Topological entropy and blocking cost for geodesics in Riemannian manifolds (Q1014909)

Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian manifold. For \((x,y)\in M\times M\) and \(t>0\) let \(\Gamma_t(x,y)\) denote the set of geodesics from \(x\) to \(y\) with length at most \(t\) that do not extend past either endpoint \(x\) or \(y\). Let \(\Gamma(x,y)= \bigcup_{t>0} \Gamma_t(x,y)\). Let \(n_t(x,y)\) denote the number of geodesics from \(x\) to \(y\) whose length is at most \(t\). It is known that for almost all \((x,y)\) \(\in M\times M\) the function \(n_t(x,y)\) is finite for all \(t>0\). A set \(B\) in \(M\) is a blocking set for \(\Gamma_t(x,y)\) (respectively, \(\Gamma(x,y)\)) if every geodesic \(\gamma\) in \(\Gamma_t(x,y)\) (respectively, \(\Gamma(x,y)\)) passes through a point of \(B\). Define \(s_{t}(x,y)\) to be the minimum cardinality for a blocking set of \(\Gamma_t(x,y)\). Note that \(s_t(x,y)\leq n_t(x,y)\) for all \(x,y,t\). Let \(s(t)\) be the supremum of \(s_t(x,y)\) over all \((x,y)\) in \(M\times M\). The function \(s(t)\) is called the blocking cost function. A pair \((x,y)\in M\times M\) is secure if there is a finite blocking set for \(\Gamma(x,y)\), and the manifold \(M\) is secure if \((x,y)\) is secure for all \((x,y)\in M\times M\). Flat tori are secure. It is conjectured that the converse is true, and the conjecture has been established in some special cases. The manifold \(M\) is uniformly secure if there is a uniform bound for the cardinalities of blocking sets for all \((x,y)\in M\times M\). It is known that if \(M\) is uniformly secure, then the topological entropy is zero and the fundamental group \(\pi_1(M)\) has a nilpotent subgroup of finite index. If in addition \(M\) has no conjugate points, then \(M\) is flat. The main result of this paper is the following: Theorem. Let \(M\) be a compact Riemannian manifold. Then {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] If the fundamental group \(\pi_1(M)\) grows exponentially with respect to the word length metric, then either the blocking cost function \(s(t)\) is infinite or \(s(t)\) grows at least exponentially in~\(t\). \item[(2)] Let \(e\) be either the topological entropy or the volumetric entropy of \(M\). If \(e\) is positive, then either \(s(t)\) is infinite or \(s(t)\) grows exponentially with rate at least \(e/2\). \end{itemize}} The author also gives new proofs of some known results of this type.