We define a manifold $M$ where objects $c\in M$ are curves, which we parameterize as $c:S^1\to R^n$ ($n\ge 2$, $S^1$ is the circle). Given a curve $c$, we define the tangent space $T_cM$ of $M$ at $c$ including in it all deformations $h:S^1\to R^n$ of $c$. In this paper we study geometries on the manifold of curves, provided by Sobolev--type metrics $H^j$. We study $H^j$ type metrics for the cases $j=1,2$; we prove estimates, and characterize the completion of the space of smooth curves. As a bonus, we prove that the Fréchet distance of curves (see arXiv:math.DG/0312384) coincides with the distance induced by the ``Finsler $L^\infinity$ metric'' defined in \S2.2 in arXiv:math.DG/0412454.
We study completeness properties of Sobolev metrics on the space of immersed curves and on the shape space of unparametrized curves. We show that Sobolev metrics of order $n\geq 2$ are metrically complete on the space $\mathcal I^n(S^1,\mathbb R^d)$ of Sobolev immersions of the same regularity and that any two curves in the same connected component can be joined by a minimizing geodesic. These results then imply that the shape space of unparametrized curves has the structure of a complete length space.
In this article we prove completeness results for Sobolev metrics with nonconstant coefficients on the space of immersed curves and on the space of unparametrized curves. We provide necessary as well as sufficient conditions for the coefficients of the Riemannian metric for the metric to be metrically complete and we construct examples of incomplete metrics. This work is an extension of previous work on completeness of Sobolev metrics with constant coefficients.
In continuation of [3] we discuss metrics of the form $$ G^P_f(h,k)=\int_M \sum_{i=0}^pΦ_i(\Vol(f)) \g((P_i)_fh,k) \vol(f^*\g) $$ on the space of immersions $\Imm(M,N)$ and on shape space $B_i(M,N)=\Imm(M,N)/\on{Diff}(M)$. Here $(N,\g)$ is a complete Riemannian manifold, $M$ is a compact manifold, $f:M\to N$ is an immersion, $h$ and $k$ are tangent vectors to $f$ in the space of immersions, $f^*\g$ is the induced Riemannian metric on $M$, $\vol(f^*\g)$ is the induced volume density on $M$, $\Vol(f)=\int_M\vol(f^*\g)$, $Φ_i$ are positive real-valued functions, and $(P_i)_f$ are operators like s…
Many procedures in science, engineering and medicine produce data in the form of geometric shapes. Mathematically, a shape can be modeled as an un-parameterized immersed sub-manifold, which is the notion of shape used here. Endowing shape space with a Riemannian metric opens up the world of Riemannian differential geometry with geodesics, gradient flows and curvature. Unfortunately, the simplest such metric induces vanishing path-length distance on shape space. This discovery by Michor and Mumford was the starting point to a quest for stronger, meaningful metrics that should be able to disting…
We study properties of Sobolev-type metrics on the space of immersed plane curves. We show that the geodesic equation for Sobolev-type metrics with constant coefficients of order 2 and higher is globally well-posed for smooth initial data as well as initial data in certain Sobolev spaces. Thus the space of closed plane curves equipped with such a metric is geodesically complete. We find lower bounds for the geodesic distance in terms of curvature and its derivatives.
For a closed symplectic manifold $(M,ω)$ with compatible Riemannian metric $g$ we study the Sobolev $H^1$ geometry of the group of all $H^s$ diffeomorphisms on $M$ which preserve the symplectic structure. We show that, for sufficiently large $s$, the $H^1$ metric admits globally defined geodesics and the corresponding exponential map is a non-linear Fredholm map of index zero. Finally, we show that the $H^1$ metric carries conjugate points via some simple examples.
We study the geodesic distance induced by right-invariant metrics on the group $\operatorname{Diff}_c(M)$ of compactly supported diffeomorphisms of a manifold $M$, and show that it vanishes for the critical Sobolev norms $W^{s,n/s}$, where $n$ is the dimension of $M$ and $s\in(0,1)$. This completes the proof that the geodesic distance induced by $W^{s,p}$ vanishes if $sp\le n$ and $s<1$, and is positive otherwise. The proof is achieved by combining the techniques of two recent papers --- [JM19] by the authors, which treated the sub-critical case, and [BHP18] of Bauer, Harms and Preston, which …
We study the geodesic distance induced by right-invariant metrics on the group $\operatorname{Diff}_\text{c}(M)$ of compactly supported diffeomorphisms, for various Sobolev norms $W^{s,p}$. Our main result is that the geodesic distance vanishes identically on every connected component whenever $s<\min\{n/p,1\}$, where $n$ is the dimension of $M$. We also show that previous results imply that whenever $s > n/p$ or $s \ge 1$, the geodesic distance is always positive. In particular, when $n\ge 2$, the geodesic distance vanishes if and only if $s<1$ in the Riemannian case $p=2$, contrary to a conj…
The geodesic distance vanishes on the group of compactly supported diffeomorphisms of a Riemannian manifold $M$ of bounded geometry, for the right invariant weak Riemannian metric which is induced by the Sobolev metric $H^s$ of order $0\le s<\tfrac12$ on the Lie algebra $\mathfrak X_c(M)$ of vector fields with compact support.
The group $\text{Diff}(\mathcal{M})$ of diffeomorphisms of a closed manifold $\mathcal{M}$ is naturally equipped with various right-invariant Sobolev norms $W^{s,p}$. Recent work showed that for sufficiently weak norms, the geodesic distance collapses completely (namely, when $sp\le \text{dim}\mathcal{M}$ and $s<1$). But when there is no collapse, what kind of metric space is obtained? In particular, does it have a finite or infinite diameter? This is the question we study in this paper. We show that the diameter is infinite for strong enough norms, when $(s-1)p\ge \text{dim}\mathcal{M}$, and …
Given a finite dimensional manifold $N$, the group $\operatorname{Diff}_{\mathcal S}(N)$ of diffeomorphism of $N$ which fall suitably rapidly to the identity, acts on the manifold $B(M,N)$ of submanifolds on $N$ of diffeomorphism type $M$ where $M$ is a compact manifold with $\dim M<\dim N$. For a right invariant weak Riemannian metric on $\operatorname{Diff}_{\mathcal S}(N)$ induced by a quite general operator $L:\frak X_{\mathcal S}(N)\to Γ(T^*N\otimes\operatorname{vol}(N))$, we consider the induced weak Riemannian metric on $B(M,N)$ and we compute its geodesics and sectional curvature. For …
We consider spaces of smooth immersed plane curves (modulo translations and/or rotations), equipped with reparameterization invariant weak Riemannian metrics involving second derivatives. This includes the full $H^2$-metric without zero order terms. We find isometries (called $R$-transforms) from some of these spaces into function spaces with simpler weak Riemannian metrics, and we use this to give explicit formulas for geodesics, geodesic distances, and sectional curvatures. We also show how to utilise the isometries to compute geodesics numerically.
On the manifold $\Met(M)$ of all Riemannian metrics on a compact manifold $M$ one can consider the natural $L^2$-metric as described first by \cite{Ebin70}. In this paper we consider variants of this metric which in general are of higher order. We derive the geodesic equations, we show that they are well-posed under some conditions and induce a locally diffeomorphic geodesic exponential mapping. We give a condition when Ricci flow is a gradient flow for one of these metrics.
We find maximal representatives within equivalence classes of metric spheres. For Ahlfors regular spheres these are uniquely characterized by satisfying the seemingly unrelated notions of Sobolev-to-Lipschitz property, or volume rigidity. We also apply our construction to solutions of the Plateau problem in metric spaces and obtain a variant of the associated intrinsic disc studied by Lytchak--Wenger, which satisfies a related maximality condition.
Motivated by applications in the field of shape analysis, we study reparametrization invariant, fractional order Sobolev-type metrics on the space of smooth regular curves $\operatorname{Imm}(S^1,\mathbb{R}^d)$ and on its Sobolev completions $\mathcal{I}^{q}(S^1,\mathbb{R}^{d})$. We prove local well-posedness of the geodesic equations both on the Banach manifold $\mathcal{I}^{q}(S^1,\mathbb{R}^{d})$ and on the Fréchet-manifold $\operatorname{Imm}(S^1,\mathbb{R}^d)$ provided the order of the metric is greater or equal to one. In addition we show that the $H^s$-metric induces a strong Riemannian…
We obtain a compact Sobolev embedding for $H$-invariant functions in compact metric-measure spaces, where $H$ is a subgroup of the measure preserving bijections. In Riemannian manifolds, $H$ is a subgroup of the volume preserving diffeomorphisms: a compact embedding for the critical exponents follows. The results can be viewed as an extension of Sobolev embeddings of functions invariant under isometries in compact manifolds.
In this article we study Sobolev metrics of order one on diffeomorphism groups on the real line. We prove that the space $\operatorname{Diff}_{1}(\mathbb R)$ equipped with the homogenous Sobolev metric of order one is a flat space in the sense of Riemannian geometry, as it is isometric to an open subset of a mapping space equipped with the flat $L^2$-metric. Here $\operatorname{Diff}_{1}(\mathbb R)$ denotes the extension of the group of all either compactly supported, rapidly decreasing or $H^\infty$-diffeomorphisms, that allows for a shift towards infinity. In particular this result provides …
We consider a bounded domain $Ω$ of $\mathbb{R}^N$, $N\geq 3$, and $h$ a continuous function on $Ω$. Let $Γ$ be a closed curve contained in $Ω$. We study existence of positive solutions $u\in H^1_0(Ω)$ to the equation $$ -Δu+h u=ρ^{-σ}_Γu^{2^*_σ-1} \qquad \textrm{ in } Ω$$ where $2^*_σ:=\frac{2(N-σ)}{N-2}$, $σ\in (0,2)$, and $ρ_Γ$ is the distance function to $Γ$. For $N\geq 4$, we find a sufficient condition, given by the local geometry of the curve, for the existence of a ground-state solution. In the case $N=3$, we obtain existence of ground-state solution provided the trace of the regular p…
In this article we investigate a first order reparametrization-invariant Sobolev metric on the space of immersed curves. Motivated by applications in shape analysis where discretizations of this infinite-dimensional space are needed, we extend this metric to the space of Lipschitz curves, establish the wellposedness of the geodesic equation thereon, and show that the space of piecewise linear curves is a totally geodesic submanifold. Thus, piecewise linear curves are natural finite elements for the discretization of the geodesic equation. Interestingly, geodesics in this space can be seen as s…
We consider the results of combining two approaches developed for the design of Riemannian metrics on curves and surfaces, namely parametrization-invariant metrics of the Sobolev type on spaces of immersions, and metrics derived through Riemannian submersions from right-invariant Sobolev metrics on groups of diffeomorphisms (the latter leading to the "large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping" framework). We show that this quite simple approach inherits the advantages of both methods, both on the theoretical and experimental levels, and provide additional flexibility and modeling power, e…
Let $F : H^q \to H^q$ be a $C^k$-map between Sobolev spaces, either on $\mathbb R^d$ or on a compact manifold. We show that equivariance of $F$ under the diffeomorphism group allows to trade regularity of $F$ as a nonlinear map for regularity in the image space: for $0 \leq l \leq k$, the map $F: H^{q+l} \to H^{q+l}$ is well-defined and of class $C^{k-l}$. This result is used to study the regularity of the geodesic boundary value problem for Sobolev metrics on the diffeomorphism group and the space of curves.
We consider asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds whose metrics have Sobolev-class regularity, and introduce several technical tools for studying PDEs on such manifolds. Our results employ two novel families of function spaces suitable for metrics potentially having a large amount of interior differentiability, but whose Sobolev regularity implies only a Hölder continuous conformal structure at infinity. We establish Fredholm theorems for elliptic operators arising from metrics in these families. To demonstrate the utility of our methods, we solve the Yamabe problem in this category. As a specia…
Many conservative partial differential equations correspond to geodesic equations on groups of diffeomorphisms. Stability of their solutions can be studied by examining sectional curvature of these groups: negative curvature in all sections implies exponential growth of perturbations and hence suggests instability, while positive curvature suggests stability. In the first part of the paper we survey what we currently know about the curvature-stability relation in this context and provide detailed calculations for several equations of continuum mechanics associated to Sobolev $H^0$ and $H^1$ en…
We prove that the set of closed finite gap curves in hyperbolic 3-space $\mathbb{H}^3$ is $W^{2,2}$-dense in the Sobolev space of all closed $W^{2,2}$-curves in $\mathbb{H}^3$. We also show that the set of closed finite gap curves in any 2-dimensional space form $\mathbb{E}^2$ is $W^{2,2}$-dense in the Sobolev space of all closed $W^{2,2}$-curves in $\mathbb{E}^2$.
A Numerical Framework for Sobolev Metrics on the Space of Curves
Florida State University（佛罗里达州立大学）；TU Wien（维也纳工业大学）；Brunel University London（布鲁内尔伦敦大学）；Freiburg University（弗赖堡大学）；Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学）
We study Sobolev-type metrics of fractional order $s\geq0$ on the group $\Diff_c(M)$ of compactly supported diffeomorphisms of a manifold $M$. We show that for the important special case $M=S^1$ the geodesic distance on $\Diff_c(S^1)$ vanishes if and only if $s\leq\frac12$. For other manifolds we obtain a partial characterization: the geodesic distance on $\Diff_c(M)$ vanishes for $M=\R\times N, s<\frac12$ and for $M=S^1\times N, s\leq\frac12$, with $N$ being a compact Riemannian manifold. On the other hand the geodesic distance on $\Diff_c(M)$ is positive for $\dim(M)=1, s>\frac12$ and $\dim(…
We introduce a family of conformal invariants associated to a smooth metric measure space which generalize the relationship between the Yamabe constant and the best constant for the Sobolev inequality to the best constants for Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequalities $\|w\r|_q \leq C\|\nabla w\|_2^θ\|w\|_p^{1-θ}$. These invariants are constructed via a minimization procedure for the weighted scalar curvature functional in the conformal class of a smooth metric measure space. We then describe critical points which are also critical points for variations in the metric or the measure. When the me…
Let $M$ and $N$ be connected manifolds without boundary with $\dim(M) < \dim(N)$, and let $M$ compact. Then shape space in this work is either the manifold of submanifolds of $N$ that are diffeomorphic to $M$, or the orbifold of unparametrized immersions of $M$ in $N$. We investigate the Sobolev Riemannian metrics on shape space: These are induced by metrics of the following form on the space of immersions: $$ G^P_f(h,k) = \int_{M} \g(P^f h, k)\, \vol(f^*\g)$$ where $\g$ is some fixed metric on $N$, $f^*\g$ is the induced metric on $M$, $h,k \in Γ(f^*TN)$ are tangent vectors at $f$ to the spac…
Given a probability measure $μ$ supported on a convex subset $Ω$ of Euclidean space $(\mathbb{R}^d,g_0)$, we are interested in obtaining Poincaré and log-Sobolev type inequalities on $(Ω,g_0,μ)$. To this end, we change the metric $g_0$ to a more general Riemannian one $g$, adapted in a certain sense to $μ$, and perform our analysis on $(Ω,g,μ)$. The types of metrics we consider are Hessian metrics (intimately related to associated optimal-transport problems), product metrics (which are very useful when $μ$ is unconditional, i.e. invariant under reflection with respect to the principle hyperpla…
We consider the formation of singularities along the Calabi flow with the assumption of the uniform Sobolev constant. In particular, on Kähler surface we show that any "maximal bubble" has to be a scalar flat ALE Kähler metric. In some certain classes on toric Fano surface, the Sobolev constant is a priori bounded along the Calabi flow with small Calabi energy. Also we can show in certain case no maximal bubble can form along the flow, it follows that the curvature tensor is uniformly bounded and the flow exists for all time and converges to an extremal metric subsequently. To illustrate our r…
We establish Sobolev type inequalities in the noncommutative settings by generalizing monotone metrics in the space of quantum states, such as matrix-valued Beckner inequalities. We also discuss examples such as random transpositions and Bernoulli-Laplace models.
