Geodesics, distance, and the \(\mathrm{CAT}(0)\) property for the manifold of Riemannian metrics (Q1936631)

Given a closed manifold \(M\), the author studies the space \(\mathcal{M}\) of all smooth Riemannian metrics on \(M\). The space \(\mathcal{M}\) is a Fréchet manifold endowed with a canonical \(L^2\) Riemannian metric. The main result of the paper states that the metric completion \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}\) of \(\mathcal{M}\) is a \(\text{CAT}(0)\) space. This result is proved using an explicit formula for the distance on \(\mathcal{M}\) and an explicit expression for the geodesics in \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}\) (Theorem~4.16). The paper ends with a discussion of some open problems concerning the \(L^2\) metric.