Closed geodesics on reversible Finsler 2-spheres (Q2124774)

Let \((M,F)\) be a closed oriented surface endowed with a reversible Finsler metric \(F\), \(\mathbb S^1\) be the unit circle, and \(\mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) be the set of smooth \(M\)-valued embedded loops \(\gamma\) on \(\mathbb S^1\). Given \(J\in \mathrm{End}(TM)\), the positive normal to \(\gamma\in \mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) is defined by \(N_{\gamma_t}(u)=\displaystyle\frac{J_{\dot{\gamma_t}}(u)}{\|\dot{\gamma_t}(u)\|}\cdot\) The authors consider a one-parameter family of curves \(\gamma_t\in \mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) solutions of \[\partial_t\gamma_t(u)=\omega_t(u)N_{\gamma_t}(u),\tag{1}\] where \(\omega_t(u)\) is an explicit expression given in terms of the partial derivatives of \(F\) with respect to some local coordinates on \(M\), \(N_{\gamma_t}(u)\), and on the norm of \(\dot{\gamma_t}\). Then, they state that if \(\gamma_t\) is the solution of (1) with initial condition \(\gamma_0\), then there is a unique \(\mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\)-valued continuous map \(\varphi\) on an open neighborhood of \(\{0\}\times\mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) such that \(\varphi(t,\gamma_0)=\varphi_t(\gamma_0)=\gamma_t\). Furthermore, \(\varphi_t(\gamma\circ\theta)=\varphi_t(\gamma)\circ\theta\) for \(\theta\in Diff(\mathbb S^1)\), \(\frac{d}{dt}L(\varphi_t(\gamma))\le 0\) for \(\gamma\in \mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) where \(L\) is the Finsler length functional on \(\mathrm{Emb}(\mathbb S^1,M)\) defined as \(L(\gamma)=\displaystyle\int_0^1F(\gamma(t),\dot{\gamma_t}(u))du\), and if \(l_\gamma=\displaystyle\lim_{t\to\tau_\gamma}L(\varphi_t(\gamma))>0\), then \(\tau_\gamma=\infty\) (Theorem 2.1). Also, they state that every reversible Finsler two-sphere \((\mathbb S^2,F)\) has at least three explicit geometrically distinct simple closed geodesics (Theorem 1.3).