The dynamics of magnetic flows for energies above Mañé’s critical value

We show that, for energies above Mañé’s critical value, minimal magnetic geodesics are Riemannian (A, 0)-quasi-geodesics whereA→1 as the energy tends to infinity. As a consequence, on negatively curved manifolds, minimal magnetic geodesics lie in tubes around Riemannian geodesics.Finally, we investigate a natural metric introduced by Mañé via the so-called action potential. Although this magnetic metric does depend on the magnetic field, the associated magnetic length turns out to be just the Riemannian length.     

Closed geodesics and volume growth of open manifolds with sectional curvature bounded from below

In this paper, the relationship between the existence of closed geodesics and the volume growth of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds is studied. First the authors prove a diffeomorphic result of such an n-m2nifold with nonnegative sectional curvature, which improves Marenich-Toponogov＇s theorem. As an application, a rigidity theorem is obtained for nonnegatively curved open manifold which contains a clesed geodesic. Next the authors prove a theorem about the nonexistence of closed geodesics for Riemannian manifolds with sectional curvature bounded from below by a negative constant.     

Characterization of Geodesic Flows on T 2 with and without Positive Topological Entropy

In the present work we consider the behavior of the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle of the 2-torus T ² for an arbitrary Riemannian metric. A natural non-negative quantity which measures the complexity of the geodesic flow is the topological entropy. In particular, positive topological entropy implies chaotic behavior on an invariant set in the phase space of positive Hausdorff-dimension (horseshoe). We show that in the case of zero topological entropy the flow has properties similar to integrable systems. In particular, there exists a non-trivial continuous constant of motion which measures the direction of geodesics lifted onto the universal covering \mathbbR²{\mathbb{R}^{2}} . Furthermore, those geodesics travel in strips bounded by Euclidean lines. Moreover, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for vanishing topological entropy involving intersection properties of single geodesics on T ².     

Stable projective planes with Riemannian metrics

We consider the question whether the system of lines of a two-dimensional stable plane can be described as the system of geodesics of a Riemannian metric and vice versa; we present two results: A complete two-dimensional Riemannian manifold with the property that every two points are joined by a unique geodesic and its family of geodesics form a stable plane. On the other hand every stable projective plane whose lines are geodesics of a Riemannian metric is isometric to the real projective plane. Combining both results it follows that it is impossible to realize the lines of a non-desarguesian projective plane using the geodesics of a complete Riemannian manifold.     

Bounded combinatorics and the Lipschitz metric on Teichmüller space

Considering the Teichmüller space of a surface equipped with Thurston’s Lipschitz metric, we study geodesic segments whose endpoints have bounded combinatorics. We show that these geodesics are cobounded, and that the closest-point projection to these geodesics is strongly contracting. Consequently, these geodesics are stable. Our main tool is to show that one can get a good estimate for the Lipschitz distance by considering the length ratio of finitely many curves.     

Entropy-expansiveness of geodesic flows on closed manifolds without conjugate points

In this article, we consider the entropy-expansiveness of geodesic flows on closed Riemannian manifolds without conjugate points. We prove that, if the manifold has no focal points, or if the manifold is bounded asymptote, then the geodesic flow is entropy-expansive. Moreover, for the compact oriented surfaces without conjugate points, we prove that the geodesic flows are entropy-expansive. We also give an estimation of distance between two positively asymptotic geodesics of an uniform visibility manifold.     

Consequences of contractible geodesics on surfaces

The geodesic flow of any Riemannian metric on a geodesically convex surface of negative Euler characteristic is shown to be semi-equivalent to that of any hyperbolic metric on a homeomorphic surface for which the boundary (if any) is geodesic. This has interesting corollaries. For example, it implies chaotic dynamics for geodesic flows on a torus with a simple contractible closed geodesic, and for geodesic flows on a sphere with three simple closed geodesics bounding disjoint discs.

     

Local Minimal Curves in Homogeneous Reductive Spaces of the Unitary Group of a Finite von Neumann Algebra

We study the metric geometry of homogeneous reductive spaces of the unitary group of a finite von Neumann algebra with a non complete Riemannian metric. The main result gives an abstract sufficient condition in order that the geodesics of the Levi-Civita connection are locally minimal. Then, we show how this result applies to several examples. To my family     

On tori without conjugate points

Summary In this paper we consider Riemannian metrics without conjugate points on an n-torus. Recent work of J. Heber established that the gradient vector fields of Busemann functions on the universal cover of such a manifold induce a natural foliation (akin to the weak stable foliation for a Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature) on the unit tangent bundle. The main result in the paper is that the metric is flat if this foliation is Lipschitz. We also prove that this foliation is Lipschitz if and only if the metric has bounded asymptotes. This confirms a conjecture of E. Hopf in this case.Oblatum 22-IX-1993 & 25-IV-1994Supported in part by NSF grant #DMS90-01707 and #DMS85-05550 while at MSRISupported by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship     

Non-branching geodesics and optimal maps in strong CD(K,\infty )-spaces

We prove that in metric measure spaces where the entropy functional is \(K\) -convex along every Wasserstein geodesic any optimal transport between two absolutely continuous measures with finite second moments lives on a non-branching set of geodesics. As a corollary we obtain that in these spaces there exists only one optimal transport plan between any two absolutely continuous measures with finite second moments and this plan is given by a map. The results are applicable in metric measure spaces having Riemannian Ricci curvature bounded below, and in particular they hold also for Gromov-Hausdorff limits of Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below by some constant.     

Geodesics onS 2 and periodic points of annulus homeomorphisms

Summary We show that an area preserving homeomorphism of the open or closed annulus which has at least one periodic point must in fact have infinitely many interior periodic points. A consequence is the theorem that every smooth Riemannian metric onS ² with positive Gaussian curvature has infinitely many distinct closed geodesics.In this paper we investigate area preserving homeomorphisms of the annulus and their periodic points. The main result is that an area preserving homeomorphism of the annulus which has at least one periodic point (perhaps on the boundary) must in fact have infinitely many interior periodic points.The motivation and main application of this result is the furthering of a program begun by Birkhoff [B] in his book Dynamical Systems. There he shows that for many Riemannian metrics onS ², including those with positive curvature, the problem of finding closed geodesics reduces to finding periodic points of a certain area preserving homeomorphism of the annulus. The annulus map in question can be shown to have a periodic point so our main result above can be applied to show the existence of infinitely many distinct closed geodesics whenever this annulus map exists. This is done in Sect. 4 Other quite different approaches to the problem of finding infinitely many geodesics have been successful in handling the cases which do not reduce to the investigation of an annulus homeomorphism (see [Ba]).Oblatum 20-III-1991 & 6-XI-1991     

Travel Time Tomography

We survey some results on travel time tomography. The question is whether we can determine the anisotropic index of refraction of a medium by measuring the travel times of waves going through the medium. This can be recast as geometry problems, the boundary rigidity problem and the lens rigidity problem. The boundary rigidity problem is whether we can determine a Riemannian metric of a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary by measuring the distance function between boundary points. The lens rigidity problem problem is to determine a Riemannian metric of a Riemannian manifold with boundary by measuring for every point and direction of entrance of a geodesic the point of exit and direction of exit and its length. The linearization of these two problems is tensor tomography. The question is whether one can determine a symmetric two-tensor from its integrals along geodesics. We emphasize recent results on boundary and lens rigidity and in tensor tomography in the partial data case, with further applications.     

Quantum integrability of Beltrami-Laplace operator as geodesic equivalence

Given two Riemannian metrics on a closed connected manifold , we construct self-adjoint differential operators such that if the metrics have the same geodesics then the operators commute with the Beltrami-Laplace operator of the first metric and pairwise commute. If the operators commute and if they are linearly independent, then the metrics have the same geodesics. Received: 11 February 2000; in final form: 20 August 2000/ Published online: 17 May 2001     

Decomposition of spaces with geodesics contained in compact flats

We prove a decomposition result for analytic spaces all of whose geodesics are contained in compact flats. Namely, we prove that a Riemannian manifold is such a space if and only if it admits a (finite) cover which splits as the product of a flat torus with simply connected factors which are either symmetric (of the compact type) or spaces of closed geodesics.

     

Filling minimality of finslerian 2-discs

We prove that every Riemannian metric on the 2-disc such that all its geodesics are minimal is a minimal filling of its boundary (within the class of fillings homeomorphic to the disc). This improves an earlier result of the author by removing the assumption that the boundary is convex. More generally, we prove this result for Finsler metrics with area defined as the two-dimensional Holmes-Thompson volume. This implies a generalization of Pu’s isosystolic inequality to Finsler metrics, both for the Holmes-Thompson and Busemann definitions of the Finsler area.     

Geodesics Closed On The Projective Plane

Given a C ^∞ Riemannian metric g on P ² we prove that (, g) has constant curvature iff all geodesics are closed. Therefore is the first non-trivial example of a manifold such that the smooth Riemannian metrics which involve that all geodesics are closed are unique up to isometries and scaling. This remarkable phenomenon is not true on the 2-sphere, since there is a large set of C ^∞ metrics whose geodesics are all closed and have the same period 2π (called Zoll metrics), but no metric of this set can be obtained from another metric of this set via an isometry and scaling. As a corollary we conclude that all two-dimensional P-manifolds are SC-manifolds. Received: April 2007; Revision: September 2007; Accepted: September 2007     

A classification of hyperpolar and cohomogeneity one actions

An isometric action of a compact Lie group on a Riemannian manifold is called hyperpolar if there exists a closed, connected submanifold that is flat in the induced metric and meets all orbits orthogonally. In this article, a classification of hyperpolar actions on the irreducible Riemannian symmetric spaces of compact type is given. Since on these symmetric spaces actions of cohomogeneity one are hyperpolar, i.e. normal geodesics are closed, we obtain a classification of the homogeneous hypersurfaces in these spaces by computing the cohomogeneity for all hyperpolar actions. This result implies a classification of the cohomogeneity one actions on compact strongly isotropy irreducible homogeneous spaces.

     

The index growth and multiplicity of closed geodesics

In the recent paper [31] of Long and Duan (2009), we classified closed geodesics on Finsler manifolds into rational and irrational two families, and gave a complete understanding on the index growth properties of iterates of rational closed geodesics. This study yields that a rational closed geodesic cannot be the only closed geodesic on every irreversible or reversible (including Riemannian) Finsler sphere, and that there exist at least two distinct closed geodesics on every compact simply connected irreversible or reversible (including Riemannian) Finsler 3-dimensional manifold. In this paper, we study the index growth properties of irrational closed geodesics on Finsler manifolds. This study allows us to extend results in [31] of Long and Duan (2009) on rational, and in [12] of Duan and Long (2007), [39] of Rademacher (2010), and [40] of Rademacher (2008) on completely non-degenerate closed geodesics on spheres and CP² to every compact simply connected Finsler manifold. Then we prove the existence of at least two distinct closed geodesics on every compact simply connected irreversible or reversible (including Riemannian) Finsler 4-dimensional manifold.     

Asymptotics of the Teichmüller harmonic map flow

The Teichmüller harmonic map flow, introduced by Rupflin and Topping (2012)  [11], evolves both a map from a closed Riemann surface to an arbitrary compact Riemannian manifold, and a constant curvature metric on the domain, in order to reduce its harmonic map energy as quickly as possible. In this paper, we develop the geometric analysis of holomorphic quadratic differentials in order to explain what happens in the case that the domain metric of the flow degenerates at infinite time. We obtain a branched minimal immersion from the degenerate domain.     

Die Vermutung von Obata für Dimension 2

We prove that if a connected Lie group acts on a connected closed Riemannian surface of nonconstant curvature by diffeomorphisms that take (unparametrized) geodesics to geodesics, then it acts by isometries. Received: 28 May 2003