The non-contractibility of closed geodesics on Finsler \(\mathbb{R} P^n\) (Q2075424)

The authors consider bumpy irreversible Finsler metrics on real projective spaces. In particular, they study the prime closed geodesics: it has long been conjectured that there are at least as many as found on Katok's examples. They use critical point theory to prove that, under some estimates on curvature and irreversibility, if the number of prime closed geodesics equals the number on Katok's examples, then none of these geodesics is contractible.