Contact geometry and isosystolic inequalities (Q2449833)

It is a long-standing open problem whether every Riemannian metric on the real projective space \(\mathbb RP^n\) with the same volume as the canonical metric admits a periodic geodesic with length at most \(\pi\). The authors investigate the local maximality of the length of the shortest periodic geodesic. Namely, they consider a smooth constant-volume deformation \((\mathbb RP^n,g_s)\) with \(g_0\) being the canonical metric. A deformation is trivial if it amounts to the pullback of \(g_0\) by some isotopies. The authors prove that either \(g_s\) is tangent of all orders to trivial deformations, or the length of the shortest periodic geodesic has a strict local maximum at \(s=0\). More generally, they consider Zoll Finsler manifolds, which are those Finsler manifold on which all geodesics are periodic with the same prime period. The canonical metric on \(\mathbb RP^n\) gives an example of such a manifold. A smooth Finsler deformation \(F_s\) of a Zoll manifold \((M,F_0)\) is called formally trivial if for every positive integer \(m\) there exists a deformation by Zoll Finsler metrics that has \(m\)-th order contact with \(F_s\). The authors prove that for a deformation that is not formally trivial, the length of the shortest periodic geodesic has a strict local maximum at \(s=0\). The article achieves the results stated above through an original approach that brings the tools of contact geometry into systolic problems. The proofs are thoughtfully laid out, making the paper a pleasure to read.