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 consider a closed odd-dimensional oriented manifold $M$ together with an acyclic flat hermitean vector bundle $\cF$. We form the trivial fibre bundle with fibre $M$ over the manifold of all Riemannian metrics on $M$. It has a natural flat connection and a vertical Riemannian metric. The higher analytic torsion form of Bismut/Lott associated to the situation is invariant with respect to the connected component of the identity of the diffeomorphism group of $M$. Using that the space of Riemannian metrics is contractible we define continuous cohomology classes of the diffeomorphism group and i…
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.
Suppose that $M$ is a connected orientable $n$-dimensional manifold and $m>2n$. If $H^i(M,\R)=0$ for $i>0$, it is proved that for each $m$ there is a monomorphism $H^m(W_n,\on{O}(n))\to H^m_{\on{cont}}(\on{Diff}M,\R)$. If $M$ is closed and oriented, it is proved that for each $m$ there is a monomorphism $H^m(W_n,\on{O}(n))\to H^{m-n}_{\on{cont}}(\on{Diff}_+M,\R)$, where $\on{Diff}_+M$ is a group of preserving orientation diffeomorphisms of $M$.
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 diffeomorphis…
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 $M^3$.
Let $M$ be a manifold and $T^*M$ be the cotangent bundle. We introduce a 1-cocycle on the group of diffeomorphisms of $M$ with values in the space of linear differential operators acting on $C^{\infty} (T^*M).$ When $M$ is the $n$-dimensional sphere, $S^n$, we use this 1-cocycle to compute the first-cohomology group of the group of diffeomorphisms of $S^n$, with coefficients in the space of linear differential operators acting on contravariant tensor fields.
Let $M$ be a smooth manifold and $Γ$ a group acting on $M$ by diffeomorphisms; which means that there is a group morphism $ρ:Γ\rightarrow \mathrm{Diff}(M)$ from $Γ$ to the group of diffeomorphisms of $M$. For any such action we associate a cohomology $\mathrm{H}(Ω(M)_Γ)$ which we call the cohomology of $Γ$-coinvariant forms. This is the cohomology of the graded vector space generated by the differentiable forms $ω-ρ(γ)^*ω$ where $ω$ is a differential form with compact support and $γ\in Γ$. The present paper is an introduction to the study of this cohomology. More precisely, we study the relati…
We study some relation between some geometrically defined classes of diffeomorphisms between manifolds and the $L_{q,p}$-cohomology of these manifolds. Some applications to vanishing and non vanishing results in $L_{q,p}$-cohomology are given.
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…
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 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…
Using the higher analytic torsion form of Bismut and Lott we construct a characteristic class for smooth sphere bundles. We calculate this class in the case where the sphere bundle comes from a complex vector bundle. Related to these characteristic classes we define nontrivial continuous group cohomology classes of the diffeomorphism group of odd dimensional spheres.
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.
Let $M$ be a smooth manifold. When $Γ$ is a group acting on the manifold $M$ by diffeomorphisms one can define the $Γ$-co-invariant cohomology of $M$ to be the cohomology of the differential complex $Ω_c(M)_Γ=\mathrm{span}\{ω-γ^*ω,\;ω\inΩ_c(M),\;γ\inΓ\}.$ For a Lie algebra $\mathcal{G}$ acting on the manifold $M$, one defines the cohomology of $\mathcal{G}$-divergence forms to be the cohomology of the complex $\mathcal{C}_{\mathcal{G}}(M)=\mathrm{span}\{L_Xω,\;ω\inΩ_c(M),\;X\in\mathcal{G}\}.$ In this short paper we present a situation where these two cohomologies are infinite dimensional.
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…
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…
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 a cyclic cohomological analogue of Haefliger's van Est-type theorem for the groupoid of germs of diffeomorphisms of a manifold. The differentiable version of cyclic cohomology is associated to the algebra of transverse differential operators on that groupoid, which is shown to carry an intrinsic Hopf algebraic structure. We establish a canonical isomorphism between the periodic Hopf cyclic cohomology of this extended Hopf algebra and the Gelfand-Fuchs cohomology of the Lie algebra of formal vector fields. We then show that this isomorphism can be explicitly implemented at the cochain …
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 calculate the cohomology rings of a collection of seven dimensional manifolds supporting an S^3 x S^3-action with one dimensional orbit space. These manifolds are of interest to differential geometers studying non-negative and positive sectional curvature. From this collection, we identify several families of manifolds for which there exist well-known topological invariants distinguishing homeomorphism and diffeomorphism types.
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…
I construct the real counterparts (which I call Borel-Bott classes) of the R/Z classes constructed in "Characteristic classes in symplectic topology", to appear, in the cohomology of volume-preserving and symplectomorhisms of a compact (symplectic) manifold.I show that, for the symplectic action of the mapping class group in the moduli space of stable vector bundles over a Riemann surface, the restriction of the first constructed class from the symplectomorphism group gives a generator for the second (bounded) cohomology of the mapping class group.
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.
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 show that various classes of products of manifolds do not support transitive Anosov diffeomorphisms. Exploiting the Ruelle-Sullivan cohomology class, we prove that the product of a negatively curved manifold with a rational homology sphere does not support transitive Anosov diffeomorphisms. We extend this result to products of finitely many negatively curved manifolds of dimensions at least three with a rational homology sphere that has vanishing simplicial volume. As an application of this study, we obtain new examples of manifolds that do not support transitive Anosov diffeomorphisms, inc…