Decomposition of spaces with geodesics contained in compact flats (Q2750868)

The authors prove that the following two statements are equivalent in an analytic complete Riemannian manifold: (i) Every geodesic in \(M\) is contained in a compact flat. (ii) \(M\) admits a finite cover of the form \(T^k\times C_1\times\cdots\times C_r\times S_1\times\cdots\times S_l\), where \(T^k\) is a flat torus, \(C_i\) is a simply connected space all of whose geodesics are closed, and \(S_j\) is a simply connected irreducible symmetric space of compact type and rank at least two. The paper is a continuation of the contribution [J. Differ. Geom. 45, 575-592 (1997; Zbl 0901.53030)] by the same authors and closely related to the rigidity theorem of \textit{W. Ballmann} [Ann. Math. (2) 122, 597-609 (1985; Zbl 0585.53031)], and \textit{K. Burns} and \textit{R. Spatzier} [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Etud. Sci. 65, 35-59 (1987; Zbl 0634.53037)].