The uniqueness of the maximal measure for geodesic flows on symmetric spaces of higher rank

In this paper we show that the geodesic flow on a compact locally symmetric space of nonpositive curvature has a unique invariant measure of maximal entropy. As an application to dynamics we show that closed geodesics are uniformly distributed with respect to this measure. Furthermore, we prove that the volume entropy is minimized at a compact locally symmetric space of nonpositive curvature among all conformally equivalent metrics with the same total volume.     

Cusp closing in rank one symmetric spaces

We investigate conditions under which cusps of pinched negative curvature can be closed as manifolds or orbifolds with nonpositive sectional curvature. We show that all cusps of complex hyperbolic type can be closed in this way whereas cusps of quaternionic or Cayley hyperbolic type cannot be closed. For cusps of real hyperbolic type we derive necessary and sufficient closing conditions. In this context we prove that a noncompact finite volume quotient of a rank one symmetric space can be approximated in the Gromov Hausdorff topology by closed orbifolds with nonpositive curvature if and only if it is real or complex hyperbolic. Using cusp closing methods we obtain new examples of real analytic manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature and rank one containing flats. By the same methods we get an explicit resolution of the singularities in the Baily–Borel resp.Siu–Yau compactification of finite volume quotients of the complex hyperbolic space. Oblatum 2-IX-1994 & 7-VIII-1995     

Cusp closing in rank one symmetric spaces

We investigate conditions under which cusps of pinched negative curvature can be closed as manifolds or orbifolds with nonpositive sectional curvature. We show that all cusps of complex hyperbolic type can be closed in this way whereas cusps of quaternionic or Cayley hyperbolic type cannot be closed. For cusps of real hyperbolic type we derive necessary and sufficient closing conditions. In this context we prove that a noncompact finite volume quotient of a rank one symmetric space can be approximated in the Gromov Hausdorff topology by closed orbifolds with nonpositive curvature if and only if it is real or complex hyperbolic. Using cusp closing methods we obtain new examples of real analytic manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature and rank one containing flats. By the same methods we get an explicit resolution of the singularities in the Baily-Borel resp. Siu-Yau compactification of finite volume quotients of the complex hyperbolic space.Oblatum 2-IX-1994 & 7-VIII-1995     

A foliated metric rigidity theorem for higher rank irreducible symmetric spaces

LetF be a foliation of a compact manifold with a transverse invariant measure of finite total mass. We prove that ifF admits a leafwise metric such that every leaf is an irreducible symmetric space of noncompact type and higher rank, then any other leafwise metric of nonpositive curvature is also symmetric along any leaf in the support of the transverse measure. A rank one version of this result is also exposed.The second author is partially supported, by a Seed Grant from The Ohio State University.     

Orbihedra of nonpositive curvature

A 2-dimensional orbihedron of nonpositive curvature is a pair (X, Γ), where X is a 2-dimensional simplicial complex with a piecewise smooth metric such that X has nonpositive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov and Busemann and Γ is a group of isometries of X which acts properly discontinuously and cocompactly. By analogy with Riemannian manifolds of nonpositive curvature we introduce a natural notion of rank 1 for (X, Γ) which turns out to depend only on Γ and prove that, if X is boundaryless, then either (X, Γ) has rank 1, or X is the product of two trees, or X is a thick Euclidean building. In the first case the geodesic flow on X is topologically transitive and closed geodesics are dense. Partially supported by MSRI, SFB256 and University of Maryland. Partially supported by MSRI, SFB256 and NSF DMS-9104134.     

Nonsymmetric Osserman indefinite Kähler manifolds

The authors prove the existence of Osserman manifolds with indefinite Kähler metric of nonnegative or nonpositive holomorphic sectional curvature which are not locally symmetric.

     

Killing tensor fields on the 2-torus

A symmetric tensor field on a Riemannian manifold is called a Killing field if the symmetric part of its covariant derivative equals zero. There is a one-to-one correspondence between Killing tensor fields and first integrals of the geodesic flow which depend polynomially on the velocity. Therefore Killing tensor fields relate closely to the problem of integrability of geodesic flows. In particular, the following question is still open: does there exist a Riemannian metric on the 2-torus which admits an irreducible Killing tensor field of rank ≥ 3? We obtain two necessary conditions on a Riemannian metric on the 2-torus for the existence of Killing tensor fields. The first condition is valid for Killing tensor fields of arbitrary rank and relates to closed geodesics. The second condition is obtained for rank 3 Killing tensor fields and pertains to isolines of the Gaussian curvature.     

Geometry of ideal boundaries of geodesic spaces with nonpositive curvature in the sense of Busemann

We establish relations between different approaches to the ideal closure of a geodesic metric space with nonpositive curvature in the sense of Busemann. We construct the counterexample showing that the Busemann ideal closure can differ from the geodesic closure.     

Ergodic measures of geodesic flows on compact Lie groups

Let Ψ be the geodesic flow associated with a two-sided invariant metric on a compact Lie group. In this paper, we prove that every ergodic measure μ of Ψ is supported on the unit tangent bundle of a flat torus. As an application, all Lyapunov exponents of μ are zero hence μ is not hyperbolic. Our underlying manifolds have nonnegative curvature (possibly strictly positive on some sections), whereas in contrast, all geodesic flows related to negative curvature are Anosov hence every ergodic measure is hyperbolic.     

A shrinking projection method for nonexpansive mappings with nonsummable errors in a Hadamard space

We consider the shrinking projection method with errors on a complete geodesic space having a nonpositive curvature. The result shows that the iterative scheme still has the convergent property even if errors occur when we computes the values of metric projections. We do not assume any summability conditions of the error terms for this result.     

Conjugate points and Maslov index in locally symmetric semi-Riemannian manifolds

We study the singularities of the exponential map in semi Riemannian locally symmetric manifolds. Conjugate points along geodesics depend only on real negative eigenvalues of the curvature tensor, and their contribution to the Maslov index of the geodesic is computed explicitly. We prove that degeneracy of conjugate points, which is a phenomenon that can only occur in semi-Riemannian geometry, is caused in the locally symmetric case by the lack of diagonalizability of the curvature tensor. The case of Lie groups endowed with a bi-invariant metric is studied in some detail, and conditions are given for the lack of local injectivity of the exponential map around its singularities.     

The Ricci flow on the two ball with a rotationally symmetric metric

In this paper we study a boundary-value problem for the Ricci flow in the two-dimensional ball endowed with a rotationally symmetric metric of positive Gaussian curvature and prove short and long time existence results. We construct families of metrics for which the flow uniformizes the curvature along a sequence of times. Finally, we show that if the initial metric has positive Gaussian curvature and the boundary has positive geodesic curvature then the flow uniformizes the curvature along a sequence of times. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Sectional curvature,compact cores,and local quasiconvexity

We define a new notion of sectional curvature for 2-complexes, and describe a variety of examples with nonpositive or negative sectional curvature. The 2-complexes with nonpositive sectional curvature have coherent and locally indicable fundamental groups. The 2-complexes with negative sectional curvature have the compact core property for covers with finitely generated fundamental group. The fundamental groups of compact 2-complexes with metric negative sectional curvature have locally-quasiconvex fundamental groups.     

Spaces of nonpositive curvature arising from a finite algebra

In this paper we introduce a family of examples that can be regarded as spaces of nonpositive curvature, but with the distinct quality that they are not complete as metric spaces. This amounts to the fact that they are modelled on a finite von Neumann algebra, and the metrics introduced arise from the trace of the algebra. In spite of the noncompleteness of these manifolds, their geometry can be studied from the view-point of metric geometry, and several techniques derived from the functional analysis are applied to gain insight on their geodesic structure.     

Kodaira dimensions and hyperbolicity of nonpositively curved compact Kähler manifolds

In this article, we prove that a compact Kähler manifold M ⁿ with real analytic metric and with nonpositive sectional curvature must have its Kodaira dimension, its Ricci rank and the codimension of its Euclidean de Rham factor all equal to each other. In particular, M ⁿ is of general type if and only if it is without flat de Rham factor. By using a result of Lu and Yau, we also prove that for a compact Kähler surface M ² with nonpositive sectional curvature, if M ² is of general type, then it is Kobayashi hyperbolic.     

On the generic nonexistence of rational geodesic foliations in the torus, Mather sets and Gromov hyperbolic spaces

Given a rational homology classh in a two dimensional torusT ², we show that the set of Riemannian metrics inT ² with no geodesic foliations having rotation numberh isC ^k dense for everyk N. We also show that, generically in theC ² topology, there are no geodesic foliations with rational rotation number. We apply these results and Mather's theory to show the following: let (M, g) be a compact, differentiable Riemannian manifold with nonpositive curvature, if (M, g) satisfies the shadowing property, then (M, g) has no flat, totally geodesic, immersed tori. In particular,M has rank one and the Pesin set of the geodesic flow has positive Lebesgue measure. Moreover, if (M, g) is analytic, the universal covering ofM is a Gromov hyperbolic space.Partially supported by CNPq-GMD, FAPERJ, and the University of Freiburg.     

Mixed initial boundary value problem for hyperbolic geometric flow on Riemann surfaces

The hyperbolic geometric flow equations is introduced recently by Kong and Liu motivated by Einstein equation and Hamilton Ricci flow. In this paper, we consider the mixed initial boundary value problem for hyperbolic geometric flow, and prove the global existence of classical solutions. The results show that, for any given initial metric on R² in certain class of metric, one can always choose suitable initial velocity symmetric tensor such that the solutions exist, and the scalar curvature corresponding to the solution metric gij keeps bounded. If the initial velocity tensor does not satisfy the certain conditions, the solutions will blow up at a finite time. Some special explicit solutions to the reduced equation are given.     

Weil-Petersson geometry of Teichmüller–Coxeter complex and its finite rank property

On a Teichmüller space, the Weil-Petersson metric is known to be incomplete. Taking metric and geodesic completions result in two distinct spaces, where the Hopf-Rinow theorem is no longer relevant due to the singular behavior of the Weil-Petersson metric. We construct a geodesic completion of the Teichmüller space through the formalism of Coxeter complex with the Teichmüller space as its non-linear non-homogeneous fundamental domain. We then show that the metric and geodesic completions both satisfy a finite rank property, demonstrating a similarity with the non-compact symmetric spaces of semi-simple Lie groups.     

Two Special Simply Connected Spaces of Nonpositive Curvature

We construct two examples of spaces homeomorphic to R ⁿ (n3) each of which has a closed geodesic and admits no isoperimetric inequality. The first is a complete polyhedral metric space of nonpositive curvature, and the second is an incomplete Riemannian space with nonpositive sectional curvatures.     

On Shunkov groups with a strongly embedded subgroup

The problem of reconstructing a locally Euclidean metric on a disk from the geodesic curvature of the boundary given in the sought metric is considered. This problem is an analog and a generalization of the classical problem of finding a closed plane curve from its curvature given as a function of the arc length. The solution of this problem in our approach can be interpreted as finding a plane domain with the standard Euclidean metric whose boundary has a given geodesic curvature.