Let $P \subset \R^3$ be a polyhedron. It was conjectured that if $P$ is weakly convex (i. e. its vertices lie on the boundary of a strictly convex domain) and decomposable (i. e. $P$ can be triangulated without adding new vertices), then it is infinitesimally rigid. We prove this conjecture under a weak additional assumption of codecomposability.
The proof relies on a result of independent interest concerning the Hilbert-Einstein function of a triangulated convex polyhedron. We determine the signature of the Hessian of that function with respect to deformations of the interior edges. In particular, if there are no interior vertices, then the Hessian is negative definite.
The paper is centered around a new proof of the infinitesimal rigidity of convex polyhedra. The proof is based on studying derivatives of the discrete Hilbert-Einstein functional on the space of "warped polyhedra" with a fixed metric on the boundary. This approach is in a sense dual to using derivatives of the volume in order to prove the Gauss infinitesimal rigidity of convex polyhedra, which deals with deformations that preserve face normals and face areas. In the spherical and in the hyperbolic-de Sitter space, there is a perfect duality between the Hilbert-Einstein functional and the volum…
Weakly convex polyhedra which are star-shaped with respect to one of their vertices are infinitesimally rigid. This is a partial answer to the question whether every decomposable weakly convex polyhedron is infinitesimally rigid. The proof uses a recent result of Izmestiev on the geometry of convex caps.
The main motivation here is a question: whether any polyhedron which can be subdivided into convex pieces without adding a vertex, and which has the same vertices as a convex polyhedron, is infinitesimally rigid. We prove that it is indeed the case for two classes of polyhedra: those obtained from a convex polyhedron by ``denting'' at most two edges at a common vertex, and suspensions with a natural subdivision.
Let $P$ be a (non necessarily convex) embedded polyhedron in $\R^3$, with its vertices on an ellipsoid. Suppose that the interior of $P$ can be decomposed into convex polytopes without adding any vertex. Then $P$ is infinitesimally rigid. More generally, let $P$ be a polyhedron bounding a domain which is the union of polytopes $C_1, ..., C_n$ with disjoint interiors, whose vertices are the vertices of $P$. Suppose that there exists an ellipsoid which contains no vertex of $P$ but intersects all the edges of the $C_i$. Then $P$ is infinitesimally rigid. The proof is based on some geometric prop…
The paper is centered around a new proof of the infinitesimal rigidity of smooth closed surfaces with everywhere positive Gauss curvature. We use a reformulation that replaces deformation of an embedding by deformation of the metric inside the body bounded by the surface. The proof is obtained by studying derivatives of the Hilbert-Einstein functional with boundary term. This approach is in a sense dual to proving the Gauss infinitesimal rigidity, that is rigidity with respect to the Gauss curvature parametrized by the Gauss map, by studying derivatives of the volume bounded by the surface. We…
In this paper, an obstruction against the integrability of certain infinitesimal solitonic deformations is given. Using this obstruction, we show that the complex projective spaces of even complex dimension are rigid as Ricci solitons although they have infinitesimal solitonic deformations.
In this paper we prove rigidity theorems for Poisson Lie group actions on Poisson manifolds. In particular, we prove that close infinitesimal momentum maps associated to Poisson Lie group actions are equivalent using a normal form theorem for SCI spaces. When the Poisson structure of the acted manifold is integrable, this yields rigidity also for lifted actions to the symplectic groupoid.
The results of this paper have been greatly superseded by those in the paper "Contact geometry and isosystolic inequalities" (arXiv:1109.4253) by the same authors.
The Stoker problem, first formulated in 1968, consists in understanding to what extent a convex polyhedron is determined by its dihedral angles. By means of the double construction, this problem is intimately related to rigidity issues for 3-dimensional cone-manifolds. In a former paper, two such rigidity results were proven, implying that the infinitesimal version of the Stoker conjecture is true in the hyperbolic and Euclidean cases. In this second article, we prove that local rigidity holds and obtain that the space of convex hyperbolic polyhedra with given combinatorial type is locally par…
The deformation theory of hyperbolic and Euclidean cone-manifolds with all cone angles less then 2π plays an important role in many problems in low dimensional topology and in the geometrization of 3-manifolds. Furthermore, various old conjectures dating back to Stoker about the moduli of convex hyperbolic and Euclidean polyhedra can be reduced to the study of deformations of cone-manifolds by doubling a polyhedron across its faces. This deformation theory has been understood by Hodgson and Kerckhoff when the singular set has no vertices, and by Weiß when the cone angles are less than π. We pr…
To a hyperbolic manifold one can associate a canonical projective structure and ask whether it can be deformed or not. In a cusped manifold, one can ask about the existence of deformations that are trivial on the boundary. We prove that if the canonical projective structure of a cusped manifold is infinitesimally projectively rigid relative to the boundary, then infinitely many Dehn fillings are projectively rigid. We analyze in more detail the figure eight knot and the Withehead link exteriors, for which we can give explicit infinite families of slopes with projectively rigid Dehn fillings.
Let $(X, g_0)$ be a simply connected, complete, negatively curved Riemannian manifold. We prove local and infinitesimal rigidity results for compactly supported deformations of the metric $g_0$. For any negatively curved metric $g$ equal to $g_0$ outside a compact, the identity map of $X$ induces a natural boundary map between the boundaries at infinity of $X$ with respect to $g_0$ and $g$. We show that if $(g_t)$ is a smooth 1-parameter family of negatively curved metrics all equal to $g_0$ outside a fixed compact then if all the boundary maps (between the boundaries of $X$ with respect to $g…
We show the rigidity of the hexagonal Delaunay triangulated plane under Luo's PL conformality. As a consequence, we obtain a rigidity theorem for a particular type of locally finite convex ideal hyperbolic polyhedra.
Let W be a compact hyperbolic n-manifold with totally geodesic boundary. We prove that if n>3 then the holonomy representation of pi_1 (W) into the isometry group of hyperbolic n-space is infinitesimally rigid.
We prove a comparison theorem for certain types of polyhedra in a 3-manifold with its scalar curvature bounded below by $-6$. The result confirms in some cases the Gromov dihedral rigidity conjecture in hyperbolic $3$-space.
In this paper we pose and prove a spacetime version of Gromov's dihedral rigidity theorem (Gromov, Li) for cubes when the dimension is 3 by studying the level sets of spacetime harmonic functions (Stern, Bray-Stern, Hirsch-Kazaras-Khuri), extending the work of Chai-Kim. As a corollary, we also obtain an alternative proof of dihedral rigidity for prisms in hyperbolic space (Li). We then discuss the relation between polyhedra and the spacetime positive mass theorem. This generalises the work of Miao-Piubello and Li. Finally, we show dihedral rigidity of charged Riemannian cubes by charged harmon…
Let (M, g) be a compact Einstein manifold with non-empty boundary. We prove that Killing fields at the boundary extend to Killing fields of any (M, g) provided the boundary is weakly convex and a simple condition on the fundamental group holds. This gives a new proof of the classical infinitesimal rigidity of convex surfaces in Euclidean space and generalizes the result to Einstein metrics of any dimension.
Let $X\subset P^N$ be a variety (respectively a patch of an analytic submanifold) and let $x\in X$ be a general point. We show that if the projective second fundamental form of $X$ at $x$ is isomorphic to the second fundamental form of a point of a Segre $P^n\times P^m$, $n,m\geq 2$, a Grassmaniann $G(2,n+2)$, $n\geq 4$, or the Cayley plane $OP^2$, then $X$ is the corresponding homogeneous variety (resp. a patch of the corresponding homogeneous variety). If the projective second fundamental form of $X$ at $x$ is isomorphic to the second fundamental form of a point of a Veronese $v_2(P^n)$ and …
The study of comparison theorems in geometry has a rich history. In this paper, we establish a comparison theorem for polyhedra in 3-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature, answering affirmatively a dihedral rigidity conjecture by Gromov. For a large collections of polyhedra with interior non-negative scalar curvature and mean convex faces, we prove the dihedral angles along its edges cannot be everywhere less or equal than those of the corresponding Euclidean model, unless it is a isometric to a flat polyhedron.
