Finsler spheres with constant flag curvature and finite orbits of prime closed geodesics

Ming Xu

Vol. 302 (2019), No. 1, 353–370

DOI: 10.2140/pjm.2019.302.353

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a Finsler sphere $\left(M,F\right)=\left(S^n,F\right)$ with dimension $n>1$ and flag curvature $K\equiv 1$. The action of the connected isometry group $G=I_o\left(M,F\right)$ on $M$, together with the action of $T=S^1$ shifting the parameter $t\in ℝ∕\mathbb{Z}$ of the closed curve $c\left(t\right)$, define an action of $Ĝ=G\times T$ on the free loop space $\Lambda M$ of $M$. In particular, for each closed geodesic, we have a $Ĝ$-orbit of closed geodesics. We assume the Finsler sphere $\left(M,F\right)$ described above has only finite orbits of prime closed geodesics. Our main theorem claims that, if the subgroup $H$ of all isometries preserving each close geodesic is of dimension $m$, then there exists $m$ geometrically distinct orbits ${\mathcal{ℬ}}_i$ of prime closed geodesics, such that for each $i$, the union $B_i$ of geodesics in ${\mathcal{ℬ}}_i$ is a totally geodesic submanifold in $\left(M,F\right)$ with a nontrivial $H_o$-action. This theorem generalizes and slightly refines the one in a previous work, which only discussed the case of finite prime closed geodesics. At the end, we show that, assuming certain generic conditions, the Katok metrics, i.e., the Randers metrics on spheres with $K\equiv 1$, provide examples with the sharp estimate for our main theorem.

Keywords

Katok metric, Randers sphere, constant flag curvature, orbit of closed geodesics, totally geodesic submanifold, fixed point set

Mathematical Subject Classification 2010

Primary: 22E46, 53C22, 53C60

Milestones

Received: 29 April 2018

Revised: 27 October 2018

Accepted: 22 March 2019

Published: 5 November 2019