Real projective spaces with all geodesics closed (Q2364141): Difference between revisions

The authors prove that, on a real projective space of dimension \(n \neq 3\), any Riemannian metric with all geodesics closed is isometric to the standard metric, up to rescaling by a positive constant. \textit{C. Pries} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 18, No. 5, 1774--1785 (2009; Zbl 1160.53022)] had previously proven this result, but only for the real projective plane. They deduce this result from their Theorem 1: Any smooth homotopy sphere with a Riemannian metric has injectivity radius equal to the diameter just when {\parindent=0.7cm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] all geodesics are closed and \item[(2)] all prime closed geodesics have equal length and \item[(3)] the metric admits a fixed point free isometric involution. \end{itemize}} Their short and elegant proof makes use of prior results on the Blaschke conjecture, but is otherwise essentially self contained.