On a local systolic inequality for odd-symplectic forms (Q2211442)

If \(\Sigma\) is a connected closed manifold of dimension \(2n+1\), \(\mathcal{C}(\Sigma)\) is the set of contact forms on it, that is, the elements \(\alpha\in\mathcal{C}(\Sigma)\) are one-forms on \(\Sigma\) such that the \((2n+1)\)-form \(\alpha\wedge(\mathrm{d}\alpha)^n\) is nowhere vanishing, then there exists a unique vector field \(R_\alpha\) on \(\Sigma\) determined by \(\mathrm{d}\alpha(R_\alpha,\cdot)=0\) and \(\alpha(R_\alpha)=1\). The vector field \(R_\alpha\), called the Reeb vector field, determines the associated Reeb flow \(\Phi_\alpha\) whose periodic orbits are fundamental objects in contact and symplectic geometry. The contact volume is defined as \(\mathrm{Vol}(\alpha)=\int_\Sigma\alpha\wedge(\mathrm{d}\alpha)^n>0\), and the systolic and diastolic ratios \(\rho_{\mathrm{sys}},\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}:\mathcal{C}(\Sigma)\to(0,\infty]\) are defined as \(\rho_{\mathrm{sys}}(\alpha)=\frac{T_{\mathrm{min}}(\alpha)^{n+1}}{\mathrm{Vol}(\alpha)}\), \(\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}(\alpha)=\frac{T_{\mathrm{max}}(\alpha)^{n+1}}{\mathrm{Vol}(\alpha)}\), where \(T_{\mathrm{min}}(\alpha)\), \((T_{\mathrm{max}}(\alpha))\) is the minimal (maximal) period of periodic orbits of \(\Phi_\alpha\). A contact form \(\alpha\) on a manifold \(\Sigma\) is called Zoll of period \(T(\alpha)>0\), if the flow \(\Phi_\alpha\) induces a free \(\mathbb{R}/T(\alpha)\mathbb{Z}\)-action, or all orbits are periodic and have the same prime period \(T(\alpha)\). Once a Zoll form \(\alpha_*\) is given, it is easy to deform it through a path \(s\mapsto\alpha_s\) of Zoll forms with \(\alpha_0=\alpha_*\). If \(\alpha_*\) is a Zoll form of period \(T(\alpha_*)\), then the quotient by the action of the Reeb flow yields an oriented \(S^1\)-bundle \(\mathfrak{p}:\Sigma\to M\), where \(M\) is a closed manifold of dimension \(2n\), \(S^1=\mathbb{R/Z}\), \(\alpha_*\) becomes a connection form for \(\mathfrak{p}\), while the two-form \(\mathrm{d}\alpha_*=\mathfrak{p}^*\omega=\omega^*\) is a symplectic form on \(M\), so that \(-\frac{1}{T(\alpha_*)}\omega\) represents the Euler class of \(\mathfrak{p}\). For every free-homotopy class of loops \(\mathfrak{h}\) in \(\Sigma\), the minimal and maximal period of prime periodic orbits of \(\Phi_\alpha\) in the class \(\mathfrak{h}\) are defined and denoted by \(T_{\mathrm{min}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\) and \(T_{\mathrm{max}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\), respectively. The corresponding systolic and diastolic ratios are \(\rho_{\mathrm{sys}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\) and \(\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\). It can be shown that \(\rho_{\mathrm{sys}}(\alpha)\le\rho_{\mathrm{sys}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\le\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\le\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}(\alpha)\). In [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 23, No. 3, 721--764 (2021)], the present authors showed that if \(\Sigma\) is a closed manifold of dimension three \((n=1)\), \(|H^{\mathrm{tor}}_1(\Sigma;\mathbb{Z})|\) is the cardinality of the torsion subgroup of the first integral homology \(H_1(\Sigma;\mathbb{Z})\), \(\alpha_*\) is a Zoll contact form on \(\Sigma\), \(\mathfrak{h}\) is the free-homotopy class of the prime periodic orbits of \(\Phi_{\alpha_*}\), then there exists a \(C^2\)- neighborhood \(\mathcal{U}\) of \(\mathrm{d}\alpha_*\) in the space of exact two-forms on \(\Sigma\) such that \[ \rho_{\mathrm{sys}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h})\le\frac{1}{|H^{\mathrm{tor}}_1(\Sigma;\mathbb{Z})|}\le\rho_{\mathrm{dia}}(\alpha,\mathfrak{h}) \] for every contact form \(\alpha\) on \(\Sigma\) with \(\mathrm{d}\alpha\in\mathcal{U}\), and any of the two equalities holds if and only if \(\alpha\) is Zoll. In particular, Zoll contact forms are strict local maximizers of the systolic ratio in the \(C^3\)-topology. If \((M,\omega)\) is a connected closed symplectic manifold of dimension \(2n\), \(\varphi:M\to M\) is a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism generated by a Hamiltonian \(H:M\times[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}\), \(\omega^n\) is positive, then the Hamiltonian action \(\mathscr{A}_H:\Lambda_{\mathrm{short}}(M)\to\mathbb{R}\) is defined on the space of short one-periodic curves \(q:S^1\to M\) by \(\mathscr{A}_H(\gamma)=\int_{D^2}\hat{q}^*\omega+\int\limits_0^1H(q(t),t)\mathrm{d}t\), where \(\hat{q}:D^2\to M\) is a small capping disc for \(q\in\Lambda_{\mathrm{short}}(M)\). The minimal and maximal Hamiltonian actions of fixed points of \(\varphi\), whose associated curve is short, are given by \(\min\mathscr{A}_H=\inf\limits_{\gamma\in\mathrm{Crit}\mathscr{A}_H}\mathscr{A}_H(\gamma)\) and \(\max\mathscr{A}_H=\sup\limits_{\gamma\in\mathrm{Crit}\mathscr{A}_H}\mathscr{A}_H(\gamma)\). The Calabi invariant of \(H\) with respect to \(\omega\) is defined by \(\mathrm{CAL}_\omega(H)=\int_{M\times[0,1]}H\omega^n\wedge\mathrm{d}t\). If \((\Sigma,\mathfrak{v}_\Sigma)\) is a connected oriented closed manifold of dimension \(2n+1\), \(C\in H^2_{\mathrm{dR}}(\Sigma)\) is a class in its de Rham cohomology, \(\Omega^1(\Sigma)\) is the set of one-forms on \(\Sigma\), \(\Xi^2_C(\Sigma)\) is the set of closed two-forms on \(\Sigma\) representing the class \(C\), then for arbitrary element \(\Omega_0\in\Xi^2_C(\Sigma)\) the map \(\Omega^1\to\Xi^2_C(\Sigma)\), \(\alpha\mapsto\Omega_\alpha=\Omega_0+\mathrm{d}\alpha\) is a surjection. Using this map, a functional \(\mathrm{Vol}:\Omega^1(\Sigma)\to\mathbb{R}\) is defined which generalizes both the contact volume and the Calabi invariant. If \(C^n=0\), the functional \(\mathrm{Vol}\) can be pushed forward to a volume functional \(\mathfrak{Vol}:\Xi^2_C(\Sigma)\to\mathbb{R}\). The volume functional is invariant under diffeomorphisms \(\Psi:\Sigma\to\Sigma\) isotopic to the identity, that is, \(\mathrm{Vol}(\Psi^*\Omega)=\mathrm{Vol}(\Omega)\). A two-form \(\Omega\) on \(\Sigma\) is said to be odd-symplectic, if it is closed and maximally non-degenerate. The set of oriented \(S^1\)-bundles \(\mathfrak{p}:\Sigma\to M\) with total space \(\Sigma\) 2 is denoted by \(\mathfrak{B}(\Sigma)\). An odd-symplectic form \(\Omega\) is said to be Zoll if the oriented leaves of its characteristic distribution \(\ker\Omega\to\Sigma\) are the fibers of some \(\mathfrak{p}_\Omega:\Sigma\to M_\Omega\) in \(\mathfrak{B}(\Sigma)\). A couple \((\mathfrak{p},c)\), where \(\mathfrak{p}\in\mathfrak{B}(\Sigma)\) and \(c\in H^2_{\mathrm{dR}}(M)\), is called a weakly Zoll pair, and the set of weakly Zoll pairs is denoted by \(\mathfrak{Z}(\Sigma)\). The set \(\mathfrak{Z}_C(\Sigma)\) is the subset of those pairs \((\mathfrak{p},c)\) such that \(C=\mathfrak{p}^*c\in H^2_{\mathrm{dR}}(\Sigma)\) and \(\mathfrak{Z}^0_C(\Sigma)\) is the set of those \((\mathfrak{p},c)\in\mathfrak{Z}_C(\Sigma)\) such that \(\mathfrak{p}\in\mathfrak{B}^0(\Sigma)\), where \(\mathfrak{B}^0(\Sigma)\) is the connected component of \(\mathfrak{p}_{\Omega_*}\) inside \(\mathfrak{B}(\Sigma)\). If \(\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\) is the space of one-periodic curves in the class \(\mathfrak{h}\), and \(\widetilde\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\) is the space of homotopies of paths \(\{\gamma_r\}_{r\in[0,1]}\) inside \(\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\) such that \(\gamma_0\) is some oriented \(\mathfrak{p}_0\)-fiber, then the admissible homotopies can move \(\gamma_0\) inside the set of oriented \(\mathfrak{p}_0\)-fibers but have to fix the periodic curve \(\gamma_1\), so that the natural projection \(\widetilde\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\to\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\), \([\gamma_r]\mapsto\gamma_1\) is a covering map. If \(\Omega=\Omega_0+\mathrm{d}\alpha\) , then the functional \(\widetilde{\mathscr{A}}_\Omega:\widetilde\Lambda_{\mathfrak{h}}(\Sigma)\to\mathbb{R}\), \(\widetilde{\mathscr{A}}_\Omega([\gamma_r])=\int_{[0,1]\times S^1}\Gamma^*\Omega+\int_{S^1}\gamma_0^*\alpha\) is called the action functional, where \(\Gamma:[0,1]\times S^1\to\Sigma\) is the cylinder traced by the path \(\{\gamma_r\}\). The Zoll polynomial \(P:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) associated with \((\mathfrak{p}_0,c_0)\) is defined as \(P(0)=0\), \(\frac{\mathrm{d}P}{\mathrm{d}A}(A)=\langle(Ae_0+c_0)^n,[M_0]\rangle\). For example, when \(n=1\), the polynomial is \(P(A)=\frac12\langle e_0,[M_0]\rangle A^2+\langle c_0,[M_0]\rangle A\). In this paper, the authors formulate a local systolic inequality for odd-symplectic forms and establish it in some basic cases. They show that if \(\varphi:(M,\omega)\to(M,\omega)\) is a Hamiltonian diffeomophism generated by a quasi-autonomous Hamiltonian \(H:M\times[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}\), then \[ \min\mathscr{A}_H\le\frac{\mathrm{CAL}_\omega(H)}{\int_M\omega^n}\le\max\mathscr{A}_H \] and any of the two equalities holds if and only if \(H(q,t)=h(t)\) for all \((q,t)\in M\times[0,1]\) and some function \(h:[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}\). One of the main results of the paper states that there is a well-defined volume function \[ \mathfrak{Vol}:\mathfrak{Z}_C(\Sigma)\to\mathbb{R},\ \ \ \ \ \mathfrak{Vol}(\mathfrak{p},c)=\mathfrak{Vol}(\mathfrak{p}^*c) \] and well-defined action functional \[ \mathscr{A}:\mathfrak{Z}^0_C(\Sigma)\to\mathbb{R},\ \ \ \ \ \mathscr{A}(\mathfrak{p},c)=\widetilde{\mathscr{A}}_{\mathfrak{p}*\omega}([\sigma_r]), \] where, \(\omega\) is any closed two-form on \(M\) in the class \(c\), \(\{\sigma_r\}\) is any path of periodic curves such that \(\sigma_r\), is an oriented \(\mathfrak{p}\)-fiber, where \(\{\mathfrak{p}_r\}\) is any path of oriented \(S^1\)-bundles from \(\mathfrak{p}_0\) to \(\mathfrak{p}_1\). Moreover \[ P(\mathscr{A}(\mathfrak{p},c))=\mathfrak{Vol}(\mathfrak{p},c),\ \ \ \ \ \forall(\mathfrak{p},c)\in\mathfrak{Z}^0_C(\Sigma). \]