Curvatures of homogeneous Randers spaces

We study curvatures of homogeneous Randers spaces. After deducing the coordinate-free formulas of the flag curvature and Ricci scalar of homogeneous Randers spaces, we give several applications. We first present a direct proof of the fact that a homogeneous Randers space is Ricci quadratic if and only if it is a Berwald space. We then prove that any left invariant Randers metric on a non-commutative nilpotent Lie group must have three flags whose flag curvature is positive, negative and zero, respectively. This generalizes a result of J.A. Wolf on Riemannian metrics. We prove a conjecture of J. Milnor on the characterization of central elements of a real Lie algebra, in a more generalized sense. Finally, we study homogeneous Finsler spaces of positive flag curvature and particularly prove that the only compact connected simply connected Lie group admitting a left invariant Finsler metric with positive flag curvature is SU(2)$\text{SU}\left(2\right)$.     

On similarity homogeneous locally compact spaces with intrinsic metric

In this article, we generalize partially the theorem of V. N. Berestovskii on characterization of similarity homogeneous (nonhomogeneous) Riemannian manifolds, i.e., Riemannian manifolds admitting transitive group of metric similarities other than motions to the case of locally compact similarity homogeneous (nonhomogeneous) spaces with intrinsic metric satisfying the additional assumption that the canonically conformally equivalent homogeneous space is δ-homogeneous or a space of curvature bounded below in the sense of A. D. Aleksandrov. Under the same assumptions, we prove the conjecture of V. N. Berestovskii on topological structure of such spaces.     

Geometrizing Infinite Dimensional Locally Compact Groups

We study groups having invariant metrics of curvature bounded below in the sense of Alexandrov. Such groups are a generalization of Lie groups with invariant Riemannian metrics, but form a much larger class. We prove that every locally compact, arcwise connected, first countable group has such a metric. These groups may not be (even infinite dimensional) manifolds. We show a number of relationships between the algebraic and geometric structures of groups equipped with such metrics. Many results do not require local compactness.

     

The structure of singular spaces of dimension 2

In this paper, we study the structure of locally compact metric spaces of Hausdorff dimension 2. If such a space has non-positive curvautre and a local cone structure, then every simple closed curve bounds a conformal disk. On a surface (a topological manifold of dimension 2), a distance function with non-positive curvature and whose metric topology is equivalent to the surface topology gives a structure of a Riemann surface. The construction of conformal disks in these spaces uses minimal surface theory; in particular, the solution of the Plateau Problem in metric spaces of non-positive curvature. Received: 18 November 1997/ Revised versions: 15 January and 7 June 1999     

Stability problems in a theorem of F. Schur

Schur's theorem states that an isotropic Riemannian manifold of dimension greater than two has constant curvature. It is natural to guess that compact almost isotropic Riemannian manifolds of dimension greater than two are close to spaces of almost constant curvature. We take the curvature anisotropy as the discrepancy of the sectional curvatures at a point. The main result of this paper is that Riemannian manifolds in Cheeger's class ℜ(n,d,V,A) withL ₁-small integral anisotropy haveL _p-small change of the sectional curvature over the manifold. We also estimate the deviation of the metric tensor from that of constant curvature in theW _p ² -norm, and prove that compact almost isotropic spaces inherit the differential structure of a space form. These stability results are based on the generalization of Schur' theorem to metric spaces.     

Graph-like continua, augmenting arcs, and Menger’s theorem

We show that an adaptation of the augmenting path method for graphs proves Menger’s Theorem for wide classes of topological spaces. For example, it holds for locally compact, locally connected, metric spaces, as already known. The method lends itself particularly well to another class of spaces, namely the locally arcwise connected, hereditarily locally connected, metric spaces. Finally, it applies to every space where every point can be separated from every closed set not containing it by a finite set, in particular to every subspace of the Freudenthal compactification of a locally finite, connected graph. While closed subsets of such a space behave nicely in that they are compact and locally connected (and therefore locally arcwise connected), the general subspaces do not: They may be connected without being arcwise connected. Nevertheless, they satisfy Menger’s Theorem. This work was carried out while Antoine Vella was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Technical University of Denmark, as part of the research project TOPGRAPHS (Contract MEIF-CT-2005-009922), under the supervision of Carsten Thomassen.     

A splitting theorem for infinite dimensional Alexandrov spaces with nonnegative curvature and its applications

We prove a splitting theorem for Alexandrov space of nonnegative curvature without properness assumption. As a corollary, we obtain a maximal radius theorem for Alexandrov spaces of curvature bounded from below by 1 without properness assumption. Also, we provide new examples of infinite dimensional Alexandrov spaces of nonnegative curvature.     

Characterizations of intervals via continuous selections

We prove that: (i) a pathwise connected, Hausdorff space which has a continuous selection is homeomorphic to one of the following four spaces: singleton, [0,1), [0,1] or the long lineL, (ii) a locally connected (Hausdorff) space which has a continuous selection must be orderable, and (iii) an infinite connected, Hausdorff space has exactly two continuous selections if and only if it is compact and orderable. We use these results to give various characterizations of intervals via continuous selections. For instance, (iv) a topological spaceX is homeomorphic to [0,1] if (and only if)X is infinite, separable, connected, Hausdorff space and has exactly two continuous selections, and (v) a topological spaceX is homeomorphic to [0,1) if (and only if) one of the following equivalent conditions holds: (a)X is infinite, Hausdorff, separable, pathwise connected and has exactly one continuous selection; (b)X is infinite, separable, locally connected and has exactly one continuous selection; (c)X is infinite, metric, locally connected and has exactly one continuous selection. Three examples are exhibited which demonstrate the necessity of various assumptions in our results.     

Harmonic functions on topological groups and symmetric spaces

Let G be a metric group, not necessarily locally compact, acting on a metric space X, for instance, a right coset space of G. We introduce and develop a basic structure theory for harmonic functions on X which is applicable to infinite dimensional Riemannian symmetric spaces.     

The projective rank of a Hermitian symmetric space: A geometric approach and consequences

The “Projective Rank” of a compact connected irreducible Hermitian symmetric space M has been defined as the maximal complex dimension of the compact totally geodesic complex submanifolds having positive holomorphic bisectional curvature with the induced K?hler metric. We present a geometric way to compute this invariant for the space M based on ideas developed in [1], [13] and [14]. As a consequence we obtain the following inequality relating the Projective Rank, the usual rank, and the 2-number (which is known to be equal to the Euler-Poincare characteristic in these spaces). Received: 6 June 2000 / Revised version: 6 August 2001 / Published online: 4 April 2002     

The projective rank of a Hermitian symmetric space: a geometric approach and consequences

The “Projective Rank” of a compact connected irreducible Hermitian symmetric space M has been defined as the maximal complex dimension of the compact totally geodesic complex submanifolds having positive holomorphic bisectional curvature with the induced K?hler metric. We present a geometric way to compute this invariant for the space M based on ideas developed in [1], [13] and [14]. As a consequence we obtain the following inequality relating the Projective Rank, Pr(M), the usual rank,rk(M), and the 2-number # (which is known to be equal to the Euler-Poincare characteristic in these spaces). Received: 6 June 2000 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

Equilibrium maps between metric spaces

We show the existence of harmonic mappings with values in possibly singular and not necessarily locally compact complete metric length spaces of nonpositive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov. As a technical tool, we show that any bounded sequence in such a space has a subsequence whose mean values converge. We also give a general definition of harmonic maps between metric spaces based on mean value properties and-convergence.     

Simple closed geodesics on most Alexandrov surfaces

We study the existence of simple closed geodesics on most (in the sense of Baire category) Alexandrov surfaces with curvature bounded below, compact and without boundary. We show that it depends on both the curvature bound and the topology of the surfaces.     

Partially hyperbolic geodesic flows

We construct a category of examples of partially hyperbolic geodesic flows which are not Anosov, deforming the metric of a compact locally symmetric space of nonconstant negative curvature. Candidates for such an example as the product metric and locally symmetric spaces of nonpositive curvature with rank bigger than one are not partially hyperbolic. We prove that if a metric of nonpositive curvature has a partially hyperbolic geodesic flow, then its rank is one. Other obstructions to partial hyperbolicity of a geodesic flow are also analyzed.     

Locally symmetric positively curved Finsler spaces

We showed that any compact locally symmetric Finsler metric with positive flag curvature must be Riemannian. Dedicated to Professor Karsten Grove on the occassion of his sixtieth birthday Received: 8 May 2006     

Random walks on almost connected locally compact groups: Boundary and convergence

We prove that, given an arbitrary spread out probability measure μ on an almost connected locally compact second countable groupG, there exists a homogeneous spaceG/H, called the μ-boundary, such that the space of bounded μ-harmonic functions can be identified withL ^∞ (G/H). The μ-boundary is an amenable contractive homogeneous space. We also establish that the canonical projection onto the μ-boundary of the right random walk of law μ always converges in probability and, whenG is amenable, it converges almost surely. The μ-boundary can be characterised as the largest homogeneous space among those homogeneous spaces in which the canonical projection of the random walk converges in probability.     

Hyperbolization of cusps with convex boundary

We prove that for every metric on the torus with curvature bounded from below by ?1 in the sense of Alexandrov there exists a hyperbolic cusp with convex boundary such that the induced metric on the boundary is the given metric. The proof is by polyhedral approximation. This was the last open case of a general theorem: every metric with curvature bounded from below on a compact surface is isometric to a convex surface in a 3-dimensional space form.     

Hermitian symmetric spaces and Kahler rigidity

We characterize irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces which are not of tube type, both in terms of the topology of the space of triples of pairwise transverse points in the Shilov boundary, and of two invariants which we introduce, the Hermitian triple product and its complexification. We apply these results and the techniques introduced in [6] to characterize conjugacy classes of Zariski dense representations of a locally compact group into the connected component G of the isometry group of an irreducible Hermitian symmetric space which is not of tube type, in terms of the pullback of the bounded Kahler class via the representation. We conclude also that if the second bounded cohomology of a finitely generated group Γ is finite dimensional, then there are only finitely many conjugacy classes of representations of Γ into G with Zariski dense image. This generalizes results of [6].     

Closed manifolds with small excess

In this article, we study closed Riemannian manifolds with small excess. We show that a closed connected Riemannian manifold with Ricci curvature and injectivity radius bounded from below is homeomorphic to a sphere if it has sufficiently small excess. We also show that a closed connected Riemannian manifold with weakly bounded geometry is a homotopy sphere if its excess is small enough.     

Torsion and homogeneity on contact metric three-manifolds

We show that a three-dimensional contact metric manifold is locally homogeneous if and only if it is ball-homogeneous and satisfies the condition ∇_ξτ=2aτϕ, with a constant. Then, we relate the condition ∇_ξτ=0 with the existence of taut contact circles on a compact three-dimensional contact metric manifold. Entrata in Redazione il 20 gennaio 1999. Supported by funds of the University of Lecce and the M.U.R.S.T. Work made within the program of G.N.S.A.G.A.-C.N.R.