On conjugate points and geodesic loops in a complete Riemannian manifold (Q2631030)

Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian manifold. For a point \(p \in M\), let \(T_pM\) be the tangent space at \(p\) and \(\exp_p:T_pM \rightarrow M\) be the exponential map. For any unit vector \(v \in T_pM\), let \(\sigma(v)\) be the supremum of those \(l\) such that the geodesic \(t\rightarrow \exp_p(tv)\), \(t\in[ 0,l]\), is minimizing. Define \(C_p\) as the set of those \(\exp_p(\sigma(v)v)\) such that \(v\in T_pM\) is unitary. The set \(C_p\) is called the cut locus of \(p\). In the article under review, the author shows the following theorem: Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian manifold and \(p,q \in M\) such that \(C_p\neq \emptyset\) and \(q\notin C_p\). Let \(x_0\in C_p\) such that \(F_{p;q}(x_0) =d(p,x_0)+d(q,x_0)\) is a local minimum of \(F_{p;q}\) in \(C_p\). Then either \(p\) and \(x_0\) are conjugate along every minimal geodesic connecting them, or there is a geodesic (and at most two) \(\alpha:[ 0, F_{p;q}(x_0)]\rightarrow M\) from \(p\) to \(q\) such that \(\alpha(d(p,x_0)) = x_0\). This theorem generalizes a previous result by \textit{N. Innami} et al. [Geom. Funct. Anal. 22, No. 5, 1400--1406 (2012; Zbl 1257.53061)], which in turn generalizes Klingenberg's Lemma. In this way earlier results based on injectivity radius estimates can be treated under weaker conditions.