On the geodesical connectedness for a class of semi-Riemannian manifolds (Q1840811)

Existence and multiplicity results for geodesics joining two fixed points are proven for a certain class of semi-Riemannian manifolds. The manifolds under study have a semi-Riemannian metric of arbitrary index \textit{k} and possess \textit{k} linearly independent Killing vector fields that generate a timelike distribution on the manifold. These assumptions are a natural generalization of the concept of stationarity on a Lorentzian manifold. \textit{F. Giannoni} and \textit{P. Piccione} [Commun. Anal. Geom. 7, No. 1, 157-197 (1999; Zbl 0928.53021)] proved results on the geodesic connectedness of stationary Lorentzian manifolds. In this article, similar results are established for the more general case of arbitrary index. A variational principle for geodesics on semi-Riemannian manifolds satisfying the symmetry conditions stated above is proved. With an additional completeness-type condition, which the authors call pseudo-coercivity, the existence of geodesics joining any two fixed points is established. Under the additional assumptions of noncontractibility of the manifold and completeness of the Killing vector fields, the authors are able to prove a multiplicity result for space-like geodesics. The methods of proof are global variational methods using critical point theory for functionals satisfying the Palais-Smale condition and the Lyusternik-Schnirelman theory for Palais-Smale functionals. Even though the results of this paper are natural generalizations of the results for stationary Lorentzian manifold referred to above, the proofs involve some new ideas and several new technical difficulties. In an appendix, an explicit example satisfying the various assumptions is exhibited.