Cut loci in lens manifolds (Q2499654)

The cut locus \(C(x)\) of a point \(x \in M\) of a Riemannian manifold \(M\) is the closure of the set of points \(y \in M\) such that the shortest geodesic between \(x\) and \(y\) is not unique. If \(M^3\) is a 3-dimensional manifold equipped with a metric without conjugate points, then \(C(x)\) is a 2-dimensional polyhedron which is a simple spine of \(M^3\). So cut loci in geometric 3-manifolds equipped with their natural metrics are an interesting source of spines with a small number of vertices. In the paper under review the author studies geometry, topology and combinatorial properties of cut loci in the lens spaces \(L_{p,q}\) endowed with the natural metric of constant curvature \(+1\). In particular, cut loci in lens spaces \(L_{p,q}\) are compared with the special spines of \(L_{p,q}\) constructed by \textit{S. Matveev} in [Acta Appl. Math. 19, 101--130 (1990; Zbl 0724.57012)]. More precisely, it is proved that cut loci in geometric 3-manifolds \(M^3\) with respect to their natural metrics are simple spines of \(M^3\) that minimize the number of vertices among all currently known spines of \(M^3\) in at least two cases: when the complexity \(c(M^3)\) of \(M^3\) is \(\leq 6\) or \(M^3\) is an arbitrary lens space \(L_{p,q}\).