We show that isothermic surfaces and S-Willmore surfaces are also the solutions to the corresponding Blaschke's problem for both spacelike and timelike surfaces in pseudo-Riemannian space forms. For timelike surfaces both Willmore and isothermic, we obtain a description by minimal surfaces similar to the classical results of Thomsen.
In this paper, we show a local Blaschke-Petkantschin formula for a Riemannian manifold. Namely, we compute the Jacobian determinant of the parametrization of $(n+1)$-tuples of the manifold by the center and the radius of their common circumscribed sphere as well as the $(n+1)$ directions characterizing the positions of the $n+1$ points on it. We deduce from it a more explicit two-term expansion when the radius tends to $0$. This formula contains a local correction with respect to the flat case which involves the Ricci curvatures in the $(n+1)$ directions.
The Blaschke conjecture claims that every compact Riemannian manifold whose injectivity radius equals its diameter is, up to constant rescaling, a compact rank one symmetric space. We summarize the intuition behind this problem, the proof that such manifolds have the cohomology of compact rank one symmetric spaces, and the proof of the conjecture for homology spheres and homology real projective spaces. We also summarize what is known on the diffeomorphism, homeomorphism and homotopy types of such manifolds.
On any proper convex domain in real projective space there exists a natural Riemannian metric, the Blaschke metric. On the other hand, distances between points can be measured in the Hilbert metric. Using techniques of optimal control, we provide inequalities lower bounding the Riemannian length of the line segment joining two points of the domain by the Hilbert distance between these points, thus strengthening a result of Tholozan. Our estimates are valid for a whole class of Riemannian metrics on convex projective domains, namely those induced by convex non-degenerate centro-affine hypersurf…
Timelike surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group with left invariant semi-Riemannian metric are studied. In particular, non-vertical timelike minimal surfaces are characterized by the non-conformal Lorentz harmonic maps into the de Sitter two phere. On the basis of the characterization, the generalized Weierstrass type representation will be established through the loop group decompositions.
By a classical result of Darboux, a foliation of a Riemannian surface has the Graves property (also known as the strong evolution property) if and only if the foliation comes from a Liouville net. A similar result of Blaschke says that a pair of orthogonal foliations has the Ivory property if and only if they form a Liouville net. Let us say that a geodesically convex curve on a Riemannian surface has the Poritsky property if it can be parametrized in such a way that all of its string diffeomorphisms are shifts with respect to this parameter. In 1950, Poritsky has shown that the only closed pl…
This paper explores the relation between convex functions and the geometry of space-times and semi-Riemannian manifolds (an investigation initiated by Gibbons-Ishibashi). Specifically, we study geodesic connectedness. We give geometric-topological proofs of geodesic connectedness for classes of space-times to which known methods do not apply. For instance: A null-disprisoning space-time is geodesically connected if it supports a proper, nonnegative strictly convex function whose critical set is a point. Timelike strictly convex hypersurfaces of Minkowski space are geodesically connected. We al…
We show that for an arbitrarily given closed Riemannian manifold $M$ admitting a point $p \in M$ with a single cut point, every closed Riemannian manifold $N$ admitting a point $q \in N$ with a single cut point is diffeomorphic to $M$ if the radial curvatures of $N$ at $q$ are sufficiently close in the sense of $L^1$-norm to those of $M$ at $p$. Our result hence not only produces a weak version of the Cartan--Ambrose--Hicks theorem in the case where underlying manifolds admit a point with a single cut point, but also is a kind of a weak version of the Blaschke conjecture for spheres proved by …
