Let $\mathcal{M}$ be a Type $\mathcal{A}$ affine surface. We show that $\mathcal{M}$ is linearly strongly projectively flat. We use the quasi-Einstein equation together with the condition that $\mathcal{M}$ is strongly projectively flat to examine to examine the geodesic completeness of $\mathcal{M}$.
This paper is devoted to geodesic completeness of left-invariant metrics for real and complex Lie groups. We start by establishing the Euler-Arnold formalism in the holomorphic setting. We study the real Lie group $\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb{R})$ and reobtain the known characterization of geodesic completeness and, in addition, present a detailed study where we investigate the maximum domain of definition of every single geodesic for every possible metric. We investigate completeness and semicompleteness of the complex geodesic flow for left-invariant holomorphic metrics and, in particular, establ…
Geodesics, which play an important role in spray-Finsler geometry, are integral curves of a spray vector field on a manifold. Some comparison theorems and rigidity issues are established on the completeness of geodesics of a spray or a Finsler metric. In this paper, projectively flat sprays with weak Ricci constant (eps. constant curvature) are classified at the level of geodesics. Further, a geodesic method is introduced to determine an $n$-dimensional spray based on a family of curves with $2(n-1)$ free constant parameters as geodesics. Finally, it shows that a spray is projectively complete…
We begin the study of completeness of affine connections, especially those on statistical manifolds as well as on affine hypersurfaces. We collect basic facts, prove new theorems and provide examples with remarkable properties.
In this paper we investigate geodesic completeness of left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on a simple Lie group $G$ when there exists a left-invariant Killing vector field $Z$ on $G$. Among other results, it is proved that if $Z$ is timelike, or $G$ is strongly causal and $Z$ is lightlike, then the metric is complete. We then consider the special complex Lie group $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$ in more details and show that the existence of a lightlike vector field $Z$ on it, implies geodesic completeness. We also consider the existence of a spacelike vector field $Z$ on $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$ and provide an eq…
An affine surface is said to be an affine Zoll surface if all affine geodesics close smoothly. It is said to be an affine almost Zoll surface if thru any point, every affine geodesic but one closes smoothly (the exceptional geodesic is said to be alienated as it does not return). We exhibit an affine structure on the cylinder which is almost Zoll. This structure is geodesically complete, affine Killing complete, and affine symmetric.
In this paper we prove that all manifolds with affine connection are globally projectively equivalent to some space with equiaffine connection (equiaffine manifold). These manifolds are characterised by a symmetric Ricci tensor.
Type A surfaces are the locally homogeneous affine surfaces which can be locally described by constant Christoffel symbols. We address the issue of the geodesic completeness of these surfaces: we show that some models for Type A surfaces are geodesically complete, that some others admit an incomplete geodesic but model geodesically complete surfaces, and that there are also others which do not model any complete surface. Our main result provides a way of determining whether a given set of constant Christoffel symbols can model a complete surface.
We discuss new sufficient conditions under which an affine manifold $(M,\nabla)$ is geodesically connected. These conditions are shown to be essentially weaker than those discussed in groundbreaking work by Beem and Parker and in recent work by Alexander and Karr, with the added advantage that they yield an elementary proof of the main result.
We define the notion of geodesic completeness for semi-Riemannian metrics of low regularity in the framework of the geometric theory of generalized functions. We then show completeness of a wide class of impulsive gravitational wave space-times.
In a recent paper, it was claimed that any homogeneous Finsler space of odd dimension admits a homogeneous geodesic through any point. For the proof, the algebraic method dealing with the reductive decomposition of the Lie algebra of the isometry group was used. However, the proof contains a serious gap. In the present paper, homogeneous geodesics in Finsler homogeneous spaces are studied using the affine method, which was developed in earlier papers by the author. The mentioned statement is proved correctly and it is further proved that any homogeneous Berwald space or homogeneous reversible …
Correlation matrices are used in many domains of neurosciences such as fMRI, EEG, MEG. However, statistical analyses often rely on embeddings into a Euclidean space or into Symmetric Positive Definite matrices which do not provide intrinsic tools. The quotient-affine metric was recently introduced as the quotient of the affine-invariant metric on SPD matrices by the action of diagonal matrices. In this work, we provide most of the fundamental Riemannian operations of the quotient-affine metric: the expression of the metric itself, the geodesics with initial tangent vector, the Levi-Civita conn…
We study properties of Sobolev-type metrics on the space of immersed plane curves. We show that the geodesic equation for Sobolev-type metrics with constant coefficients of order 2 and higher is globally well-posed for smooth initial data as well as initial data in certain Sobolev spaces. Thus the space of closed plane curves equipped with such a metric is geodesically complete. We find lower bounds for the geodesic distance in terms of curvature and its derivatives.
An affine manifold is said to be geodesically complete if all affine geodesics extend for all time. It is said to be affine Killing complete if the integral curves for any affine Killing vector field extend for all time. We use the solution space of the quasi-Einstein equation to examine these concepts in the setting of homogeneous affine surfaces.
We consider equitorsion second type almost geodesic mappings of a non-symmetric affine connection space in this article. Using different computational methods, we obtained some invariants of these mappings. Last generalized Thomas projective parameter and Weyl projective tensor as invariants of a second type almost geodesic mapping of a non-symmetric affine connection space are further generalized here.
In previous papers, a fundamental affine method for studying homogeneous geodesics was developed. Using this method and elementary differential topology it was proved that any homogeneous affine manifold and in particular any homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifold admits a homogeneous geodesic through arbitrary point. In the present paper this affine method is refined and adapted to the pseudo-Riemannian case. Using this method and elementary topology it is proved that any homogeneous Lorentzian manifold of even dimension admits a light-like homogeneous geodesic. The method is illustrated in d…
In the present paper we study geometric structures associated with webs of hypersurfaces. We prove that with any geodesic (n+2)-web on an n-dimensional manifold there is naturally associated a unique projective structure and, provided that one of web foliations is pointed, there is also associated a unique affine structure. The projective structure can be chosen by the claim that the leaves of all web foliations are totally geodesic, and the affine structure by an additional claim that one of web functions is affine. These structures allow us to determine differential invariants of geodesic we…
This note proves the geodesic completeness of any compact manifold endowed with a linear connection such that the closure of its holonomy group is compact.
The geometric approach to optimal transport and information theory has triggered the interpretation of probability densities as an infinite-dimensional Riemannian manifold. The most studied Riemannian structures are Otto's metric, yielding the $L^2$-Wasserstein distance of optimal mass transport, and the Fisher--Rao metric, predominant in the theory of information geometry. On the space of smooth probability densities, none of these Riemannian metrics are geodesically complete---a property desirable for example in imaging applications. That is, the existence interval for solutions to the geode…
We give necessary and sufficient conditions for an affine deformation of a Schottky subgroup of O(2,1) to act properly on affine space. There exists a real-valued biaffine map between the cohomology of the Schottky group and the space of geodesic currents on the corresponding hyperbolic surface S. For a fixed cohomology class, this map is uniformly positive or uniformly negative on the space of geodesic currents if and only if the corresponding affine deformation is proper. As a corollary, the deformation space of proper affine deformations is an open convex cone.
The aim of this paper is to review and complete the study of geodesics on Gödel type spacetimes initiated in [8] and improved in [2] of the References. In particular, we prove some new results on geodesic connectedness and geodesic completeness for these spacetimes.
We prove that any planar 4-web defines a unique projective structure in the plane in such a way that the leaves of the foliations are geodesics of this projective structure. We also find conditions for the projective structure mentioned above to contain an affine symmetric connection, and conditions for a planar 4-web to be equivalent to a geodesic 4-web on an affine symmetric surface. Similar results are obtained for planar d-webs, d > 4, provided that additional d-4 second-order invariants vanish.
We consider geodesic flows between hypersurfaces in $\R^n$. However, rather than consider using geodesics in $\R^n$, which are straight lines, we consider an induced flow using geodesics between the tangent spaces of the hypersurfaces viewed as affine hyperplanes. For naturality, we want the geodesic flow to be invariant under rigid transformations and homotheties. Consequently, we do not use the dual projective space, as the geodesic flow in this space is not preserved under translations. Instead we give an alternate approach using a Lorentzian space, which is semi-Riemannian with a metric of…
Of concern is the study of the long-time existence of solutions to the Euler--Arnold equation of the right-invariant $H^{3/2}$-metric on the diffeomorphism group of the circle. In previous work by Escher and Kolev it has been shown that this equation admits long-time solutions if the order $s$ of the metric is greater than $3/2$, the behaviour for the critical Sobolev index $s=3/2$ has been left open. In this article we fill this gap by proving the analogous result also for the boundary case. The behaviour of the $H^{3/2}$-metric is, however, still different from its higher order counter parts…
We introduce a new approach for computing curvature of sub-Riemannian manifolds. Curvature is here meant as symplectic invariants of Jacobi curves of geodesics, as introduced by Zelenko and Li. We describe how they can be expressed using a compatible affine connection and induced tensors, without any restriction on our sub-Riemannian manifold or the choice of connection. In particular, we obtain a universal Bonnet-Myers theorem of Riemannian type. We also give universal formulas for the canonical horizontal frame along each geodesic and an algorithm for computing the curvature in general. Seve…
We review geometrical properties of a static spacetime $(M,g)$, including geodesic completeness, causality, standard splittings, compact $M$, closed geodesics and geodesic connectedness. We pay special attention to the critical quadratic behavior at infinity of the coefficients $β$, $β^{-1}$ ($β= -g(K,K)$, being $K$ a timelike irrotational Killing vector field), which essentially control completeness, causality and geodesic connectedness. Recent references are specially discussed.
We consider restrictions placed by geodesic completeness on spacetimes possessing a null parallel vector field, the so-called Brinkmann spacetimes. This class of spacetimes includes important idealized gravitational wave models in General Relativity, namely the plane-fronted waves with parallel rays, or pp-waves, which in turn have been intensely and fruitfully studied in the mathematical and physical literatures for over half a century. More concretely, we prove a restricted version of a conjectural analogue for Brinkmann spacetimes of a rigidity result obtained by M.T. Anderson for stationar…
We clarify the relationship between the null geodesic completeness of an Einstein Lorentz manifold and its conformal Kobayashi pseudodistance. We show that an Einstein manifold has at least one incomplete null geodesic if its pseudodistancfe is nontrivial. If its pseudodistance is nondegenerate, all of its null geodesics must be incomplete. Thus an Einstein manifold (M,g) has no complete null geodesic if there is a "physical metric" in the conformal class of g satisfying the null convergence and null generic conditions.
This paper applies the authors' forthcoming work, "Affine deformations of a three-holed sphere" in Lorentzian geometry to prove a result in hyperbolic geometry. Namely, an infinitesimal deformation of a hyperbolic structure of a three-holed sphere which infinitesimally lengthens the three boundary components infinitesimally lengthens every closed geodesic. The proof interprets the derivative of the geodesic length function as the Margulis invariant (signed marked Lorentzian length spectrum) of the corresponding affine deformation. The aforementioned results imply that the affine deformation is…
A general class of Lorentzian metrics, $M_0 x R^2$, $ds^2 = <.,.> + 2 du dv + H(x,u) du^2$, with $(M_0, <.,.>$ any Riemannian manifold, is introduced in order to generalize classical exact plane fronted waves. Here, we start a systematic study of their main geodesic properties: geodesic completeness, geodesic connectedness and multiplicity, causal character of connecting geodesics. These results are independent of the possibility of a full integration of geodesic equations. Variational and geometrical techniques are applied systematically. In particular, we prove that the asymptotic behavior o…
We give the complete solution to the local diffeomorphism classification problem of generic singularities which appear in tangent surfaces, in as wider situations as possible. We interpret tangent geodesics as tangent lines whenever a (semi-)Riemannian metric, or, more generally, an affine connection is given in an ambient space of arbitrary dimension. Then, given an immersed curve, or, more generally a directed curve or a frontal curve which has well-defined tangent directions along the curve, we define the tangent surface as the ruled surface by tangent geodesics to the curve. We apply the c…
We give a conformal representation for indefinite improper affine spheres which solve the Cauchy problem for their Hessian equation. As consequences, we can characterize their geodesics and obtain a generalized symmetry principle. Then, we classify the helicoidal indefinite improper affine spheres and find a new family with complete non flat affine metric. Moreover, we present interesting examples with singular curves and isolated singularities.
In this paper, we compute sub-Riemannian limits of Gaussian curvature for a Euclidean $C^2$-smooth surface in the affine group and the group of rigid motions of the Minkowski plane away from characteristic points and signed geodesic curvature for Euclidean $C^2$-smooth curves on surfaces. We get Gauss-Bonnet theorems in the affine group and the group of rigid motions of the Minkowski plane.
The invariants of the Thomas and the Weyl type for a mapping between non-symmetric affine connection spaces are obtained with respect to the factored deformation tensor in this paper. Motivated by two invariants of the Weyl type obtained in (N. O. Vesić, Basic Invariants of Geometric Mappings, [17]), we founded novel invariants of the Weyl type. Invariants for almost geodesic mappings of the third type are searched at the end of this paper.
A manifold with an arbitrary affine connection is considered and the geodesic spray associated with the connection is studied in the presence of a Lie group action. In particular, results are obtained that provide insight into the structure of the reduced dynamics associated with the given invariant affine connection. The geometry of the frame bundle of the given manifold is used to provide an intrinsic description of the geodesic spray. A fundamental relationship between the geodesic spray, the tangent lift and the vertical lift of the symmetric product is obtained, which provides a key to un…
We study completeness properties of the Sobolev diffeomorphism groups $\mathcal D^s(M)$ endowed with strong right-invariant Riemannian metrics when the underlying manifold $M$ is $\mathbb R^d$ or compact without boundary. The main result is that for $s > \dim M/2 + 1$, the group $\mathcal D^s(M)$ is geodesically and metrically complete with a surjective exponential map. We then present the connection between the Sobolev diffeomorphism group and the large deformation matching framework in order to apply our results to diffeomorphic image matching.
In Theorem 1, we generalize the results of Szabo for Berwald metrics that are not necessary strictly convex: we show that for every Berwald metric F there always exists a Riemannian metric affine equivalent to F. As an application we show (Corollary 3) that every Berwald projectively flat metric is a Minkowski metric; this statement is a "Berwald" version of Hilbert's 4th problem. Further, we investigate geodesic equivalence of Berwald metrics. Theorem 2 gives a system of PDE that has a (nontrivial) solution if and only if the given essentially Berwald metric admits a Riemannian metric that is…
We examine the local geometry of affine surfaces which are locally symmetric. There are 6 non-isomorphic local geometries. We realize these examples as Type A, Type B, and Type C geometries using a result of Opozda and classify the relevant geometries up to linear isomorphism. We examine the geodesic structures in this context. Particular attention is paid to the Lorentzian analogue of the hyperbolic plane and to the pseudosphere.
Connections between Lie derivatives and the deviation equation has been investigated in spaces with affine connection. The deviation equations of the geodesics as well as deviation equations of non-geodesics trajectories have been obtained on this base. This is done via imposing certain conditions on the Lie derivatives with respect to the tangential vector of the basic trajectory.
We study a family of 3-dimensional Lorentz manifolds. Some members of the family are 0-curvature homogeneous, 1-affine curvature homogeneous, but not 1-curvature homogeneous. Some are 1-curvature homogeneous but not 2-curvature homogeneous. All are 0-modeled on indecomposible local symmetric spaces. Some of the members of the family are geodesically complete, others are not. All have vanishing scalar invariants.