Planes without conjugate points (Q1057518)

The authors prove the following theorem. Suppose g to be a Riemannian metric on \({\mathbb{R}}^ 2\) which differs from the Euclidean metric only on a compact set. If g has no conjugate points, then g is isometric to the Euclidean metric. The proof rests on E. Hopf's theorem that a two- dimensional torus without conjugate points must be flat.