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 theory, the homological theory of transformation groups, harmonic maps, and large-scale geometry. An extension to the non-aspherical case is also given.
We study the rigidity of complete, embedded constant mean curvature surfaces in R^3. Among other things, we prove that when such a surface has finite genus, then intrinsic isometries of the surface extend to isometries of R^3 or its isometry group contains an index two subgroup of isometries that extend.
We prove quantitative stability of isometries on the first Heisenberg group with sub-Riemannian geometry: every $ (1+ \varepsilon)$-quasi-isometry of the John domain of the Heisenberg group $ \mathbb {H} $ is close to some isometry with order of closeness $ \sqrt{\varepsilon} + \varepsilon $ in the uniform norm and with order of closeness $ \varepsilon $ in the Sobolev norm $L_2^1$. Homogeneous dilations show the asymptotic sharpness of the results.
Almost-isometries are quasi-isometries with multiplicative constant one. Lifting a pair of metrics on a compact space gives quasi-isometric metrics on the universal cover. Under some additional hypotheses on the metrics, we show that there is no almost-isometry between the universal covers. We show that Riemannian manifolds which are almost-isometric have the same volume growth entropy. We establish various rigidity results as applications.
We investigate the local deformation space of 3-dimensional cone-manifold structures of constant curvature $κ\in \{-1,0,1\}$ and cone-angles $\leq π$. Under this assumption on the cone-angles the singular locus will be a trivalent graph. In the hyperbolic and the spherical case our main result is a vanishing theorem for the first $L^2$-cohomology group of the smooth part of the cone-manifold with coefficients in the flat bundle of infinitesimal isometries. We conclude local rigidity from this. In the Euclidean case we prove that the first $L^2$-cohomology group of the smooth part with coeffici…
Let $M$ be a pseudo-Hermitian homogeneous space of finite volume. We show that $M$ is compact and the identity component $G$ of the group of holomorphic isometries of $M$ is compact. If $M$ is simply connected, then even the full group of holomorphic isometries is compact. These results stem from a careful analysis of the Tits fibration of $M$, which is shown to have a torus as its fiber. The proof builds on foundational results on the automorphisms groups of compact almost pseudo-Hermitian homogeneous spaces. It is known that a compact homogeneous pseudo-Kähler manifold splits as a product of…
We define a complete Riemannian manifold X to be large-scale conformally rigid if all groups that are quasi-isometric to some complete Riemannian manifold of bounded geometry conformal to X are quasi-isometric to X. We prove that many 3-manifolds, including Euclidean 3-space, hyperbolic 3-space and the product of the hyperbolic plane with the real line are large-scale conformally rigid. This implies new characterizations of groups that can act properly, cocompactly by isometries on those manifolds.
Let $M$ be a compact connected pseudo-Riemannian manifold on which a solvable connected Lie group $G$ of isometries acts transitively. We show that $G$ acts almost freely on $M$ and that the metric on $M$ is induced by a bi-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric on $G$. Furthermore, we show that the identity component of the isometry group of $M$ coincides with $G$.
Let $(X,d,\mathfrak{m})$ be a metric measure space. The study of the Wasserstein space $(\mathbb{P}_p(X),\mathbb{W}_p)$ associated to $X$ has proved useful in describing several geometrical properties of $X.$ In this paper we focus on the study of isometries of $\mathbb{P}_p(X)$ for $p \in (1,\infty)$ under the assumption that there is some characterization of optimal maps between measures, the so called Good transport behaviour $GTB_p$. Our first result states that the set of Dirac deltas is invariant under isometries of the Wasserstein space. Additionally we obtain that the isometry groups o…
In this paper the notion of Measure Equivalence (ME) of countable groups is studied. ME was introduced by Gromov as a measure-theoretic analog of quasi-isometries. All lattices in the same locally compact group are Measure Equivalent; this is one of the motivations for this notion. The main result of this paper is ME rigidity of higher rank lattices: any countable group which is ME to a lattice in a simple Lie group G of higher rank, is commensurable to a lattice in G.
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…
We prove a Milnor-Wood inequality for representations of the fundamental group of a compact complex hyperbolic manifold in the group of isometries of quaternionic hyperbolic space. Of special interest is the case of equality, and its application to rigidity. We show that equality can only be achieved for totally geodesic representations, thereby establishing a global rigidity theorem for totally geodesic representations.
If a compact quantum group acts faithfully and smoothly (in the sense of Goswami 2009) on a smooth, compact, oriented, connected Riemannian manifold such that the action induces a natural bimodule morphism on the module of sections of the co-tangent bundle, then it is proved that the quantum group is necessarily commutative as a $C^{*}$ algebra i.e. isomorphic with $ C(G)$ for some compact group $G$. From this, we deduce that the quantum isometry group of such a manifold M coincides with $C(ISO(M))$ where $ISO(M) $ is the group of (classical) isometries, i.e. there is no genuine quantum isomet…
We prove two rigidity theorems for maps between Riemannian manifolds. First, we prove that a Lipschitz map $f:M\to N$ between two oriented Riemannian manifolds, whose differential is almost everywhere an orientation-preserving isometry, is an isometric immersion. This theorem was previously proved using regularity theory for conformal maps; we give a new, simple proof, by generalizing the Piola identity for the cofactor operator. Second, we prove that if there exists a sequence of mapping $f_n:M\to N$, whose differentials converge in $L^p$ to the set of orientation-preserving isometries, then …
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 study the isometry group of a globally hyperbolic spatially compact Lorentz surface. Such a group acts on the circle, and we show that when the isometry group acts non properly, the subgroups of $\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{S}^1)$ obtained are semi conjugate to subgroups of finite covers of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ by using convergence groups. Under an assumption on the conformal boundary, we show that we have a conjugacy in $\mathrm{Homeo}(\mathbb{S}^1)$.
Given any two Kähler manifolds $X_1$ and $X_2$, L. Lempert recently proved that if their spaces of Kähler potentials are isometric with respect to the Mabuchi metric, then $X_1$ and $X_2$ must be diffeomorphic. We prove that this is no longer the case for Sasaki manifolds. Then, considering regular Sasaki manifolds $M_1$ and $M_2$, we prove that if the spaces of potentials are isometric, then $M_1$ and $M_2$ must have, among others, the same universal covering space. Finally, getting rid of the regularity assumption on $M_1$ and $M_2$, we investigate the consequences of the existence of affine…
We discuss the rigidity (or lack thereof) imposed by different notions of having an abundance of zero curvature planes on a complete Riemannian 3-manifold. We prove a rank rigidity theorem for complete 3-manifolds, showing that having higher rank is equivalent to having reducible universal covering. We also study 3-manifolds such that every tangent vector is contained in a flat plane, including examples with irreducible universal covering, and discuss the effect of finite volume and real-analiticity assumptions.
In this note we give a short proof to the rigidity of volume entropy. The result says that for a closed manifold with Ricci curvature bounded from below, if the universal cover has maximal volume entropy, then it is the space form. This theorem was first proved by F. Ledrappier and X. Wang in [1].
For a k-flat F inside a locally compact CAT(0)-space X, we identify various conditions that ensure that F bounds a (k+1)-dimensional half flat in X. Our conditions are formulated in terms of the ultralimit of X. As applications, we obtain (1) constraints on the behavior of quasi-isometries between tocally compact CAT(0)-spaces, (2) constraints on the possible non-positively curved Riemannian metrics supported by certain manifolds, and (3) a correspondence between metric splittings of a complete, simply connected, non-positively curved Riemannian manifold and the metric splittings of its asympt…
We study compact complex 3-manifolds admitting holomorphic Riemannian metrics. We prove a uniformization result: up to a finite unramified cover, such a manifold admits a holomorphic Riemannian metric of constant sectionnal curvature.
This is the second paper of two in a series under the same title ([CRX]); both study the quantitative volume space form rigidity conjecture: a closed $n$-manifold of Ricci curvature at least $(n-1)H$, $H=\pm 1$ or $0$ is diffeomorphic to a $H$-space form if for every ball of definite size on $M$, the lifting ball on the Riemannian universal covering space of the ball achieves an almost maximal volume, provided the diameter of $M$ is bounded for $H\ne 1$. In [CRX], we verified the conjecture for the case that $M$ or its Riemannian universal covering space $\tilde M$ is not collapsed for $H=1$ o…
We characterize the universal covering of connected analytic pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which admit a non-trivial and isometric action of the simple Lie group $SL(3,\mathbb{R})$ with a dense orbit preserving a finite volume. If such manifold is also weakly irreducible we prove that $M$ is isometric to, or a quotient space of, a simple Lie group containing $SL(3,\mathbb{R})$.
We generalize the higher rank rigidity theorem to a class of Finsler spaces, i.e. Berwald spaces. More precisely, we prove that a complete connected Berwald space of finite volume and bounded nonpositive flag curvature with rank at least $2$ whose universal cover is irreducible, is a locally symmetric space or a locally Minkowski space.
We give a sharp upper bound for the area of a minimal two-sphere in a three-manifold (M,g) with positive scalar curvature. If equality holds, we show that the universal cover of (M,g) is isometric to a cylinder.
This survey aims to cover the motivation for and history of the study of local rigidity of group actions. There is a particularly detailed discussion of recent results, including outlines of some proofs. The article ends with a large number of conjectures and open questions and aims to point to interesting directions for future research. {\em To Anatole Katok on the occasion of his 60th birthday.}
In this paper, we introduce a particularly nice family of locally CAT(-1) spaces, which we call hyperbolic P-manifolds. For $X^3$ a simple, thick hyperbolic P-manifold of dimension 3, we show that certain subsets of the boundary at infinity of the universal cover of $X^3$ are characterized topologically. Straightforward consequences include a version of Mostow rigidity, as well as quasi-isometric rigidity for these spaces.
University of Santiago de Compostela（圣地亚哥德孔波斯特拉大学）；Instituto de Matemática y Estadística Rafael Laguardia, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de la República（拉斐尔·拉瓜迪亚数学与统计研究所，工程学院，共和国大学）；Instituto de Matemáticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（数学研究所，墨西哥国立自治大学）
On a closed connected oriented manifold $M$ we study the space $\mathcal{M}_\|(M)$ of all Riemannian metrics which admit a non-zero parallel spinor on the universal covering. Such metrics are Ricci-flat, and all known Ricci-flat metrics are of this form. We show the following: The space $\mathcal{M}_\|(M)$ is a smooth submanifold of the space of all metrics, and its premoduli space is a smooth finite-dimensional manifold. The holonomy group is locally constant on $\mathcal{M}_\|(M)$. If $M$ is spin, then the dimension of the space of parallel spinors is a locally constant function on $\mathcal…
Let $M$ be a finite volume analytic pseudo-Riemannian manifold that admits an isometric $G$-action with a dense orbit, where $G$ is a connected non-compact simple Lie group. For low-dimensional $M$, i.e. $\dim(M) < 2\dim(G)$, when the normal bundle to the $G$-orbits is non-integrable and for suitable conditions, we prove that $M$ has a $G$-invariant metric which is locally isometric to a Lie group with a bi-invariant metric (local rigidity theorem). The latter does not require $M$ to be complete as in previous works. We also prove a general result showing that $M$ is, up to a finite covering, …
We give an alternative proof of a result of Cantat and Dupont, showing that any automorphism of a K3 surface with measure of maximal entropy in the Lebesgue class must be a Kummer example. Our method exploits the existence of Ricci-flat metrics on K3s and also covers the non-projective case.
In this paper we generalize the main result of [4] for manifolds that are not necessarily Einstein. In fact, we obtain an upper bound for the volume of a locally volume-minimizing closed hypersurface $Σ$ of a Riemannian 5-manifold $M$ with scalar curvature bounded from below by a positive constant in terms of the total traceless Ricci curvature of $Σ$. Furthermore, if $Σ$ saturates the respective upper bound and $M$ has nonnegative Ricci curvature, then $Σ$ is isometric to $\mathbb{S}^4$ up to scaling and $M$ splits in a neighborhood of $Σ$. Also, we obtain a rigidity result for the Riemannian…
In \cite{LiWang2001complete1,LiWang2001complete2}, Li-Wang proved a splitting theorem for an n-dimensional Riemannian manifold with $Ric\geqslant -(n-1)$ and the bottom of spectrum $λ_0(M)=\frac{(n-1)^2}{4}$. For an n-dimensional compact manifold $M$ with $Ric\geqslant-(n-1)$ with the volume entropy $h(M)=n-1$, Ledrappier-Wang \cite{LeW2010volent} proved that the universal cover $\tilde{M}$ is isometric to the hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^n$. We will prove analogue theorems for Alexandrov spaces.
The Cartan-Hadamard conjecture states that, on every $n$-dimensional Cartan-Hadamard manifold $ \mathbb{M}^n $, the isoperimetric inequality holds with Euclidean optimal constant, and any set attaining equality is necessarily isometric to a Euclidean ball. This conjecture was settled, with positive answer, for $n \le 4$. It was also shown that its validity in dimension $n$ ensures that every $p$-Sobolev inequality ($ 1 < p < n $) holds on $ \mathbb{M}^n $ with Euclidean optimal constant. In this paper we address the problem of classifying all Cartan-Hadamard manifolds supporting an optimal fun…
