All Questions
18 questions
36
votes
10
answers
6k
views
Determining a surface in $\mathbb{R}^3$ by its Gaussian curvature
A curve in the plane is determined, up to orientation-preserving
Euclidean
motions, by its curvature function, $\kappa(s)$.
Here is one of my favorite examples, from
Alfred Gray's book,
Modern ...
- 151k
12
votes
1
answer
3k
views
how to define the injectivity radius of manifolds with boundary?
For manifolds without boundary one defines the injectivity radius as the maximal radius where the exponential map is a diffeomorphism. One can then show that the injectivity radius is the maximum ...
- 687
11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Retraction of a Riemannian manifold with boundary to its cut locus
This question is edited following the comment of Joseph. He pointed out that the main object of the first version of this question is the cut locus.
Recall that the cut locus of a set $S$ in a ...
- 28.9k
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What does it mean that the Hessian is proportional to the metric?
Let $(M,g)$ be a smooth manifold equipped with a metric tensor $g$, and $f\in C^\infty(M)$ a regular function (i.e., with nowhere vanishing differential).
Denote by $\mathrm{Hess}_g(f):=\nabla df$ ...
- 2,527
18
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Reference request: Geodesic flow on a manifold with negative curvature is ergodic
I'm reading about the Mostow's rigidity theorem, and the proof uses the following (maybe well-known) result:
The geodesic flow on a manifold with negative curvature is ergodic.
The lecture note that ...
- 957
18
votes
2
answers
1k
views
The geometry of Nadirashvili's complete, bounded, negative curvature surface
I would like to understand the geometric structure of
a surface that Nadirashvili constructed which resolved what
was known as Hadamard's Conjecture.
Perhaps in the 15 years since his construction, ...
- 151k
13
votes
2
answers
789
views
Geometric characterization of martingales
Recently I've read a paraphrasing from Ito saying that he sometimes thinks of martingales as geodesics in a very large dimensional manifold.
My question is, is there any research studying this idea?
...
- 5,405
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Isometry group of a compact hyperbolic surface
Consider a compact surface $M$ of genus $g \geq 2$ with a metric of constant negative curvature. My question is, is it known under what sorts of sufficient conditions such a metric will have non-...
- 133
8
votes
1
answer
673
views
Classification of compact globally symmetric spaces
It is known that any connected compact Lie group $G$ is a finite quotient of the product of a compact simply connected semisimple Lie group $\tilde{G}$ and a torus $\mathbb{T}^n$ (see for example ...
- 193
8
votes
1
answer
421
views
$C^k$ one-parameter family of metrics
Consider a smooth Riemannian manifold $M$ and a $C^k$ one-parameter family of Riemannian metrics $g_t$ on $M$. Here $k$ could be any integer, $k$ could be infinity, when the one-parameter family $g_t$ ...
- 1,407
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Spectrum of the Laplacian on p-forms on the sphere
In this paper the authors give an explicit description of the eigenforms and spectrum of the Laplacian acting on $p$-forms on the round sphere $S^n$, apparently citing an unpublished computation of ...
- 585
7
votes
1
answer
502
views
Fundamental groups of compact manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature.
I would like to find an appropriate reference for the following statement:
Statement. Let $M$ be a compact Riemannian manifold with non-negative Ricci curvature.
Then $\pi_1(M)$ is virtually abelian.
...
- 14.3k
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
The integral of torsion
I found the following * exercise (exercise *9) in page 407 of the book of do Carmo "Differential geometry of curves and surfaces". This problem is a classical theorem which is referenced ...
- 356
5
votes
0
answers
1k
views
"The famous Lusternik-Schnirelmann Theorem of the Three Closed Geodesics"
The title is a quote from p.256 of Wilhelm Klingenberg's 1995
Riemannian Geometry (Google Books link):
Every surface homeomorphic to a sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$ has three distinct, simple, closed ...
- 151k
4
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Green's function on sphere
Consider radial (normal) coordinates on a sphere $S^n, n \geq 2$. Let the "origin" be the north pole $(0, 0,..., 1)$ and the coordinates be denoted by $(r, \theta)$. We know that the Laplacian $\...
- 41
3
votes
1
answer
369
views
Closed manifolds of nonnegative curvature operator are symmetric spaces
In an online webinar, I heard (not directly) the statement that (closed) manifolds of nonnegative curvature operator $\mathcal{R}\geq 0$ are symmetric spaces. Is this a valid theorem? Any reference ...
- 4,195
3
votes
1
answer
628
views
Local Sobolev embedding on complete Riemannian manifold
Let $(M,g)$ be a complete Riemannian $m$-manifold, with bounded geometry and $m\geq2$. Suppose $Ric\geq(n-1)\kappa$. Let $B_p(r)$ be a geodesic open ball.
Q Can we find a constant $C=C(\kappa,r,m)$(...
- 1,915
3
votes
1
answer
704
views
Bishop-Gromov volume comparison on manifolds with negligible negative Ricci curvature
Let us consider a complete Riemannian manifold $M$ of dimension $n$ with $Ric \geq 0$. Then the Bishop-Gromov volume comparison theorem says that for any $p \in M$, the function
$$ \frac{\text{Vol}(B(...
- 31