In this paper we prove several multiplicity results of $t$-periodic light rays in conformally stationary spacetimes using the Fermat metric and the extensions of the classical theorems of Gromoll-Meyer and Bangert-Hingston to Finsler manifolds. Moreover, we exhibit some stationary spacetimes with a finite number of $t$-periodic light rays and compute a lower bound for the period of the light rays when the flag curvature of the Fermat metric is $η$-pinched.
Let $R$ be the $hh$-curvature associated with the Chern connection or the Cartan connection. Adopting the pulled-back tangent bundle approach to the Finslerian Geometry, an intrinsic characterization of $R$-Einstein metrics is given. Finslerian metrics which are locally conformally $R$-Einstein are classified.
The problem of conformal transformation and conformal flatness of Finsler spaces has been studied by so many researchers $\left[ 6,16,17,20,21\right] .$ Recently, Prasad et. al $\left[ 19\right] $ have studied three dimensional conformally flat Landsberg and Berwald spaces and have given some important results. The purpose of the present paper is to extend the idea of conformal change to four dimensional Finsler spaces and find the suitable conditions under which a four dimensional conformally flat Landsberg space becomes a Berwald space.
We show that if a Finsler space is conformally automorphic to a Riemannian space and the automorphism is positively homogeneous with respect to tangent vectors, then the indicatrix of the Finsler space is a space of constant curvature. In this case, the Finslerian two-vector angle can explicitly be found, which gives rise to simple and explicit representation for the connection preserving the angle in the indicatrix-homogeneous case. The connection is metrical and the Finsler space is obtainable from the Riemannian space by means of the parallel deformation. Since also the transitivity of cova…
A geodesic circle in Finsler geometry is a natural extension of that in a Euclidean space. In this paper, we apply Lie derivatives and the Cartan $Y$-connection to study geodesic circles and (infinitesimal) concircular transformations on a Finsler manifold. We characterize a concircular vector field with some PDEs on the tangent bundle, and then we obtain respective necessary and sufficient conditions for a concircular vector field to be conformal and a conformal vector field to be concircular. We also show conditions for two conformally related Finsler metrics to be concircular, and obtain so…
The notion of a Douglas space of second kind of a Finsler space with $(α, β)$-metric was introduced by I. Y. Lee [9]. Since then, so many geometers have studied this topic e. g., [14]. In this paper, we prove that a Douglas space of second kind with special $% (α, β)$-metric $α+εβ+ k \frac{β^2}{α}$ is conformally transformed to a Douglas space of second kind. Further, we obtain some results which prove that a Douglas space of second kind with certain $(α, β)$-metrics such as Randers metric, Kropina metric, first approximate Matsumoto metric and Finsler space with square metric is conformally t…
We consider a triality between the Zermelo navigation problem, the geodesic flow on a Finslerian geometry of Randers type, and spacetimes in one dimension higher admitting a timelike conformal Killing vector field. From the latter viewpoint, the data of the Zermelo problem are encoded in a (conformally) Painleve-Gullstrand form of the spacetime metric, whereas the data of the Randers problem are encoded in a stationary generalisation of the usual optical metric. We discuss how the spacetime viewpoint gives a simple and physical perspective on various issues, including how Finsler geometries wi…
In this review, we collect several results for conformally standard stationary spacetimes (SxR,g) obtained in terms of a Finsler metric of Randers type on the orbit manifold S that we call Fermat metric. This metric is obtained by applying the relativistic Fermat principle and it turns out that it encodes all the causal aspects of the spacetime.
We show that the index of a lightlike geodesic in a conformally standard stationary spacetime is equal to the index of its spatial projection as a geodesic of a Finsler metric associated to the spacetime. Moreover we obtain the Morse relations of lightlike geodesics connecting a point to an integral line of the standard timelike Killing vector field by using Morse theory on the associated Finsler manifold. To this end, we prove a splitting lemma for the energy functional of a Finsler metric. Finally, we show that the reduction to Morse theory of a Finsler manifold can be done also for timelike…
The Finslerian unit ball is called the {\it Finsleroid} if the covering indicatrix is a space of constant curvature. We prove that Finsler spaces with such indicatrices possess the remarkable property that the tangent spaces are conformally flat with the conformal factor of the power dependence on the Finsler metric function. It is amazing but the fact that in such spaces the notion of the two-vector angle defined by the geodesic arc on the indicatrix can readily be induced from the Riemannian space obtained upon the conformal transformation, which opens up the straightforward way to induce al…
In this paper we first study some global properties of the energy functional on a non-reversible Finsler manifold. In particular we present a fully detailed proof of the Palais--Smale condition under the completeness of the Finsler metric. Moreover we define a Finsler metric of Randers type, which we call Fermat metric, associated to a conformally standard stationary spacetime. We shall study the influence of the Fermat metric on the causal properties of the spacetime, mainly the global hyperbolicity. Moreover we study the relations between the energy functional of the Fermat metric and the Fe…
We consider any Finsler metric on a closed, orientable surface of genus greater than one. H. M. Morse proved that we can associate an asymptotic direction to minimal rays in the universal cover (in the Poincaré disc: a point on the unit circle). We prove here that, if two minimal rays have a common asymptotic direction, which is not a fixed point of the group of deck transformations, then the two rays can intersect at most in a common initial point. This has strong consequences for the structure of the set of minimal geodesics, as well as for the set of Busemann functions associated to the Fin…
For every Finsler metric $F$ we associate a Riemannian metric $g_F$ (called the Binet-Legendre metric). The transformation $F \mapsto g_F$ is $C^0$-stable and has good smoothness properties, in contrast to previous constructions. The Riemannian metric $g_F$ also behaves nicely under conformal or bilipshitz deformation of the Finsler metric $F$. These properties makes it a powerful tool in Finsler geometry and we illustrate that by solving a number of named Finslerian geometric problems. We also generalize and give new and shorter proofs of a number of known results. In particular we answer a q…
The electric capacity of a conductor in the 3-dimensional Euclidean space $R^3 $ is defined as a ratio of a given positive charge on the conductor to the value of potential on the surface. This definition of the capacity is independent of the given charge. The capacity of a set as a mathematical notion was defined first by N. Wiener (1924) and was developed by O. Forstman, C. J. de La Vallee Poussin, and several other French mathematicians in connection with potential theory. This paper develops the theory of conformal invariants for Finsler manifolds. More precisely we prove: The capacity of …
Conformally compact asymptotically hyperbolic metrics have been intensively studied. The goal of this note is to understand what intrinsic conditions on a complete Riemannian manifold (M,g) will ensure that g is asymptotically hyperbolic in this sense. We use the geodesic compactification by asymptotic geodesic rays to compactify M and appropriate curvature decay conditions to study the regularity of the conformal compactification. We also present an interesting example that shows our conclusion is nearly optimal for our assumptions.
We formulate the generalization of the Legendrian Low conjecture of Natario and Tod (proved by Nemirovski and myself before) to the case of causally simple spacetimes. We prove a weakened version of the corresponding statement. In all known examples, a causally simple spacetime $(X, g)$ can be conformally embedded as an open set into some globally hyperbolic $(\widetilde X, \widetilde g)$ and the space of light rays in $(X, g)$ is an open submanifold of the space of light rays in $(\widetilde X, \widetilde g)$. If this is always the case, this provides an approach to solving the conjectures re…
By using Stationary-to-Randers correspondence (SRC), a characterization of light and time-convexity of the boundary of a region of a standard stationary (n+1)-spacetime is obtained, in terms of the convexity of the boundary of a domain in a Finsler n or (n+1)-space of Randers type. The latter convexity is analyzed in depth and, as a consequence, the causal simplicity and the existence of causal geodesics confined in the region and connecting a point to a stationary line are characterized. Applications to asymptotically flat spacetimes include the light-convexity of stationary hypersurfaces whi…
