Finsler metrics are direct generalizations of Riemannian metrics such that the quadratic Riemannian indicatrices in the tangent spaces of a manifold are replaced by more general convex bodies as unit spheres. A linear connection on the base manifold is called compatible with the Finsler metric if the induced parallel transports preserve the Finslerian length of tangent vectors. Finsler manifolds admitting compatible linear connections are called generalized Berwald manifolds. Compatible linear connections are the solutions of the so-called compatibility equations containing the torsion components as unknowns. Although there are some theoretical results for the solvability of the compatibility equations (monochromatic Finsler metrics \cite{BM}, extremal compatible linear connections, algorithmic solutions \cite{V14}), it is very hard to solve in general because compatible linear connections may or may not exist on a Finsler manifold and may or may not be unique. Therefore special cases are of special interest. One of them is the case of the so-called semi-symmetric compatible linear connection with decomposable torsion tensor. It is proved \cite{V10} (see also \cite{V11}) that such a compatible linear connection must be uniquely determined. The original proof is based on averaging in the sense that the 1-form in the decomposition of the torsion tensor can be expressed by integrating differential forms on the tangent manifold over the Finslerian indicatrices. The integral formulas are very difficult to compute in practice. We present a new proof for the unicity result by using linear algebra and some basic facts about convex bodies and an explicit formula for the solution without integration. Necessary conditions of the solvability are also formulated in terms of intrinsic equations without unknown quantities. They are sufficient if and only if the solution depends only on the position.
A linear connection on a Finsler manifold is called compatible to the Finsler function if its parallel transports preserve the Finslerian length of tangent vectors. Generalized Berwald manifolds are Finsler manifolds equipped with a compatible linear connection. In the paper we present a general and intrinsic method to characterize the compatible linear connections on a Finsler manifold of dimension three. We prove that if a compatible linear connection is not unique then the indicatrices must be Euclidean surfaces of revolution. The surplus freedom of choosing compatible linear connections is…
A linear connection on a Finsler manifold is called compatible to the metric if its parallel transports preserve the Finslerian length of tangent vectors. Generalized Berwald manifolds are Finsler manifolds equipped with a compatible linear connection. Since the compatibility to the Finslerian metric does not imply the unicity of the linear connection in general, the first step of checking the existence of compatible linear connections on a Finsler manifold is to choose the best one to look for. A reasonable choice is introduced in \cite{V14} called the extremal compatible linear connection, w…
Generalized Berwald manifolds are Finsler manifolds admitting linear connections such that the parallel transports preserve the Finslerian length of tangent vectors (compatibi\-li\-ty condition). By the fundamental result of the theory \cite{V5} such a linear connection must be metrical with respect to the averaged Riemannian metric given by integration of the Riemann-Finsler metric on the indicatrix hypersurfaces. Therefore the linear connection (preserving the Finslerian length of tangent vectors) is uniquely determined by its torsion. If the torsion is zero then we have a classical Berwald …
In this paper, we give a simple proof of the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern theorem for a real oriented Finsler vector bundle with rank equal to the dimension of the base manifold. As an application, a Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula for any metric-compatible connection is established on Finsler manifolds.
From the point of view of index theory, we give a simple proof of a Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula for all Finsler manifolds by the Cartan connection. Based on this, we establish a Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula for any metric-compatible connection and also derive the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula of Lackey.
Generalized Berwald manifolds are Finsler manifolds admitting linear connections such that the parallel transports preserve the Finslerian length of tangent vectors. By the fundamental result of the theory \cite{V5} such a linear connection must be metrical with respect to the averaged Riemannian metric given by integration of the Riemann-Finsler metric on the indicatrix hypersurfaces. Therefore the linear connection is uniquely determined by its torsion tensor. If the torsion is zero then we have a classical Berwald manifolds. Otherwise the torsion is a strange data we need to express in term…
Finsleroid-Finsler metrics form an important class of singular (y-local) Finslerian metrics. They were introduced by G. S. Asanov in 2006. As a special case Asanov produced examples of Landsberg spaces of dimension at least three that are not of Berwald type. These are called Unicorns [5]. The existence of regular (y - global) Landsberg metrics that are not of Berwald type is an open problem up to this day. In this paper we prove that Asanov's Unicorns belong to the class of generalized Berwald manifolds. More precisely we prove the following theorems: a Finsleroid-Finsler space is a generaliz…
A pre-Lie algebroid is an anchored bundle provided with an almost Lie bracket such that the anchor is compatible with the Lie bracket of vector fields. We firstly show how most geometrical structures intensively studied in the framework of Lie algebroid can easily be extended in the pre-Lie algebroid context. The principal purpose of this paper is to show that how all these results only depend of the foliated structure and do not depend of the pre-Lie algebroid structure that we can put on a foliated anchored bundle. As application, we obtain a Finsler connection on a foliated anchored bundle …
We consider the Chern connection of a (conic) pseudo-Finsler manifold $(M,L)$ as a linear connection $\nabla^V$ on any open subset $Ω\subset M$ associated to any vector field $V$ on $Ω$ which is non-zero everywhere. This connection is torsion-free and almost metric compatible with respect to the fundamental tensor $g$. Then we show some properties of the curvature tensor $R^V$ associated to $\nabla^V$ and in particular we prove that the Jacobi operator of $R^V$ along a geodesic coincides with the one given by the Chern curvature.
In the present paper, we introduce and investigate the notion of a semi concurrent vector field on a Finsler manifold. We show that some special Finsler manifolds admitting such vector fields turn out to be Riemannian. We prove that Tachibana's characterization of Finsler manifolds admitting a concurrent vector field leads to Riemannain metrics. We give an answer to the question raised in \cite{DWF}: "Is any n-dimensional Finsler manifold $(M,F)$, admitting a non-constant smooth function $f$ on $M$ such that $\frac{\partial f}{\partial x^i}\frac{\partial g^{ij}}{\partial y^k}=0$, a Riemannian …
In this paper, we get an inequality in terms of holomorphic sectional curvature of complex Finsler metrics. As applications, we prove a Schwarz Lemma from a complete Riemannian manifold to a complex Finsler manifold. We also show that a strongly pseudoconvex complex Finsler manifold with semi-positive but not identically zero holomorphic sectional curvature has negative Kodaira dimension under an extra condition.
On the product of two Finsler manifolds M1 M2, we consider the twisted metric F which is construct by using Finsler metrics F1 and F2 on the manifolds M1 and M2, respectively. We introduce horizontal and vertical distributions on twisted product Finsler manifold and study Creducible and semi-C-reducible properties of this manifold. Then we obtain the Riemannian curvature and some of non-Riemannian curvatures of the twisted product Finsler manifold such as Berwald curvature, mean Berwald curvature and we find the relations between these objects and their corresponding objects on M1 and M2. Fina…
I do not agree with the authors of papers arXiv:0806.2184 and arXiv:0901.1023v1 (published in Phys. Lett., respectively, B668 (2008) 453 and B676 (2009) 173). They consider that \textit{"In Finsler manifold, there exists a unique linear connection - the Chern connection ... It is torsion freeness and metric compatibility ... "}. There are well known results (for example, presented in monographs by H. Rund and R. Miron and M. Anastasiei) that in Finsler geometry there exist an infinite number of linear connections defined by the same metric structure and that the Chern and Berwald connections \…
We formulate an approach to the geometry of Riemann-Cartan spaces provided with nonholonomic distributions defined by generic off-diagonal and nonsymmetric metrics inducing effective nonlinear and affine connections. Such geometries can be modelled by moving nonholonomic frames on (pseudo) Riemannian manifolds and describe various types of nonholonomic Einstein, Eisenhart-Moffat and Finsler-Lagrange spaces with connections compatible to a general nonsymmetric metric structure. Elaborating a metrization procedure for arbitrary distinguished connections, we define the class of distinguished line…
We generalize the notion of Zermelo navigation to arbitrary pseudo-Finsler metrics possibly defined in conic subsets. The translation of a pseudo-Finsler metric $F$ is a new pseudo-Finsler metric whose indicatrix is the translation of the indicatrix of $F$ by a vector field $W$ at each point, where $W$ is an arbitrary vector field. Then we show that the Matsumoto tensor of a pseudo-Finsler metric is equal to zero if and only if it is the translation of a semi-Riemannian metric, and when $W$ is homothetic, the flag curvature of the translation coincides with the one of the original one up to th…
Lagrange geometry is the geometry of the tensor field defined by the fiberwise Hessian of a non degenerate Lagrangian function on the total space of a tangent bundle. Finsler geometry is the geometrically most interesting case of Lagrange geometry. In this paper we study a generalization, which consists of replacing the tangent bundle by a general tangent manifold, and the Lagrangian by a family of compatible, local, Lagrangian functions. We give several examples, and find the cohomological obstractions to globalization. Then, we extend the connections used in Finsler and Lagrange geometry, wh…
A smooth curve on a homogeneous manifold $G/H$ is called a Riemannian equigeo-desic if it is a homogeneous geodesic for any $G$-invariant Riemannian metric. The homogeneous manifold $G/H$ is called Riemannian equigeodesic, if for any $x\in G/H$ and any nonzero $y\in T_x(G/H)$, there exists a Riemannian equigeodesic $c(t)$ with $c(0)=x$ and $\dot{c}(0)=y$. These two notions can be naturally transferred to the Finsler setting, which provides the definitions for Finsler equigeodesic and Finsler equigeodesic space. We prove two classification theorems for Riemannian equigeodesic spaces and Finsler…
We use the Frölicher-Nijenhuis formalism to reformulate the inverse problem of the calculus of variations for a system of differential equations of order 2k in terms of a semi-basic 1-form of order k. Within this general context, we use the homogeneity proposed by Crampin and Saunders in [14] to formulate and discuss the projective metrizability problem for higher order differential equation fields. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for higher order projectivpre-e metrizability in terms of homogeneous semi-basic 1-forms. Such a semi-basic 1-form is the Poincaré-Cartan 1-form of a …
We explore a connection between the Finslerian area functional based on the Busemann-Hausdorff-volume form, and well-investigated Cartan functionals to solve Plateau's problem in Finsler 3-space, and prove higher regularity of solutions. Free and semi-free geometric boundary value problems, as well as the Douglas problem in Finsler space can be dealt with in the same way. We also provide a simple isoperimetric inequality for minimal surfaces in Finsler spaces.
Adopting the pullback approach to global Finsler geometry, the aim of the present paper is to provide intrinsic (coordinate-free) proofs of the existence and uniqueness theorems for the Chern (Rund) and Hashiguchi connections on a Finsler manifold. To accomplish this, we introduce and investigate the notions of semispray and nonlinear connection associated with a given regular connection, in the pullback bundle. Moreover, it is shown that for the the Chern (Rund) and Hashiguchi connections, the associated semispray coincides with the canonical spray and the associated nonlinear connection coin…
After summarizing some necessary preliminaries and tools, including Berwald derivative and Lie derivative in pull-back formalism, we present ten equivalent conditions, each of which characterizes Berwald manifolds among Finsler manifolds. These range from Berwald's classical definition to the existence of a torsion-free covariant derivative on the base manifold compatible with the Finsler function and Aikou's characterization of Berwald manifolds. Finally, we study some implications of V. Matveev's observation according to which quadratic convexity may be omitted from the definition of a Berwa…
Let $(M,F)$ be a connected Finsler space. An isometry of $(M,F)$ is called a Clifford-Wolf translation (or simply CW-translation) if it moves all points the same distance. The compact Finsler space $(M,F)$ is called restrictively Clifford-Wolf homogeneous (restrictively CW-homogeneous) if for any two sufficiently close points $x_1,x_2\in M$, there exists a CW-translation $σ$ such that $σ(x_1)=x_2$. In this paper, we define the good normalized datum for a homogeneous non-Riemannian $(α,β)$-space, and use it to study the restrictive CW-homogeneity of left invariant $(α,β)$-metrics on a compact c…
On a convex body in a Euclidean space, we introduce a new variational formulation for its Funk metric, a Finsler metric compatible with the tautological Finsler structure of the convex body. We generalize the metric on Teichmuller spaces with the Weil-Petersson distance function. A set of similarities the resulting metric structure shares with Thurston's asymmetric metric is noted.
Adopting the pullback approach to global Finsler geometry, the aim of the present paper is to provide new intrinsic (coordinate-free) proofs of intrinsic versions of the existence and uniqueness theorems for the Cartan and Berwald connections on a Finsler manifold. To accomplish this, the notions of semispray and nonlinear connection associated with a given regular connection, in the pullback bundle, is introduced and investigated. Moreover, it is shown that for the Cartan and Berwald connections, the associated semispray coincides with the canonical spray and the associated nonlinear connecti…
The aim of the present paper is to provide a global presentation of the theory of special Finsler manifolds. We introduce and investigate globally (or intrinsically, free from local coordinates) many of the most important and most commonly used special Finsler manifolds: locally Minkowskian, Berwald, Landesberg, general Landesberg, $P$-reducible, $C$-reducible, semi-$C$-reducible, quasi-$C$-reducible, $P^{*}$-Finsler, $C^{h}$-recurrent, $C^{v}$-recurrent, $C^{0}$-recurrent, $S^{v}$-recurrent, $S^{v}$-recurrent of the second order, $C_{2}$-like, $S_{3}$-like, $S_{4}$-like, $P_{2}$-like, $R_{3}$…
We present two approaches to the heat flow on a Finsler manifold $(M,F)$: either as gradient flow on $L^2(M,m)$ for the energy; or as gradient flow on the reverse $L^2$-Wasserstein space $\mathcal{P}_2(M)$ of probability measures on $M$ for the relative entropy. Both approaches depend on the choice of a measure $m$ on $M$ and then lead to the same nonlinear evolution semigroup. We prove $\mathcal{C}^{1,α}$-regularity for solutions to the (nonlinear) heat equation on the Finsler space $(M,F,m)$. Typically, solutions to the heat equation will not be $\mathcal{C}^2$. Moreover, we derive pointwise…
We review the geometric setting of the field theory with locally anisotropic interactions. The concept of locally anisotropic space is introduced as a general one for various type of extensions of Lagrange and Finsler geometry and higher dimension (Kaluza--Klein type) spaces. The problem of definition of spinors on generalized Finsler spaces is solved in the framework of the geometry of Clifford bundles provided with compatible nonlinear and distinguished connections and metric structures. We construct the spinor differential geometry of locally anisotropic spaces and discuss some related issu…
In this paper, we define conservative semibasic vector $1-$forms on the tangent bundle of a Finsler manifold. Using these vector $1-$forms, we characterize conservative $L-$Ehresmann connections with respect to the energy function. Then we find a correspondence between torsion-free semibasic vector $1-$forms and the subset of vertical vector fields. Taking into account this correspondence, we construct a class of semisprays that generates the Ehresmann connections mentioned above.
The goal of this paper is to encode equivalently the fractional Lagrange dynamics as a nonholonomic almost Kahler geometry. We use the fractional Caputo derivative generalized for nontrivial nonlinear connections (N-connections) originally introduced in Finsler geometry, with further developments in Lagrange and Hamilton geometry and, in our approach, with fractional derivatives. For fundamental geometric objects induced canonically by regular Lagrange functions, we construct compatible almost symplectic forms and linear connections completely determined by a "prime" Lagrange (in particular, F…
In the paper we consider Riemannian surfaces admitting a global expression of the Gauss curvature as the divergence of a vector field. It is equivalent to the existence of a metric linear connection of zero curvature. Such a linear connection $\nabla$ plays an important role in the differential geometry of non-Riemannian surfaces in the sense that the Riemannian quadratic forms can be changed into Minkowski functionals in the tangent planes such that the Minkowskian length of the tangent vectors is invariant under the parallel translation with respect to $\nabla$ (compatibility condition). A s…
The aim of this paper is to study from the point of view of linear connections the data $(M,\mathcal{D},g,W),$ with $M$ a smooth $(n+p)$ dimensional real manifold, $(\mathcal{D},g)$ a \textit{$n$}\textit{\emph{dimensional semi-Riemannian distribution}}\emph{}on $M,$ $\mathcal{G}$ the conformal structure generated by $g$ and $W$ a Weyl substructure: a map $W:$ $\mathcal{G}\to$ $Ω^{1}(M)$ such that $W(\overline{g})=W(g)-du,$ $\overline{g}=e^{u}g;u\in C^{\infty}(M)$. Compatible linear connections are introduced as a natural extension of similar notions from Riemannian geometry and such a connecti…
We extend several notions and results from the classical Patterson-Sullivan theory to the setting of Anosov subgroups of higher rank semisimple Lie groups, working primarily with invariant Finsler metrics on associated symmetric spaces. In particular, we prove the equality between the Hausdorff dimensions of flag limit sets, computed with respect to a suitable Gromov (pre-)metric on the flag manifold, and the Finsler critical exponents of Anosov subgroups.
In this paper, we compute the index form of the multiply twisted products. We study the Killing vector fields on the multiply twisted product manifolds and determine the Killing vector fields in some cases. We compute the curvature of the multiply twisted products with a semi-symmetric metric connection and show that the mixed Ricci-flat multiply twisted products with a semi-symmetric metric connection can be expressed as multiply warped products. We also study the Einstein multiply warped products with a semi-symmetric metric connection and the multiply warped products with a semi-symmetric m…
Symmetric connections that are compatible with semi-Riemannian metrics can be characterized using an existence result for an integral leaf of a (possibly non integrable) distribution. In this paper we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a left-invariant connection on a Lie group to be the Levi-Civita connection of some semi-Riemannian metric on the group. As a special case, we will consider constant connections in $\R^n$.
Methods in Riemann-Finsler geometry are applied to investigate bi-Hamiltonian structures and related mKdV hierarchies of soliton equations derived geometrically from regular Lagrangians and flows of non-stretching curves in tangent bundles. The total space geometry and nonholonomic flows of curves are defined by Lagrangian semisprays inducing canonical nonlinear connections (N-connections), Sasaki type metrics and linear connections. The simplest examples of such geometries are given by tangent bundles on Riemannian symmetric spaces $G/SO(n)$ provided with an N-connection structure and an adap…
In this paper an extended CPR decomposition theorem for Finsler symmetric spaces of semi-negative curvature in the context of reductive structures is proven. This decomposition theorem is applied to give a geometric description of the complexification of some infinite dimensional homogeneous spaces.
The geometric constructions are elaborated on (semi) Riemannian manifolds and vector bundles provided with nonintegrable distributions defining nonlinear connection structures induced canonically by metric tensors. Such spaces are called nonholonomic manifolds and described by two equivalent linear connections also induced in unique forms by a metric tensor (the Levi Civita and the canonical distinguished connection, d-connection). The lifts of geometric objects on tangent bundles are performed for certain classes of d-connections and frame transforms when the Riemann tensor is parametrized by…
We semiclassicalise the theory of quantum group principal bundles to the level of Poisson geometry. The total space $X$ is a Poisson manifold with Poisson-compatible contravariant connection, the fibre is a Poisson-Lie group in the sense of Drinfeld with bicovariant Poisson-compatible contravariant connection, and the base has an inherited Poisson structure and Poisson-compatible contravariant connection. The latter are known to be the semiclassical data for a quantum differential calculus. The theory is illustrated by the Poisson level of the $q$-Hopf fibration on the standard $q$-sphere. We …
The paper is devoted to quadratic Poisson structures compatible with the canonical linear Poisson structures on trivial 1-dimensional central extensions of semisimple Lie algebras. In particular, we develop the general theory of such structures and study related families of functions in involution. We also show that there exists a 10-parametric family of quadratic Poisson structures on $\gl(3)^*$ compatible with the canonical linear Poisson structure and containing the 3-parametric family of quadratic bivectors recently introduced by Vladimir Sokolov. The involutive family of polynomial functi…
We study bi-Hamiltonian systems of hydrodynamic type with non-singular (semisimple) non-local bi-Hamiltonian structures and prove that such systems of hydrodynamic type are diagonalizable. Moreover, we prove that for an arbitrary non-singular (semisimple) non-locally bi-Hamiltonian system of hydrodynamic type, there exist local coordinates (Riemann invariants) such that all the related matrix differential-geometric objects, namely, the matrix V^i_j(u) of this system of hydrodynamic type, the metrics g^{ij}_1(u) and g^{ij}_2(u) and the affinors (w_{1, n})^i_j(u) and (w_{2,n})^i_j(u) of the non-…
