The completion of the manifold of Riemannian metrics (Q360070): Difference between revisions

In mathematics, while M is a space of smooth objects, people usually add in points corresponding to extremely degenerate objects in order to complete it. This is a reflection of the fact that the \({L^2}\) metric is a weak rather than a strong Riemannian metric, which says that the topology it induces on the tangent spaces -- the \({L^2}\) topology -- is weaker than the \({C^\infty }\) topology coming from the manifold structure. In essence, the incompleteness of the tangent spaces then carries over to the manifold itself. On the other hand, the manifold of Riemannian metrics -- along with geometric structures on it -- has been considered in several contexts, which originally arose in general relativity and was subsequently studied by mathematicians. In particular, the Riemannian geometry of the \({L^2}\) metric is well understood- its curvature, geodesics, and Jacobi fields are explicitly known. But the metric geometry of the \({L^2}\) metric, though, was not as clear up to this point. Based on these observations, in this paper, the author gives a description of the completion of the manifold of all smooth Riemannian metrics on a fixed smooth, closed, finite-dimensional, orientable manifold with respect to a natural metric called the \({L^2}\) metric. In fact, the primary motivation for studying this problem comes from Teichmüller theory, where similar considerations lead to a completion of the well-known Weil-Petersson metric. Finally, based on these, the author also presents an application of the main theorem to the completions of Teichmüller space with respect to a class of metrics that generalize the Weil-Petersson metric.