On the topological entropy of geodesic flows (Q1359240)

If \(M\) is an \(n\)-dimensional closed connected smooth manifold and \(SM\) is its unit tangent bundle which is defined as \[ SM= \bigl\{\theta =(x,v): x\in M,\;v\in T_x M,\;\| v\|= 1\bigr\}, \] then the geodesic flow \(\varphi_t: SM\to SM\) is defined by \(\varphi_t (x,v)= (\gamma(t),\;\dot \gamma (t))\), where \(\gamma:\mathbb{R}\to M\) is the geodesic with initial conditions \(\gamma (0)=x\) and \(\dot\gamma (0)=v\). In this paper the author obtains expressions for the topological entropy, \(h_{\text{top}} (\varphi)\), of the geodesic flow. The first expression involves the quantity \(n_T(x,y)\) which is defined to be the number of geodesics of length at most \(T\) (parametrized by arc length) which join two points \(x\) and \(y\) of \(M\). Applying Sards' theorem to the exponential maps of \(M\) gives that \(n_T(x,y)\) is finite and locally constant on an open full measure subset of \(M\times M\). It is then proved that \[ h_{\text{top}} (\varphi) =\lim_{T\to \infty} {1\over T} \log\int_{M \times M} n_T(x,y) dxdy. \] The next expression for the topological entropy is in terms of an upper estimate for \(h_{\text{top}} (\varphi)\) obtained by \textit{F. Przytycki} [Invent. Math. 59, 205-213 (1980; Zbl 0436.58017)]. If \(L:E\to F\) is a linear map between finite dimensional Hilbert spaces, its expansion, ex\((L)\), is defined by \[ \text{ex}(L)= \max\biggl\{ \bigl| \text{det} (L|_s) \bigr|: S\text{ a subspace of E} \biggr\}. \] Przytycki proved that for a \(C^2\) flow \(\psi_t: N\to N\) on a closed manifold \(N\), \[ h_{\text{top}} (\psi) \leq\lim_{t\to \infty} \inf{1 \over t} \log\int_N\text{ex}(d_x \psi_t)dx. \] Here the author proves that for smooth geodesic flows, there is equality, i.e., \[ h_{\text{top}} (\varphi) =\lim_{T\to +\infty} {1\over T} \log\int_{SM}\text{ex}(d_\theta \varphi_T)d \theta. \] If the manifold \(M\) has no conjugate points, then since the exponential map \(\exp_x:T_xM\to M\) is a covering map admitting a fundamental domain of diameter \(\leq\text{diam} (M)=c\), it can be shown that for any \(x_1,y_1, x_2,y_2\in M\) \[ n_T(x_1, y_1)\leq n_{T+2c} (x_2,y_2). \] From this it follows that \[ h_{\text{top}} (\varphi) =\lim_{T\to+ \infty} {1\over T} \log n_T (x,y) \] for all \(x,y \in M\). This last expression enables one to recover the results of \textit{A. Freire} and \textit{R. Mañé} [Invent. Math. 69, 375-392 (1982; Zbl 0488.58017)] and \textit{A. Manning} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 110, 567-573 (1979; Zbl 0426.58016)] relating \(h_{\text{top}} (\varphi)\) to the volume growth rate, \(\lambda (M)\), of the manifold when there are no conjugate points. The volume growth rate is given by \[ \lambda (M)= \lim_{M\to +\infty} {1\over 2} \log\text{Vol}\bigl( B_r(x) \bigr) \] where \(B_r(x)\) denotes the ball of radius \(r\) and centre \(x\) in the universal covering \(\widetilde M\) of \(M\), and Vol\((B_r(x))\) denotes its volume. Then \[ h_{\text{top}} (\varphi)= \lambda (M). \]