Volume growth and closed geodesics on Riemannian manifolds of hyperbolic type (Q2570934)

Let \((M,g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold. Assume that \((M,g)\) is of \textit{hyperbolic type}; this means that there exists a second Riemannian metric \(g_0\) on \(M\) so that \((M,g_0)\) has strictly negative curvature. For example, a Riemann surface is of hyperbolic type if and only if the genus is at least \(2\). Let \(X\) be the universal Riemannian covering of \((M,g)\). The authors show that the growth function of the volume of geodesic spheres of \(X\) is of purely exponential type with the volume entropy \(h_g\) as exponential factor. Moreover, if \((M,g)\) is without conjugate points, then the growth function of the volume of geodesic balls of \(X\) also is of purely exponential type.