In this paper we study the rigidity of infinite volume 3-manifolds with sectional curvature $-b^2\le K\le -1$ and finitely generated fundamental group. In-particular, we generalize the Sullivan's quasi-conformal rigidity for finitely generated fundamental group with empty dissipative set to negative variable curvature 3-manifolds. We also generalize the rigidity of Hamenstädt or more recently Besson-Courtois-Gallot, to 3-manifolds with infinite volume and geometrically infinite fundamental group.
The paper sketches a recent progress and formulates several open problems in studying equivariant quasiconformal and quasisymmetric homeomorphisms in negatively curved spaces as well as geometry and topology of noncompact geometrically finite negatively curved manifolds and their boundaries at infinity having Carnot--Carathéodory structures. Especially, the most interesting are complex hyperbolic manifolds with Cauchy--Riemannian structure at infinity, which occupy a distinguished niche and whose properties make them surprisingly different from real hyperbolic ones.
We establish conditions for a continuous map of nonzero degree between a smooth closed manifold and a negatively curved manifold of dimension greater than four to be homotopic to a smooth cover, and in particular a diffeomorphism when the degree is one. The conditions hold when the volumes or entropy-volumes of the two manifolds differ by less than a uniform constant after an appropriate normalization of the metrics. The results are qualitatively sharp in the sense that the dependencies are necessary. We give a number of corollaries.
We prove some rigidity results on geodesic orbit Finsler spaces with non-positive curvature. In particular, we show that a geodesic Finsler space with strictly negative flag curvature must be a non-compact Riemannian symmetric space of rank one.
This paper generalizes D. Burago and S. Ivanov's work on filling volume minimality and boundary rigidity of almost real hyperbolic metrics. We show that regions with metrics close to a negatively curved symmetric metric are strict minimal fillings and hence boundary rigid. This includes perturbations of complex, quaternionic and Cayley hyperbolic metrics.
We characterize the rigidity of Carnot groups in the class of $C^2$ contact maps in terms of complex characteristics. Furthermore, we obtain a Liouville type theorem for Carnot groups which states that 1-quasiconformal maps form finite dimensional Lie groups.
As the first step in the direction of the Hopf conjecture on the non-existence of metrics with positive sectional curvature on $S^2 \times S^2$ D.Gromoll and K.Tapp in [GT] suggested the following (Weak Hopf) conjecture (on the rigidity of non-negatively curved metrics on $S^2 \times R^3$): "The boundary $S^2\times S^2$ of the $S^2 \times B^3\subset S^2 \times R^3$ with an arbitrary complete metric of non-negative sectional curvature contains a point where a curvature of $S^2 \times S^2$ vanish". In this note we verify this.
We prove the following entropy-rigidity result in finite volume: if $X$ is a negatively curved manifold with curvature $-b^2\leq K_X \leq -1$, then $Ent_{top}(X) = n-1$ if and only if $X$ is hyperbolic. In particular, if $X$ has the same length spectrum of a hyperbolic manifold $X_0$, the it is isometric to $X_0$ (we also give a direct, entropy-free proof of this fact). We compare with the classical theorems holding in the compact case, pointing out the main difficulties to extend them to finite volume manifolds.
In the spirit of Otal and Croke, we prove that a negatively-curved asymptotically hyperbolic surface is boundary distance rigid, where the distance between two points on the boundary at infinity is defined by a renormalized quantity.
Let $X, Y$ be complete, simply connected Riemannian surfaces with pinched negative curvature $-b^2 \leq K \leq -1$. We show that if $f : \partial X \to \partial Y$ is a Moebius homeomorphism between the boundaries at infinity of $X, Y$, then $f$ extends to an isometry $F : X \to Y$. This can be viewed as a generalization of Otal's marked length spectrum rigidity theorem for closed, negatively curved surfaces, in the sense that Otal's theorem asserts that if $X, Y$ admit properly discontinuous, cocompact, free actions by groups of isometries and the boundary map $f$ is Moebius and equivariant w…
Let $(X, g_0)$ be a simply connected, complete, negatively curved Riemannian manifold. We prove local and infinitesimal rigidity results for compactly supported deformations of the metric $g_0$. For any negatively curved metric $g$ equal to $g_0$ outside a compact, the identity map of $X$ induces a natural boundary map between the boundaries at infinity of $X$ with respect to $g_0$ and $g$. We show that if $(g_t)$ is a smooth 1-parameter family of negatively curved metrics all equal to $g_0$ outside a fixed compact then if all the boundary maps (between the boundaries of $X$ with respect to $g…
We show that an isometric action of a compact quantum group on the underlying geodesic metric space of a compact connected Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ with strictly negative curvature is automatically classical, in the sense that it factors through the action of the isometry group of $(M,g)$. This partially answers a question by D. Goswami.
We prove splitting theorems for mean convex open subsets in RCD (Riemannian curvature-dimension) spaces that extend results by Kasue, Croke and Kleiner for Riemannian manifolds with boundary to a non-smooth setting. A corollary is for instance Frankel's theorem. Then, we prove that our notion of mean curvature bounded from below for the boundary of an open subset is stable w.r.t. to uniform convergence of the corresponding boundary distance function. We apply this to prove almost rigidity theorems for uniform domains whose boundary has a lower mean curvature bound.
In this paper, we prove a version of the classical Cartan-Hadamard theorem for negatively curved manifolds, of dimension $n\neq 5$, with non-empty totally geodesic boundary. More precisely, if $M_1^n,M_2^n$ are any two such manifolds, we show that (1) $\partial ^\infty \tilde M_1^n$ is homeomorphic to $\partial ^\infty \tilde M_2^n$, and (2) $\tilde M_1^n$ is homeomorphic to $\tilde M_2^n$. As a sample application, we show that simple, thick, negatively curved P-manifolds of dimension $\geq 6$ are topologically rigid. We include some straightforward consequences of topological rigidity (diagra…
Let $N\subset GL(n,R)$ be the group of upper triangular matrices with $1$s on the diagonal, equipped with the standard Carnot group structure. We show that quasiconformal homeomorphisms between open subsets of $N$, and more generally Sobolev mappings with nondegenerate Pansu differential, are rigid when $n \geq 4$; this settles the Regularity Conjecture for such groups. This result is deduced from a rigidity theorem for the manifold of complete flags in $R^n$. Similar results also hold in the complex and quaternion cases.
We introduce the notion of a topological geodesic in a 3-manifold. Under suitable hypotheses on the fundamental group, for instance word-hyperbolicity, topological geodesics are shown to have the useful properties of, and play the same role in several applications as, geodesics in negatively curved spaces. This permits us to obtain virtual rigidity results for 3-manifolds.
Let $(X, g_0)$ be a complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold with sectional curvatures $K_{g_0}$ satisfying $-b^2 \leq K_{g_0} \leq -1$ for some $b \geq 1$. Let $g_1$ be a Riemannian metric on $X$ such that $g_1 = g_0$ outside a compact in $X$, and with sectional curvatures $K_{g_1}$ satisfying $K_{g_1} \leq -1$. The identity map $id : (X, g_0) \to (X, g_1)$ is bi-Lipschitz, and hence induces a homeomorphism between the boundaries at infinity of $(X, g_0)$ and $(X, g_1)$, which we denote by $\hat{id}_{g_0, g_1} : \partial_{g_0} X \to \partial_{g_1} X$. We show that if the boundary map $\…
This paper concerns with deformations of noncompact complex hyperbolic manifolds (with locally Bergman metric), varieties of discrete representations of their fundamental groups into $PU(n,1)$ and the problem of (quasiconformal) stability of deformations of such groups and manifolds in the sense of L.Bers and D.Sullivan. Despite Goldman-Millson-Yue rigidity results for such complex manifolds of infinite volume, we present different classes of such manifolds that allow non-trivial (quasi-Fuchsian) deformations and point out that such flexible manifolds have a common feature being Stein spaces. …
We define cusp-decomposable manifolds and prove smooth rigidity within this class of manifolds. These manifolds generally do not admit a nonpositively curved metric but can be decomposed into pieces that are diffeomorphic to finite volume, locally symmetric, negatively curved manifolds with cusps. We prove that the group of outer automorphisms of the fundamental group of such a manifold is an extension of an abelian group by a finite group. Elements of the abelian group are induced by diffeomorphisms that are analogous to Dehn twists in surface topology. We also prove that the outer automophis…
We classify all closed, aspherical Riemannian manifolds M whose universal cover has indiscrete isometry group. One sample application is the theorem that any such M with word-hyperbolic fundamental group must be isometric to a negatively curved, locally symmetric manifold. Another application is the classification of all contractible Riemannian manifolds covering both compact and (noncompact, complete) finite volume manifold. There are also applications to the Hopf Conjecture, a new proof of Kazhdan's Conjecture (Frankel's Theorem) in complex geometry, etc. Ideas in the proof come from Lie the…
Length spectral rigidity is the question of under what circumstances the geometry of a surface can be determined, up to isotopy, by knowing only the lengths of its closed geodesics. It is known that this can be done for negatively curved Riemannian surfaces, as well as for negatively-curved cone surfaces. Steps are taken toward showing that this holds also for flat cone surfaces, and it is shown that the lengths of closed geodesics are also enough to determine which of these three categories a geometric surface falls into. Techniques of Gromov, Bonahon, and Otal are explained and adapted, such…
In this paper, we prove a global rigidity theorem for negatively curved Finsler metrics on a compact manifold of dimension n>2. We show that for such a Finsler manifold, if the flag curvature is a scalar function on the tangent bundle, then the Finsler metric is of Randers type. We also study the case when the Finsler metric is locally projectively flat.
In this note, we study the radius of positively curved or non-negatively curved Alexandrov space with strictly convex boundary, with convexity measured by the Base-Angle defined by Alexander and Bishop. We also estimate the volume of the boundary of non-negatively curved spaces as well as the rigidity case, which can be thought as a non-negatively curved version of a recent result of Grove-Petersen.
In 2004, Taubes introduced the space of minimal hyperbolic germs with elements consisting of the first and second fundamental form of an equivariant immersed minimal disk in hyperbolic 3-space. Herein, we initiate a further study of this space by studying the behavior of a dynamically defined function which records the entropy of the geodesic flow on the associated Riemannian surface. We provide a useful estimate on this function which, in particular, yields a new proof of Bowen's theorem on the rigidity of the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set of quasi-Fuchsian groups. These follow from ne…
We compare critical exponent for quasi-Fuchsian groups acting on the hyperbolic 3-space, $\mathbb{H}^3$, and on invariant disks embedded in $\mathbb{H}^3$. We give a rigidity theorem for all embedded surfaces when the action is Fuchsian and a rigidity theorem for negatively curved surfaces when the action is quasi-Fuchsian.
We study deformations of complex hyperbolic surfaces which furnish the simplest examples of: (i) negatively curved Kähler manifolds and (ii) negatively curved Riemannian manifolds not having {\it constant} curvature. Although such complex surfaces may share the rigidity of quaternionic/octionic hyperbolic manifolds, our main goal is to show that they enjoy nevertheless the flexibility of low-dimensional real hyperbolic manifolds. Namely we define a class of ``bending" deformations of a given (Stein) complex surface $M$ associated with its closed geodesics provided that $M$ is homotopy equivale…
This short note is a mostly expository article examining negatively curved three-manifolds. We look at some rigidity properties related to isometric embeddings into Minkowski space. We also review the Cross Curvature Flow (XCF) as a tool to study the space of negatively curved metrics on hyperbolic three-manifolds, the largest and least understood class of model geometries in Thurston's Geometrisation. The relationship between integrability and embedability yields interesting insights, and we show that solutions with fixed Einstein volume are precisely the integrable solutions, answering a que…
We study the relationship between the Lyapunov exponents of the geodesic flow of a closed negatively curved manifold and the geometry of the manifold. We show that if each periodic orbit of the geodesic flow has exactly one Lyapunov exponent on the unstable bundle then the manifold has constant negative curvature. We also show under a curvature pinching condition that equality of all Lyapunov exponents with respect to volume on the unstable bundle also implies that the manifold has constant negative curvature. We then study the degree to which one can emulate these rigidity theorems for the hy…
Given a metric space X, one defines its Wasserstein space W2(X) as a set of sufficiently decaying probability measures on X endowed with a metric defined from optimal transportation. In this article, we continue the geometric study of W2(X) when X is a simply connected, nonpositively curved metric spaces by considering its isometry group. When X is Euclidean, the second named author proved that this isometry group is larger than the isometry group of X. In contrast, we prove here a rigidity result: when X is negatively curved, any isometry of W2(X) comes from an isometry of X.
This article is the second in a series of two whose aim is to extend a recent result of Guillarmou-Lefeuvre [arXiv:1806.04218] on the local rigidity of the marked length spectrum from the case of compact negatively-curved Riemannian manifolds to the case of manifolds with hyperbolic cusps. We deal with the nonlinear version of the problem and prove that such manifolds are locally rigid for nonlinear perturbations of the metric that slightly decrease at infinity. Our proof relies on the linear theory addressed in [arXiv:1907.01809] and on a careful analytic study of the generalized X-ray transf…
This paper presents a rank rigidity result for negatively curved spaces. Let $M$ be a compact manifold with negative sectional curvature and suppose that along every geodesic in $M$ there is a parallel vector field making curvature $-a^2$ with the geodesic direction. We prove that $M$ has constant curvature equal to $-a^2$ if $M$ is odd dimensional, or if $M$ is even dimensional and has sectional curvature pinched as follows: $-Λ^2 < K < -λ^2$ where $λ/Λ> .93$. When $a$ is extremal, i.e. $-a^2$ is the curvature minimum or maximum for the manifold, this result is analogous to rank rigidity resu…
This paper is the first in a series of two articles whose aim is to extend a recent result of Guillarmou-Lefeuvre on the local rigidity of the marked length spectrum from the case of compact negatively-curved Riemannian manifolds to the case of manifolds with hyperbolic cusps. In this first paper, we deal with the linear (or infinitesimal) version of the problem and prove that such manifolds are spectrally rigid for compactly supported deformations. More precisely, we prove that the X-ray transform on symmetric solenoidal 2-tensors is injective. In order to do so, we expand the microlocal calc…
Gromov-Hausdorff Stability and Rigidity of manifolds via Heisenberg-Pauli-Weyl Uncertainty Principle
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune（印度科学教育与研究学院浦那分校）；Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre（印度统计学院德里中心）；Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（塔塔基础研究所）
