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Suppose $M$ is a smooth connected complete Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\geq 2$. Let $d:M\times M\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^+$ be the distance induced by the Riemannian metric on $M$. For $p\in M$ we set $d_p:=d(p,\cdot)$. We know that $d_p$ is smooth on $M\setminus (C_p\cup\{p\})$, where $C_p$ is the cut locus of $p$, which is a null set according to the Riemannian measure on $M$. Moreover, $d_p$ is regular in any point $q\in M\setminus (C_p\cup\{p\})$, since its gradient at $q$ is the derivative of the unique minimal geodesic at $d_p(q)$ joining $p$ and $q$.

For $R>0$ consider the level set $d_p^{-1}(R)$. Since $R$ does not need to be a regular value of $d_p$, we may not be able to define a normal vector field globally on $d_p^{-1}(R)$. Is there some characterisation of the intersection $C_p\cap d_p^{-1}(R)$, which states that set is "small" maybe in the sense of some $N-2$-dimensional Hausdorff measure or in some topological sense? Or is there some other way to define a unit normal vector field "almost everywhere" on $d_p^{-1}(R)$?

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  • $\begingroup$ The argument you describe, provides the needed construction for almost all $R$. Do you really want it for all $R$? $\endgroup$ Dec 10, 2022 at 17:12

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