Clifford-Wolf homogeneous Finsler metrics on spheres (Q2350646)

For a manifold \(M\), given a continuous function \(F:TM\to\mathbb R^+\) that is smooth on \(TM\smallsetminus\{0\}\) and satisfies (i) \(F(x,y)>0 \wedge y\neq 0\), (ii) \(F(x,\lambda y)=\lambda F(x,y) \wedge \lambda>0\), (iii) the Hessian matrix \([g_{ij}(v)]=\left[\frac12[F^2]_{y^iy^j}(v)\right]\) is positive definite for \(v\neq 0\), this Hessian is a Finsler metric on \(M\). If \((M,g)\) is a Riemannian manifold and \(F\) is the norm associated with \(g\), then \((M,F)\) is a Finsler space. If \(\alpha\) is a Riemannian metric on a manifold \(M\) and \(\beta\) is a \(1\)-form with \[ \|\beta\| =\sup\limits_{v\in T_xM\smallsetminus\{0\}}\frac{\beta(v)}{\sqrt{\alpha(v,v)}}<1, \] then the function \(F=\alpha+\beta\) on \(TM\smallsetminus\{0\}\) is a Finsler metric on \(M\), called a Randers metric. A Finsler metric \(F\) defines a non-symmetric distance function \(d\) on \(M\). An isometry \(\rho\) of \((M,F)\) such that for each point \(x\in M\) the distance \(d(x,\rho (x))\) is constant, is a Clifford-Wolf translation. \((M,F)\) is homogeneous if the isometry Lie group \(\mathbb I(M,F)\) acts transitively on \(M\) and it is CW-homogeneous if the transitivity can be achieved by the set of Clifford-Wolf translations. In [Q. J. Math. 65, No. 1, 133--148 (2014; Zbl 1301.53075)], the authors showed that there exist some non-Riemannian Randers metrics on spheres and compact Lie groups that are CW-homogeneous but not locally symmetric. This motivates the problem of classification of CW-homogeneous Finsler spaces. In this paper, the authors prove that if \(F\) is a homogeneous Finsler metric on a sphere \(\mathbb S^n\) such that \((\mathbb S^n,F)\) is a CW-homogeneous Finsler space, then \(F\) is a Randers metric, and they give a complete classification of CW-homogeneous Finsler metrics on spheres.