We prove the Morse relations for the set of all geodesics connecting two non-conjugate points on a class of globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. We overcome the difficulties coming from the fact that the Morse index of every geodesic is infinite, and from the lack of the Palais-Smale condition, by using the Morse complex approach.
Given a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$, a geodesic $γ$ in $M$ and a timelike Jacobi field $\mathcal Y$ along $γ$, we introduce a special class of instants along $γ$ that we call $\mathcal Y$-pseudo conjugate (or focal relatively to some initial orthogonal submanifold). We prove that the $\mathcal Y$-pseudo conjugate instants form a finite set, and their number equals the Morse index of (a suitable restriction of) the index form. This gives a Riemannian-like Morse index theorem. As special cases of the theory, we will consider geodesics in stationary and static Lorentzian manifolds, where the Jaco…
We determine, for all three-dimensional non-unimodular Lie groups equipped with a Lorentzian metric, the set of homogeneous geodesics through a point. Together with the results of [C] and [CM2], this leads to the full classification of three-dimensional Lorentzian g.o. spaces and naturally reductive spaces.
We give the details of the proof of the equality between the critical groups, with respect the H^1 and C^1 topology, at a non-degenerate critical point of the energy functional of a non-reversible Finsler manifold (M,F), defined on the Hilbert manifold of the H^1 curves connecting two given points on M.
Some results related to the causality of compact Lorentzian manifolds are proven: (1) any compact Lorentzian manifold which admits a timelike conformal vector field is totally vicious, and (2) a compact Lorentzian manifold covered regularly by a globally hyperbolic spacetime admits a timelike closed geodesic, if some natural topological assumptions (fulfilled, for example, if one of the conjugacy classes of deck transformations containing a closed timelike curve is finite) hold. As a consequence, any compact Lorentzian manifold conformal to a static spacetime is geodesically connected by causa…
This is a survey paper on Morse theory and the existence problem for closed geodesics. The free loop space plays a central role, since closed geodesics are critical points of the energy functional. As such, they can be analyzed through variational methods. The topics that we discuss include: Riemannian background, the Lyusternik-Fet theorem, the Lyusternik-Schnirelmann principle of subordinated classes, the Gromoll-Meyer theorem, Bott's iteration of the index formulas, homological computations using Morse theory, $SO(2)$- vs. $O(2)$-symmetries, Katok's examples and Finsler metrics, relations t…
Conditions for the existence of closed geodesics is a classic, much-studied subject in Riemannian geometry, with many beautiful results and powerful techniques. However, many of the techniques that work so well in that context are far less effective in Lorentzian geometry. In revisiting this problem here, we introduce the notion of timelike geodesic homotopy, a restriction to geodesics of the more standard timelike homotopy (also known as $t$-homotopy) of timelike loops on Lorentzian manifolds. This tool is combined with a local shortening/stretching of length argument to provide a number of n…
In this work we investigate families of compact Lorentzian manifolds in dimension four. We show that every lightlike geodesic on such spaces is periodic, while there are closed and non-closed spacelike and timelike geodesics. Their isometry groups are computed. We also show that there is a non trivial action by isometries of $\Heis_3(\RR)$ on the nilmanifold $S^1\times (Γ_k \bsh \Heis_3(\RR))$ for $Γ_k$ a lattice of $\Heis_3(\RR)$.
We show that any two non-conjugate points on a forward or backward complete connected Finsler manifold can be joined by infinitely many geodesics which are not covered by finitely many closed ones, provided that the Betti numbers of the based loop space grow unbounded.
We study the geometry and the periodic geodesics of a compact Lorentzian manifold that has a Killing vector field which is timelike somewhere. Using a compactness argument for subgroups of the isometry group, we prove the existence of one timelike non self-intersecting periodic geodesic. If the Killing vector field is never vanishing, then there are at least two distinct periodic geodesics; as a special case, compact stationary manifolds have at least two periodic timelike geodesics. We also discuss some properties of the topology of such manifolds. In particular, we show that a compact manifo…
We consider geodesic flows between hypersurfaces in $\R^n$. However, rather than consider using geodesics in $\R^n$, which are straight lines, we consider an induced flow using geodesics between the tangent spaces of the hypersurfaces viewed as affine hyperplanes. For naturality, we want the geodesic flow to be invariant under rigid transformations and homotheties. Consequently, we do not use the dual projective space, as the geodesic flow in this space is not preserved under translations. Instead we give an alternate approach using a Lorentzian space, which is semi-Riemannian with a metric of…
In this work it is shown that a necessary condition for the completeness of the geodesics of left invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on Lie groups is also sufficient in the case of 3-dimensional unimodular Lie groups, and not sufficient for 3-dimensional non unimodular Lie groups. As a consequence it is possible to identify, amongst the compact locally homogeneous Lorentzian 3-manifolds with non compact (local) isotropy group, those that are geodesically complete.
In previous papers, a fundamental affine method for studying homogeneous geodesics was developed. Using this method and elementary differential topology it was proved that any homogeneous affine manifold and in particular any homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifold admits a homogeneous geodesic through arbitrary point. In the present paper this affine method is refined and adapted to the pseudo-Riemannian case. Using this method and elementary topology it is proved that any homogeneous Lorentzian manifold of even dimension admits a light-like homogeneous geodesic. The method is illustrated in d…
We show that the index of a lightlike geodesic in a conformally standard stationary spacetime is equal to the index of its spatial projection as a geodesic of a Finsler metric associated to the spacetime. Moreover we obtain the Morse relations of lightlike geodesics connecting a point to an integral line of the standard timelike Killing vector field by using Morse theory on the associated Finsler manifold. To this end, we prove a splitting lemma for the energy functional of a Finsler metric. Finally, we show that the reduction to Morse theory of a Finsler manifold can be done also for timelike…
Following the lines of a celebrated result by R. Bott (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 9, 1956) we study the Morse index of the iterated of a closed geodesic in stationary Lorentzian manifolds, or, more generally, of a closed Lorentzian geodesic that admits a timelike periodic Jacobi field. Given one such closed geodesic $γ$, we prove the existence of a locally constant integer valued map $Λ_γ$ on the unit circle with the property that the Morse index of the iterated $γ^N$ is equal, up to a correction term $ε_γ\in\{0,1\}$, to the sum of the values of $Λ_γ$ at the $N$-th roots of unity. The discontinuit…
In this paper we investigate geodesic completeness of left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on a simple Lie group $G$ when there exists a left-invariant Killing vector field $Z$ on $G$. Among other results, it is proved that if $Z$ is timelike, or $G$ is strongly causal and $Z$ is lightlike, then the metric is complete. We then consider the special complex Lie group $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$ in more details and show that the existence of a lightlike vector field $Z$ on it, implies geodesic completeness. We also consider the existence of a spacelike vector field $Z$ on $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$ and provide an eq…
We give in this paper bounds for the Morse indices of a large class of simple geodesics on a surface with a generic metric. To our knowledge these bounds are the first that use only the generic hypothesis on the metric.
In this paper I have studied about CR(Cauchy-Riemann)-submanifolds of Lorentzian Concircular Structure manifold ((LCS)n-manifold), Lorentzian Para-Sasakian(LP)-cosymplectic manifold, S-manifold and Generalized Kenmotsu (GKM) manifold. I have discussed some results regarding distribution, structure vector field, totally geodesic submanifold, leaf etc.. I have obtained results on totally umbilical contact CR-submanifold where the anti-invariant distribution has some properties. Next, I have studied some results about D-totally geodesic CR-submanifold (D is the distribution), a contact CR-submani…
We show that every closed Lorentzian surface contains at least two closed geodesics. Explicit examples show the optimality of this claim. Refining this result we relate the least number of closed geodesics to the causal structure of the surface and the homotopy type of the Lorentzian metric.
We prove that the topology, smooth structure, and metric of a compact Lorentzian manifold with boundary is uniquely determined by data at the boundary. The data consists of the lengths and directions of future-directed once-broken geodesics connecting points on the boundary, which are first timelike and then lightlike. This requires the strong causality condition and a weak convexity assumption, but it holds without any assumptions about conjugate points. With an additional convexity assumption we prove the analogous statement for future-directed once-broken timelike geodesics. If there are no…
We use the heat flow on the loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold to construct an algebraic chain complex. The chain groups are generated by perturbed closed geodesics. The boundary operator is defined in the spirit of Floer theory by counting, modulo time shift, heat flow trajectories that converge asymptotically to nondegenerate closed geodesics of Morse index difference one.
We prove an extension of the Index Theorem for Morse-Sturm systems of the form $-V''+RV=0$, where R is symmetric with respect to a (non positive) symmetric bilinear form, and thus the corresponding differential operator is not self-adjoint. The result is then applied to the case of a Jacobi equation along a geodesic in a Lorentzian manifold, obtaining an extension of the Morse Index Theorem for Lorentzian geodesics with variable initial endpoints. Given a Lorentzian manifold (M,g), we consider a geodesic $γ$ in M starting orthogonally to a smooth submanifold P of M. Under suitable hypotheses, …
Sub-Lorentzian geodesics on ${\rm GL}^{+}(2,\mathbb{C})$ with the generating space of Hermitian matrices in the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{gl}^{+}(2,\mathbb{C})$
In this paper we present the full details of the construction of a Morse-Floer type homology related to the super-quadratic perturbation of the Dirac-geodesic model. This homology is computed explicitly using a Leray-Serre type spectral sequence and this computation leads us to several existence results of Dirac-geodesics.
Perturbed geodesics are trajectories of particles moving on a semi-Riemannian manifold in the presence of a potential. Our purpose here is to extend to perturbed geodesics on semi-Riemannian manifolds the well known Morse Index Theorem. When the metric is indefinite, the Morse index of the energy functional becomes infinite and hence, in order to obtain a meaningful statement, we substitute the Morse index by its relative form, given by the spectral flow of an associated family of index forms. We also introduce a new counting for conjugate points, which need not to be isolated in this context,…
In this paper, by studying certain isometries on globally hyperbolic planes, we prove that if $p$ is a timelike pole on a class A Lorentzian 2-torus, then there exists a closed timelike geodesic passing through $p$ with any preassigned free homotopy class in the interior of the stable time cone. We also show a non-rigid result when timelike poles appear.
We prove a semi-Riemannian version of the celebrated Morse Index Theorem for geodesics in semi-Riemannian manifolds; we consider the general case of both endpoints variable on two submanifolds. The key role of the theory is played by the notion of the {\em Maslov index} of a semi-Riemannian geodesic, which is a homological invariant and it substitutes the notion of geometric index in Riemannian geometry. Under generic circumstances, the Maslov index of a geodesic is computed as a sort of {\em algebraic count} of the conjugate points along the geodesic. For non positive definite metrics the ind…
Motivated by the use of degenerate Jacobi metrics for the study of brake orbits and homoclinics, we develop a Morse theory for geodesics in conformal metrics having conformal factors vanishing on a regular hypersurface of a Riemannian manifold.
Helfer in [Pacific J. Math. 164/2 (1994), p. 321--350] was the first to produce an example of a spacelike Lorentzian geodesic with a continuum of conjugate points. In this paper we show the following result: given an interval $[a,b]$ of $IR$ and any closed subset $F$ of $IR$ contained in $]a,b]$, then there exists a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$ and a spacelike geodesic $γ:[a,b]\to M$ such that $γ(t)$ is conjugate to $γ(a)$ along $γ$ iff $t\in F$.
We study sub-Riemannian and sub-Lorentzian geometry on the Lie group $\SU(1,1)$ and on its universal cover $\CSU(1,1)$. In the sub-Riemannian case we find the distance function and completely describe sub-Riemannian geodesics on both $\SU(1,1)$ and $\CSU(1,1)$, connecting two fixed points. In particular, we prove that there is a strong connection between the conjugate loci and the number of geodesics. In the sub-Lorentzian case, we describe the geodesics connecting two points on $\CSU(1,1)$, and compare them with Lorentzian ones. It turns out that the reachable sets for Lorentzian and sub-Lore…
The computation of the index of the Hessian of the action functional in semi-Riemannian geometry at geodesics with two variable endpoints is reduced to the case of a fixed final endpoint. Using this observation, we give an elementary proof of the Morse Index Theorem for Riemannian geodesics with two variable endpoints, in the spirit of the original Morse's proof. This approach reduces substantially the effort required in the proofs of the Theorem given in previous articles on the subject. Exactly the same argument works also in the case of timelike geodesics between two submanifolds of a Loren…
We consider a family of variational problems on a Hilbert manifold parameterized by an open subset of a Banach manifold, and we discuss the genericity of the nondegeneracy condition for the critical points. Based on an idea of B. White, we prove an abstract genericity result that employs the infinite dimensional Sard--Smale theorem. Applications are given by proving the genericity of metrics without degenerate geodesics between fixed endpoints in general (non compact) semi-Riemannian manifolds, in orthogonally split semi-Riemannian manifolds and in globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. We …
Given a compact Kähler manifold $(X,ω_0)$ let $\mathcal H_{0}$ be the set of Kähler forms cohomologous to $ω_0$. As observed by Mabuchi \cite{m}, this space has the structure of an infinite dimensional Riemannian manifold, if one identifies it with a totally geodesic subspace of $\mathcal H$, the set of Kähler potentials of $ω_0$. Following Donaldson's research program, existence and regularity of geodesics in this space is of fundamental interest. In this paper, supposing enough regularity of a geodesic $u:[0,1]\to \mathcal H$, connecting $u_0 \in \mathcal H$ with $u_1 \in \mathcal H$, we est…
We are studying the harmonic and twistor equation on Lorentzian surfaces, that is a two dimensional orientable manifold with a metric of signature $(1,1)$. We will investigate the properties of the solutions of these equations and try to relate the conformal invariant dimension of the space of harmonic and twistor spinors to the natural conformal invariants given by the Lorentzian metric. We will introduce the notion of semi-conformally flat surfaces and establish a complete classification of the possible dimensions for this family.
A celebrated result due to Poincaré affirms that a closed non-degenerate minimizing geodesic $γ$ on an oriented Riemannian surface is hyperbolic. Starting from this classical theorem, our first main result is a general instability criterion for timelike and spacelike closed semi-Riemannian geodesics on a (non)oriented manifold. A key role is played by the spectral index, a new topological invariant that we define through the spectral flow (being the Morse index truly infinite) of a path of selfadjoint Fredholm operators. A major step in the proof of this result is a em new spectral flow formul…
We show that for an open and dense set non-reversible Finsler metrics on a sphere of odd dimension $n=2m-1 \ge 3$ there is a second closed geodesic with Morse index $\le 4(m+2)(m-1)+2.$
A short survey on the type numbers of closed geodesics, on applications of the Morse theory to proving the existence of closed geodesics and on the recent progress in applying variational methods to the periodic problem for Finsler and magnetic geodesics
Given two points of a Generalized Robertson-Walker spacetime, the existence, multiplicity and causal character of geodesic connecting them is characterized. Conjugate points of such geodesics are related to conjugate points of geodesics on the fiber, and Morse-type relations are obtained. Applications to bidimensional spacetimes and to GRW spacetimes satisfying the timelike convergence condition are also found.
A new technique for the study of geodesic connectedness in a class of Lorentzian manifolds is introduced. It is based on arguments of Brouwer's topological degree for the solution of functional equations. It is shown to be very useful for multiwarped spacetimes, which include different types of relativistic spacetimes.
We prove the shifting theorems of the critical groups of critical points and critical orbits for the energy functionals of Finsler metrics on Hilbert manifolds of $H^1$-curves, and two splitting lemmas for the functionals on Banach manifolds of $C^1$-curves. Two results on critical groups of iterated closed geodesics are also proved; their corresponding versions on Riemannian manifolds are based on the usual splitting lemma by Gromoll and Meyer (1969). Our approach consists in deforming the square of the Finsler metric in a Lagrangian which is smooth also on the zero section and then in using …
We revisit certain path-lifting and path-continuation properties of abstract maps as described in the work of F. Browder and R. Rheindboldt in 1950-1960s, and apply their elegant theory to exponential maps. We obtain thereby a number of novel results of existence and multiplicity of geodesics joining any two points of a connected affine manifold, as well as ${\it causal}$ geodesics connecting any two causally related points on a Lorentzian manifold. These results include a generalization of the well-known Hadamard-Cartan theorem of Riemannian geometry to the affine manifold context, as well as…
We give a short proof of the Morse index theorem for geodesics in semi-Riemannian manifolds by using K-theory. This makes the Morse index theorem reminiscent of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem for families of selfadjoint elliptic operators.
This paper applies the authors' forthcoming work, "Affine deformations of a three-holed sphere" in Lorentzian geometry to prove a result in hyperbolic geometry. Namely, an infinitesimal deformation of a hyperbolic structure of a three-holed sphere which infinitesimally lengthens the three boundary components infinitesimally lengthens every closed geodesic. The proof interprets the derivative of the geodesic length function as the Margulis invariant (signed marked Lorentzian length spectrum) of the corresponding affine deformation. The aforementioned results imply that the affine deformation is…
Motivated by the classical Euler elastic curves, David A. Singer posed in 1999 the problem of determining a plane curve whose curvature is given in terms of its position. We propound the same question in Lorentz-Minkowski plane, focusing on spacelike and timelike curves. In this article, we study those curves in $\mathbb{L}^2$ whose curvature depends on the Lorentzian pseudodistance from the origin, and those ones whose curvature depends on the Lorentzian pseudodistance through the horizontal or vertical geodesic to a fixed lightlike geodesic. Making use of the notions of geometric angular mom…
We describe the local conformal geometry of a Lorentzian spin manifold $(M,g)$ admitting a twistor spinor $ϕ$ with zero. Moreover, we describe the shape of the zero set of $ϕ$. If $ϕ$ has isolated zeros then the metric $g$ is locally conformally equivalent to a static monopole. In the other case the zero set consists of null geodesic(s) and $g$ is locally conformally equivalent to a Brinkmann metric. Our arguments utilise tractor calculus in an essential way. The Dirac current of $ϕ$, which is a conformal Killing vector field, plays an important role for our discussion as well.
Continuing recent efforts in extending the classical singularity theorems of General Relativity to low regularity metrics, we give a complete proof of both the Hawking and the Penrose singularity theorem for $C^1$-Lorentzian metrics - a regularity where one still has existence but not uniqueness for solutions of the geodesic equation. The proofs make use of careful estimates of the curvature of approximating smooth metrics and certain stability properties of long existence times for causal geodesics. On the way we also prove that for globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a $C^1$-metric causal ge…
We present some results concerning the Morse Theory of the energy function on the free loop space of the three sphere for metrics all of whose geodesics are closed. We also explain how these results relate to the Berger Conjecture in dimension three.