Isometry-invariant geodesics and nonpositive derivations of the cohomology (Q2494215)

In the study of the geometry of Riemanian manifolds, closed geodesics have played a fundamental role. A natural generalization of closed geodesics is the notion of isometry-invariant geodesics. Specifically, let \(M\) be a connected complete Riemannian manifold, and \(a\in \text{Isom}(M)\) an isometry of \(M\). A geodesic \(\gamma:\mathbb R \to M\) is called \(a\)-invariant if there exists a period \(t\) such that \(a(\gamma(x))=\gamma(x+t)\) for all \(x\in \mathbb R\). Such isometry-invariant geodesics may not exist when \(M\) is noncompact or non-simply connected. A natural and important problem is to find natural conditions under which every isometry has a nontrivial invariant geodesic. This paper introduces a new class of Artinian weighted complete intersections and proves that on a simply connected closed Riemannian manifold \(M\) whose cohomology groups belong to the above class, every isometry has a nontrivial invariant geodesic. It also constructs new examples by \(\mathbb Q\)-surgery theory for which the above result applies.