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.     

On the isospectral orbifold–manifold problem for nonpositively curved locally symmetric spaces

An old problem asks whether a Riemannian manifold can be isospectral to a Riemannian orbifold with nontrivial singular set. In this short note we show that under the assumption of Schanuel’s conjecture in transcendental number theory, this is impossible whenever the orbifold and manifold in question are length-commensurable compact locally symmetric spaces of nonpositive curvature associated to simple Lie groups.     

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.     

A Haar component for quantum limits on locally symmetric spaces

We prove lower bounds for the entropy of limit measures associated to non-degenerate sequences of eigenfunctions on locally symmetric spaces of non-positive curvature. In the case of certain compact quotients of the space of positive definite n × n matrices (any quotient for n = 3, quotients associated to inner forms in general), measure classification results then show that the limit measures must have a Haar component. This is consistent with the conjecture that the limit measures are absolutely continuous.     

On compact submanifolds of nonpositive external curvature in Riemannian spaces

In this paper we consider compact multidimensional surfaces of nonpositive external curvature in a Riemannian space. If the curvature of the underlying space is ≥ 1 and the curvature of the surface is ≤ 1, then in small codimension the surface is a totally geodesic submanifold that is locally isometric to the sphere. Under stricter restrictions on the curvature of the underlying space, the submanifold is globally isometric to the unit sphere. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 3–10, July, 1996.     

Very Ampleness of Line Bundles and Canonical Embedding of Coverings of Manifolds

Let L be an ample line bundle on a Kähler manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature with K as the canonical line bundle. We give an estimate of m such that K+mL is very ample in terms of the injectivity radius. This implies that m can be chosen arbitrarily small once we go deep enough into a tower of covering of the manifold. The same argument gives an effective Kodaira Embedding Theorem for compact Kähler manifolds in terms of sectional curvature and the injectivity radius. In case of locally Hermitian symmetric space of noncompact type or if the sectional curvature is strictly negative, we prove that K itself is very ample on a large covering of the manifold.     

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.     

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.     

Besicovitch Covering Lemma,Hadamard manifolds,and zero entropy

It is proved that if the Besicovitch Covering Lemma is true on either a Hadamard manifold or a simply connected surface without focal points that covers a compact quotient, then the manifold is the Euclidean space. As a corollary, the vanishing of the topological entropy of a compact manifold of nonpositive curvature or of a compact surface without focal points is equivalent to the validity of the Besicovitch Covering Lemma on the universal covering space of the manifold. The author was partially supported by an NSF grant.     

Clifford systems, algebraically constant second fundamental form and isoparametric hypersurfaces

In this paper we prove that a submanifold with parallel mean curvature of a space of constant curvature, whose second fundamental form has the same algebraic type as the one of a symmetric submanifold, is locally symmetric. As an application, using properties of Clifford systems, we give a short and alternative proof of a result of Cartan asserting that a compact isoparametric hypersurface of the sphere with three distinct principal curvatures is a tube around the Veronese embedding of the real, complex, quaternionic or Cayley projective planes. Received: 22 April 1998     

Classification of manifolds with weakly 1/4-pinched curvatures

We show that a compact Riemannian manifold with weakly pointwise 1/4-pinched sectional curvatures is either locally symmetric or diffeomorphic to a space form. More generally, we classify all compact, locally irreducible Riemannian manifolds M with the property that M × R ² has non-negative isotropic curvature. The first author was partially supported by a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and by NSF grant DMS-0605223. The second author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0604960.     

Dimensions of ℝ-trees and self-similar fractal spaces of nonpositive curvature

We study various dimensions of spaces with nonpositive curvature in the A. D. Alexandrov sense, in particular, of ?-trees. We find some conditions necessary and sufficient for the metric space to be an ?-tree and clarify relations between the topological, Hausdorff, entropy, and rough dimensions. We build the examples of ?-trees and CAT(0)-spaces in which strict inequalities between the topological, Hausdorff, and entropy dimensions hold; we also show that the Hausdorff and entropy dimensions can be arbitrarily large while the topological dimension remains fixed.     

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.

     

Structure of flat subspaces in low-dimensional manifolds of nonpositive curvature

The complete structure of flat subspaces is determined for compact real analytic 3 or 4-dimensional manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature. In particular we show that this structure is determined by the fundamental group.     

Locally Desarguesian spaces

In Riemannian spaces, locally Desarguesian spaces have constant curvature and are therefore locally symmetric. This does not hold for Finsler spaces, so that locally Desarguesian spaces represent a generalization other than the obvious one we studied previously of (certain) Riemannian symmetric spaces. In this paper we discuss them in detail; as an example of the results obtained we mention that a simply connected locally Desarguesian space without conjugate points is globally Desarguesian. Applications are then given to spaces which are locally symmetric in a wider sense. We also study (and in Minkowski spaces determine exactly) the properties of functions which measure the distance of a point from those on a line.     

On spacelike hypersurfaces with constant scalar curvature in locally symmetric Lorentz spaces

The purpose of this paper is to study compact or complete spacelike hypersurfaces with constant normalized scalar curvature in a locally symmetric Lorentz space satisfying some curvature conditions. We give an optimal estimate of the squared norm of the second fundamental form of such hypersurfaces. Furthermore, the totally umbilical hypersurfaces are characterized.     

Curvature and conjugate points in Lorentz symmetric spaces

We give some relations between conjugate points and curvature in a locally symmetric Lorentzian manifold. In the compact case, we show that the sectional curvature of timelike planes is non positive, and the lightlike sectional curvature of null planes is non negative. We also compute the lightlike conjugate loci of Cahen–Wallach manifolds, which are an important family of symmetric Lorentzian spaces.     

Kazhdan's property (T), L^2-spectrum and isoperimetric inequalities for locally symmetric spaces

Let V = G\G/KV =\Gamma\backslash G/K be a Riemannian locally symmetric space of nonpositive sectional curvature and such that the isometry group G of its universal covering space has Kazhdan's property (T). We establish strong dichotomies between the finite and infinite volume case. In particular, we characterize lattices (or, equivalently, arithmetic groups) among discrete subgroups G ì G\Gamma\subset G in various ways (e.g., in terms of critical exponents, the bottom of the spectrum of the Laplacian and the behaviour of the Brownian motion on V).