Zoll metrics, branched covers, and holomorphic disks (Q641515)

A Zoll metric is a Riemannian metric all of whose geodesics are embedded closed curves. More generally, a Zoll projective structure is a projective equivalence class of affine connections so that all geodesics are embedded closed curves. The authors previously proved that there is a unique Zoll projective structure on the real projective plane, corresponding to the standard round metric, and that there is an infinite dimensional family of Zoll projective structures on the 2-sphere. Moreover, they constructed from each member of this family a compact totally real surface in the complex projective plane. They proved that the Zoll projective structure can be recovered from the totally real surface. Also, they proved that, if a compact totally real surface is close enough to one which arises from their construction, then it also arises from their construction. In this paper, the authors devise a simple explicit criterion, called docility, and show that a compact totally real surface which is docile arises from a Zoll projective structure. They also compute explicit examples to prove that docility is necessary but not sufficient for arising from a Zoll projective structure.