Complete Einstein metrics are geodesically rigid

Abstract: We prove that every complete Einstein (Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian) metric

g

is geodesically rigid: if any other complete metric

has the same (unparametrized) geodesics with

g

, then the Levi-Civita connections of

g

and

coincide.

Review text

Let \((M,g),(M,\bar g)\) be semi-Riemannian manifolds. They are said to be geodesically equivalent if they have the same unparametrized geodesics. The manifolds \((M,g),(M,\bar g)\) are called affinely equivalent if their Levi-Civita connections coincide. In the paper the authors prove the following theorem: Theorem 1. Let \(g\) and \(\bar g\) be complete geodesically equivalent metrics on a connected manifold \(M\) and dim\(M\geq3\). If \((M,g)\) is Einstein, then at least one of the following possibilities holds: (a) \((M,g),(M,\bar g)\) are affine equivalent (b) there exist constants \(c,\bar c\in\mathbb R-\{0\}\) such that \((M,cg),(M,\bar c \bar g)\) are Riemannian and have constant curvature \(1\). Semi-Riemannian manifolds \((M,g),(M,\bar g)\) are geodesically equivalent if and only if the difference tensor \(K=\bar{\nabla}-\nabla\) is a pure trace, that is \(K(X,Y)=\phi(X)Y+\phi(Y)X\) for a certain one form \(\phi\). In fact \(\phi=d\ln|\frac{\det(\bar g)}{\det(g)}|\). Let \[ a(X,Y)=e^{2\phi}tr_{\bar{g}}g(\cdot,X)g(\cdot,Y) \] and \(\lambda=\frac12tr_{g}a\). Using the result of Sinjukov the authors show that \(g\) and \(\bar{g}\) are geodesically equivalent if and only if \[ \nabla_Xa(Y,Z)=d\lambda(Y)g(X,Z)+d\lambda(Z)g(X,Y). \] The authors investigate the integrability conditions for this equation using the fact that \((M,g)\) is Einstein. In particular they prove that \((M,\bar{g})\) is also Einstein and if \((M,\pm g)\) is not Riemannian of constant positive curvature then the function \(\ln|\frac{\det(\bar g)}{\det(g)}|\) is actually constant and consequently \(K=0\). The authors also prove the local version of the above theorem for dimensions \(3,4\): Theorem 2. Let \(g\) and \(\bar g\) be geodesically equivalent metrics on a connected manifold \(M\) and dim\(M\in\{3,4\}\). If \((M,g)\) is Einstein, then at least one of the following possibilities holds: (a) \((M,g),(M,\bar g)\) are affinely equivalent, (b) the metrics \(g,\bar{g}\) have constant curvatures. The methods used in the paper are elementary but very clever and elegant.

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