Let f:Σ_1 --> Σ_2 be an area preserving diffeomorphism between compact Riemann surfaces of constant curvature. The graph of f can be viewed as a Lagrangian submanifold in Σ_1\times Σ_2. This article discusses a canonical way to deform f along area preserving diffeomorphisms. This deformation process is realized through the mean curvature flow of the graph of f in Σ_1\times Σ_2. It is proved that the flow exists for all time and the map converges to a canonical map. In particular, this gives a new proof of the classical topological results that O(3) is a deformation retract of the diffeomorphism group of S^2 and the mapping class group of a Riemman surface of positive genus is a deformation retract of the diffeomorphism group .
We present a way of constructing and deforming diffeomorphisms of manifolds endowed with a Lie group action. This is applied to the study of exotic diffeomorphisms and involutions of spheres and to the equivariant homotopy of Lie groups.
Using a flow first introduced by J.P. Anderson, we obtain some existence theorems for harmonic maps from a noncompact complete Riemannian manifold into a complete Riemannian manifold. In particular, we prove as a corollary a recent result of Hardt and Wolf stating that any quasisymmetric map of the sphere that is sufficiently close to the identity can be extended to a quasiconformal harmonic diffeomorphism of the hyperbolic ball. This version contains a much simpler proof than the first version.
We prove that the Riemannian exponential map of the right-invariant $L^2$ metric on the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of a two-dimensional manifold with a nonempty boundary is a nonlinear Fredholm map of index zero.
R-circles in general three dimensional CR manifolds (of contact type) are the analogues to traces of Lagrangian totally geodesic planes on the sphere viewed as the boundary of two dimensional complex hyperbolic space. They form a family of certain legendrian curves on the manifold. We prove that a diffeomorphism between three dimensional CR manifolds which preserve circles is either a CR diffeomorphism or conjugate CR diffeomorphism.
We show the existence of a weak bi-invariant symmetric nondegenerate 2-form on the volume-preserving diffeomorphism group of a three-dimensional manifold and study its properties. Despite the fact that the space $\mathcal{D}_μ(M^3)$ is infinite-dimensional, we succeed in defining the signature of the bi-invariant quadric form. It is equal to the $η$-invariant of the manifold $M^3$.
We prove an equivariant implicit function theorem for variational problems that are invariant under a varying symmetry group (corresponding to a bundle of Lie groups). Motivated by applications to families of geometric variational problems lacking regularity, several non-smooth extensions of the result are discussed. Among such applications is the submanifold problem of deforming the ambient metric preserving a given variational property of a prescribed family of submanifolds, e.g., constant mean curvature, up to the action of the corresponding ambient isometry groups.
Let $M$ be a $G$-manifold and $\om$ a $G$-invariant exact $m$-form on $M$. We indicate when these data allow us to constract a cocycle on a group $G$ with values in the trivial $G$-module $\mathbb R$ and when this cocycle is nontrivial.
We determine the Riemannian manifolds for which the group of exact volume preserving diffeomorphisms is a totally geodesic subgroup of the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms, considering right invariant $L^2$-metrics. The same is done for the subgroup of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms as a subgroup of the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms in the Kähler case. These are special cases of totally geodesic subgroups of diffeomorphisms with Lie algebras big enough to detect the vanishing of a symmetric 2-tensor field.
In this paper we extend some well-known rigidity results for conformal changes of Einstein metrics to the class of generalized quasi-Einstein (GQE) metrics, which includes gradient Ricci solitons. In order to do so, we introduce the notions of conformal diffeomorphisms and vector fields that preserve a GQE structure. We show that a complete GQE metric admits a structure-preserving, non-homothetic complete conformal vector field if and only if it is a round sphere. We also classify the structure-preserving conformal diffeomorphisms. In the compact case, if a GQE metric admits a structure-preser…
We study the Riemannian geometry of 3D axisymmetric ideal fluids. We prove that the $L^2$ exponential map on the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of a $3$-manifold is Fredholm along axisymmetric flows with sufficiently small swirl. Along the way, we define the notions of axisymmetric and swirl-free diffeomorphisms of any manifold with suitable symmetries and show that such diffeomorphisms form a totally geodesic submanifold of infinite $L^2$ diameter inside the space of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms whose diameter is known to be finite. As examples we derive the axisymmetric Eule…
Smale proved that the orientation-preserving diffeomorphism group of S^2 has a continuous strong deformation retraction to SO(3). In this paper, we construct such a strong deformation retraction which is diffeologically smooth.
We examine the existence of one parameter groups of diffeomorphisms whose infinitesimal generators annihilate all scalar polynomial curvature invariants through the application of the Lie derivative, known as $\mathcal{I}$-preserving diffeomorphisms. Such mappings are a generalization of isometries and appear to be related to nil-Killing vector fields, for which the associated Lie derivative of the metric yields a nilpotent rank two tensor. We show that the set of nil-Killing vector fields contains Lie algebras, although the Lie algebras may be infinite and can contain elements which are not $…
It is proven that the identity component of the group preserving the leaves of a generalized foliation is perfect. This shows that a well-known simplicity theorem on the diffeomorphism group extends to the nontransitive case.
We study the exponential map of group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms on closed orientable surfaces via the vorticity formulation of the incompressible Euler equation. We present an alternative, fluid dynamical proof of the theorem of Ebin--Misiołek--Preston: the exponential is a nonlinear Fredholm mapping of index zero. We extend Shnirelman's rigidity result for the exponential map from 2-dimensional flat torus to arbitrary orientable closed surfaces. That is, we prove that the exponential map is Fredholm quasiregular.
This paper answers some questions about conjugate points along the geodesics corresponding to steady 2D Euler flows, posed by a paper of Drivas-Misiolek-Shi-Yoneda. We present a new sufficient criterion for the existence of conjugate points, which improves on the criterion of Misiolek. It applies in any rotational cell of a steady 2D Euler flow, and in case of rotational symmetry it captures all known conjugate points. We give a general construction of the surfaces that admit a steady fluid with given area form, velocity profile, and vorticity profile, and from this we show how to detect conju…
We study groups of circle diffeomorphisms whose action on the cylinder $\mathcal C=\mathbb S^1\times \mathbb S^1\setminus Δ$ preserves a volume form. We first show that such a group is topologically conjugate to a subgroup of $\rm{PSL}(2,\mathbb R)$, then discuss the existence of a differentiable conjugacy.
We show that on a closed smooth manifold $M$ equipped with $k$ fiber bundle structures whose vertical distributions span the tangent bundle, every smooth diffeomorphism $f$ of $M$ sufficiently close to the identity can be written as a product $f=f_1... f_k$, where $f_i$ preserves the $i^{\text{th}}$-fiber. The factors $f_i$ can be chosen smoothly in $f$. We apply this result to show that on a certain class of closed smooth manifolds every diffeomorphism sufficiently close to the identity can be written as product of commutators and the factors can be chosen smoothly. Furthermore we get concret…
In this paper, we study generalized symmetric Finsler spaces. We first study symmetry preserving diffeomorphisms, then we show that the group of symmetry preserving diffeomorphisms is a transitive Lie transformation group. Finally we give some existence theorems.
A diffeomorphism of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds is called sectional curvature preserving if it preserves the sectional curvature of all the nondegenerate 2-planes. We consider a similar condition for degenerate 2-planes and we prove that the diffeomorphism is conformal (when the condition is fulfilled for weakly degenerate planes) or an isometry (when the condition is fulfilled for strongly degenerate 2-planes).
For a germ of a smooth map f and a subgroup G_V of any of the Mather groups G for which the source or target diffeomorphisms preserve some given volume form V in the source or in the target we study the G_V-moduli space of f that parameterizes the G_V-orbits inside the G-orbit of f. We find, for example, that this moduli space vanishes for A-equivalence with volume-preserving target diffeomorphisms and A-stable maps f and for K-equivalence with volume-preserving source diffeomorphisms and K-simple maps f. On the other hand, there are A-stable maps f with infinite-dimensional moduli space for A…
We show the existence of a weak bi-invariant symmetric nondegenerate 2-form on the contact diffeomorphisms group $\mathcal{D}_θ$ of a contact Riemannian manifold $(M,g,θ)$ and study its properties. We describe the Euler's equation on a Lie algebra of group $\mathcal{D}_θ$ and calculate the sectional curvature of $\mathcal{D}_θ$. In a case $\dim M =3$ connection between the bi-invariant metric on $\mathcal{D}_θ$ and the bi-invariant metric on volume-preserving diffeomorphisms group $\mathcal{D}_μ$ of $M^3$ is discover.
Let $f:M\to\mathbb{R}$ be a Morse-Bott function on a closed manifold $M$, so the set $Σ_f$ of its critical points is a closed submanifold whose connected components may have distinct dimensions. Denote by $\mathcal{S}(f) = \{h \in \mathcal{D}(M) \mid f\circ h=h \}$ the group of diffeomorphisms of $M$ preserving $f$ and let $\mathcal{D}(Σ_f)$ be the group of diffeomorphisms of $Σ_f$. We prove that the "restriction to $Σ_f$" map $ρ:\mathcal{S}(f) \to \mathcal{D}(Σ_f)$, $ρ(h) = h|_{Σ_f}$, is a locally trivial fibration over its image $ρ(\mathcal{S}(f))$.
Let M be a smooth compact connected oriented manifold of dimension at least two endowed with a volume form. We show that every homogeneous quasi-morphism on the identity component $Diff_0(M,vol)$ of the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms of M, which is induced by a quasi-morphism on the fundamental group, is Lipschitz with respect to the L^p-metric on the group $Diff_0(M,vol)$. As a consequence, assuming certain conditions on the fundamental group, we construct bi-Lipschitz embeddings of finite dimensional vector spaces into $Diff_0(M,vol)$.
We prove that a compactly supported homeomorphism of a smooth manifold of dimension greater or equal to 5 can be approximated uniformly by compactly supported diffeomorphisms if and only if it is isotopic to a diffeomorphism. If the given homeomorphism is in addition volume preserving, then it can be approximated uniformly by volume preserving diffeomorphisms.
We prove a number of new results on the large-scale geometry of the $L^p$-metrics on the group of area-preserving diffeomorphisms of each orientable surface. Our proofs use in a key way the Fulton-MacPherson type compactification of the configuration space of $n$ points on the surface due to Axelrod-Singer and Kontsevich. This allows us to apply the Schwarz-Milnor lemma to configuration spaces, a natural approach which we carry out successfully for the first time. As sample results, we prove that all right-angled Artin groups admit quasi-isometric embeddings into the group of area-preserving d…
Suppose M is a noncompact connected oriented C^infty n-manifold and omega is a positive volume form on M. Let D^+(M) denote the group of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of M endowed with the compact-open C^infty topology and D(M; omega) denote the subgroup of omega-preserving diffeomorphisms of M. In this paper we propose a unified approach for realization of mass transfer toward ends by diffeomorphisms of M. This argument together with Moser's theorem enables us to deduce two selection theorems for the groups D^+(M) and D(M; omega). The first one is the extension of Moser's theorem to …
We generalize the prequantization central extension of a group of diffeomorphisms preserving a closed 2-form ω(ω-invariant diffeomorphisms) to an abelian extension of a group of diffeomorphisms preserving a closed vector valued 2-form ω, up to a linear isomorphism (ω-equivariant diffeomorphisms). Every abelian extension of a simply connected Lie group can be obtained as the pull-back of such a prequantization abelian extension.
We prove that any weakly acausal curve $Γ$ in the boundary of Anti-de Sitter (2+1)-space is the asymptotic boundary of two spacelike $K$-surfaces, one of which is past-convex and the other future-convex, for every $K\in(-\infty,-1)$. The curve $Γ$ is the graph of a quasisymmetric homeomorphism of the circle if and only if the $K$-surfaces have bounded principal curvatures. Moreover in this case a uniqueness result holds. The proofs rely on a well-known correspondence between spacelike surfaces in Anti-de Sitter space and area-preserving diffeomorphisms of the hyperbolic plane. In fact, an impo…
We establish a simple relation between curvatures of the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms and the lifespan of potential solutions to the inviscid Burgers equation before the appearance of shocks. We show that shock formation corresponds to a focal point of the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms regarded as a submanifold of the full diffeomorphism group and, consequently, to a conjugate point along a geodesic in the Wasserstein space of densities. This establishes an intrinsic connection between ideal Euler hydrodynamics (via Arnold's approach), shock formation in the multidim…
We study the family of $α$-connections of Amari-Chentsov on the homogeneous space $\mathcal{D}(M)/\mathcal{D}_μ(M)$ of diffeomorphisms modulo volume-preserving diffeomorphims of a compact manifold $M$. We show that in some cases their geodesic equations yield completely integrable Hamiltonian systems.
Let N be a complete, simply-connected surface of constant curvature κ\leq 0. Moreover, suppose that Ωand \tildeΩ are strictly convex domains in N with the same area. We show that there exists an area-preserving diffeomorphism from Ωto \tildeΩ whose graph is a minimal submanifold of N \times N.
We show that for each $p \geq 1,$ the $L^p$-metric on the group of area-preserving diffeomorphisms of the two-sphere has infinite diameter. This solves the last open case of a conjecture of Shnirelman from 1985. Our methods extend to yield stronger results on the large-scale geometry of the corresponding metric space, completing an answer to a question of Kapovich from 2012. Our proof uses configuration spaces of points on the two-sphere, quasi-morphisms, optimally chosen braid diagrams, and, as a key element, the cross-ratio map $X_4(\mathbb{C} P^1) \to \mathcal{M}_{0,4} \cong \mathbb{C} P^1 …
We consider the following problem: given two parallel and identically oriented bundles of light rays in n-dimensional Euclidean space and given a diffeomorphism between the rays of the former bundle and the rays of the latter one, is it possible to realize this diffeomorphism by means of several mirror reflections? We prove that a 2-mirror realization is possible if and only if the diffeomorphism is the gradient of a function. We further prove that any orientation reversing diffeomorphism of domains in the plane is locally the composition of two gradient diffeomorphisms, and therefore can be r…
An embedding of the group $\Diff(S^{1})$ of orientation preserving diffeomorphims of the unit circle $S^1$ into an infinite-dimensional symplectic group, $\Sp(\infty)$, is studied. The authors prove that this embedding is not surjective. A Brownian motion is constructed on $\Sp(\infty)$. This study is motivated by recent work of H. Airault, S. Fang and P. Malliavin.
We calculate the Riemann curvature tensor and sectional curvature for the Lie group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of the Klein bottle and projective plane. In particular, we investigate the sign of the sectional curvature, and find a possible disagreement with a theorem of Lukatskii. We suggest an amendment to this theorem.
Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a foliation with a "singular" submanifold $B$ on a smooth manifold $M$ and $p:E \to B$ be a regular neighborhood of $B$ in $M$. Under certain "homogeneity" assumptions on $\mathcal{F}$ near $B$ we prove that every leaf preserving diffeomorphism $h$ of $M$ is isotopic via a leaf preserving isotopy to a diffeomorphism which coincides with some vector bundle morphism of $E$ near $B$. This result is mutually a foliated and compactly supported variant of a well known statement that every diffeomorphism $h$ of $\mathbb{R}^n$ fixing the origin is isotopic to the linear isomorphis…
In this note we obtain the characterization for asymptotic directions on various subgroups of the diffeomorphism group. We give a simple proof of non-existence of such directions for area-preserving diffeomorphisms of closed surfaces of non-zero curvature. Finally, we exhibit the common origin of the Monge-Ampere equations in 2D fluid dynamics and mass transport.
Let M be a smooth compact connected oriented manifold of dimension at least two endowed with a volume form. Assuming certain conditions on the fundamental group $π_1(M)$ we construct quasi-isometric embeddings of either free Abelian or direct products of non-Abelian free groups into the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms of M equipped with the L^p metric induced by a Riemannian metric on M.
