     

Lax-type isospectral deformations on nilmanifolds

A one-parameter familyg(t) (0 t T) of Riemannian metric on a compact manifold is called an isospectral deformation of a metricg(0) if the Laplace-Beltrami operators associated to the metricsg(t) have the same spectra. Examples of non-trivial isospectral deformations were constructed on solvmanifolds for the first time by C.S. Gordon and E. Wilson on the basis of Kirillov theory. This paper considers the isospectral deformations on nilmanifolds from the dynamical point of view. First, we see for certain isospectral deformations that the associated Hamiltonian systems of geodesic flows are decomposed into a collection of reduced systems which are left invariant as Hamiltonian systems under the deformations. This fact is formulated by the classical Lax equations. Next, by using a quantization procedure, we attempt to obtain Lax equations for the reduced Laplacians from the classical Lax equations. As a result, we show that certain isospectral deformations by Gordon-Wilson are represented by the Lax equations.     

New examples of Riemannian g.o. manifolds in dimension 7

A Riemannian g.o. manifold is a homogeneous Riemannian manifold (M,g) on which every geodesic is an orbit of a one-parameter group of isometries. It is known that every simply connected Riemannian g.o. manifold of dimension ?5 is naturally reductive. In dimension 6 there are simply connected Riemannian g.o. manifolds which are in no way naturally reductive, and their full classification is known (including compact examples). In dimension 7, just one new example has been known up to now (namely, a Riemannian nilmanifold constructed by C. Gordon). In the present paper we describe compact irreducible 7-dimensional Riemannian g.o. manifolds (together with their “noncompact duals”) which are in no way naturally reductive.     

Isoscattering deformations for complete manifolds of negative curvature

We construct continuous families of nonisometric metrics on simply connected manifolds of dimension n ≥ 9which have the same scattering phase, the same resolvent resonances, and strictly negative sectional curvatures. This situation contrasts sharply with the case of compact manifolds of negative curvature, where Guillemin/Kazhdan, Min-Oo, and Croke/Sharafutdinov showed that there are no nontrivial isospectral deformations of such metrics.     

Homogeneous nilmanifolds attached to representations of compact Lie groups

For each compact Lie algebra ? and each real representation V of ? we consider a two-step nilpotent Lie group N(?,V), endowed with a natural left-invariant riemannian metric. The homogeneous nilmanifolds so obtained are precisely those which are naturally reductive. We study some geometric aspects of these manifolds, finding many parallels with H-type groups. We also obtain, within the class of manifolds N(?,V), the first examples of non-weakly symmetric, naturally reductive spaces and new examples of non-commutative naturally reductive spaces. Received: 16 September 1998 / Revised version: 24 February 1999     

Flat manifolds isospectral on p-forms

We study isospectrality on p-forms of compact flat manifolds by using the equivariant spectrum of the Hodge-Laplacian on the torus. We give an explicit formula for the multiplicity of eigenvalues and a criterion for isospectrality. We construct a variety of new isospectral pairs, some of which are the first such examples in the context of compact Riemannian manifolds. For instance, we give pairs of flat manifolds of dimension n=2p, p≥2, not homeomorphic to each other, which are isospectral on p-forms but not on q-forms for q∈p, 0≤q≤n. Also, we give manifolds isospectral on p-forms if and only if p is odd, one of them orientable and the other not, and a pair of 0-isospectral flat manifolds, one of them Kähler, and the other not admitting any Kähler structure. We also construct pairs, M, M′ of dimension n≥6, which are isospectral on functions and such that β_p(M)<β_p(M’), for 04 and ? ₂ ² , respectively.     

Isospectral potentials and conformally equivalent isospectral metrics on spheres,balls and Lie groups

We construct pairs of conformally equivalent isospectral Riemannian metrics ?1g and ?2g on spheres Sⁿ and balls Bⁿ⁺¹ for certain dimensions n, the smallest of which is n=7, and on certain compact simple Lie groups. In the case of Lie groups, the metric g is left-invariant. In the case of spheres and balls, the metric g not the standard metric but may be chosen arbitrarily close to the standard one. For the same manifolds (M, g) we also show that the functions ?₁ and ?₂ are isospectral potentials for the Schrödinger operator ?₂\gD + \gf. To our knowledge, these are the first examples of isospectral potentials and of isospectral conformally equivalent metrics on simply connected closed manifolds.     

One cannot hear orbifold isotropy type

We show that the isotropy types of the singularities of Riemannian orbifolds are not determined by the Laplace spectrum. Indeed, we construct arbitrarily large families of mutually isospectral orbifolds with different isotropy types. Finally, we show that the corresponding singular strata of two isospectral orbifolds may not be homeomorphic. Received: 6 October 2005     

Isospectral deformations of metrics on spheres

We construct non-trivial continuous isospectral deformations of Riemannian metrics on the ball and on the sphere in R ⁿ for every n≥9. The metrics on the sphere can be chosen arbitrarily close to the round metric; in particular, they can be chosen to be positively curved. The metrics on the ball are both Dirichlet and Neumann isospectral and can be chosen arbitrarily close to the flat metric. Oblatum 19-VI-2000 & 21-II-2001?Published online: 4 May 2001     

The Dirac Operator on Nilmanifolds and Collapsing Circle Bundles

We compute the spectrum of the Dirac operator on 3-dimensional Heisenberg manifolds. The behavior under collapse to the 2-torus is studied. Depending on the spin structure either all eigenvalues tend to ± or there are eigenvalues converging to those of the torus. This is shown to be true in general for collapsing circle bundles with totally geodesic fibers. Using the Hopf fibration we use this fact to compute the Dirac eigenvalues on complex projective space including the multiplicities.Finally, we show that there are 1-parameter families of Riemannian nilmanifolds such that the Laplacian on functions and the Dirac operator for certain spin structures have constant spectrum while the Laplacian on 1-forms and the Dirac operator for the other spin structures have nonconstant spectrum. The marked length spectrum is also constant for these families.     

Noncompact homogeneous Einstein manifolds attached to graded Lie algebras

In this paper, we study the nilradicals of parabolic subalgebras of semisimple Lie algebras and the natural one-dimensional solvable extensions of them. We investigate the structures, curvatures and Einstein conditions of the associated nilmanifolds and solvmanifolds. We show that our solvmanifold is Einstein if the nilradical is two-step. New examples of Einstein solvmanifolds with three-step and four-step nilradicals are also given. This work was partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 14740049 and 17740039, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.     

A new class of quaternionic manifolds

Riemannian manifolds with structure group Sp(n)·Sp(1) are studied. Moreover for the Riemannian manifolds with structure group Sp(n) a new class is defined, and example of compact nilmanifolds in this class are constructed.     

Closed geodesics in compact nilmanifolds

We study the density of closed geodesics property on 2-step nilmanifolds Γ\N, where N is a simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant Riemannian metric and Lie algebra ?, and Γ is a lattice in N. We show the density of closedgeodesics property holds for quotients of singular, simply connected, 2-step nilpotent Lie groups N which are constructed using irreducible representations of the compact Lie group SU(2). Received: 8 November 2000 / Revised version: 9 April 2001     

Ricci soliton homogeneous nilmanifolds

We study a notion weakening the Einstein condition on a left invariant Riemannian metric g on a nilpotent Lie groupN. We consider those metrics satisfying Ric for some and some derivationD of the Lie algebra ofN, where Ric denotes the Ricci operator of . This condition is equivalent to the metric g to be a Ricci soliton. We prove that a Ricci soliton left invariant metric on N is unique up to isometry and scaling. The following characterization is also given: (N,g) is a Ricci soliton if and only if (N,g) admits a metric standard solvable extension whose corresponding standard solvmanifold is Einstein. This gives several families of new examples of Ricci solitons. By a variational approach, we furthermore show that the Ricci soliton homogeneous nilmanifolds (N,g) are precisely the critical points of a natural functional defined on a vector space which contains all the homogeneous nilmanifolds of a given dimension as a real algebraic set. Received August 24, 1999 / Revised October 2, 2000 / Published online February 5, 2001     

Invariants of Isospectral Deformations and Spectral Rigidity

We introduce a notion of weak isospectrality for continuous deformations. Consider the Laplace–Beltrami operator on a compact Riemannian manifold with Robin boundary conditions. Given a Kronecker invariant torus Λ of the billiard ball map with a Diophantine vector of rotation we prove that certain integrals on Λ involving the function in the Robin boundary conditions remain constant under weak isospectral deformations. To this end we construct continuous families of quasimodes associated with Λ. We obtain also isospectral invariants of the Laplacian with a real-valued potential on a compact manifold for continuous deformations of the potential. These invariants are obtained from the first Birkhoff invariant of the microlocal monodromy operator associated to Λ. As an application we prove spectral rigidity of the Robin boundary conditions in the case of Liouville billiard tables of dimension two in the presence of a (?/2?)² group of symmetries.