Geodesic complexity via fibered decompositions of cut loci (Q6074051)

The geodesic complexity of a complete Riemannian manifold \((M,g),\) denoted as \(\mbox{GC}(M,g),\) is a numerical isometry invariant originally introduced by \textit{D. Recio-Mitter} [J. Appl. Comput. Topol. 5, No. 1, 141--178 (2021; Zbl 1485.53050)] in the more general framework of metric spaces. In a broader sense, the geodesic complexity of \((M,g)\) can be described as the minimum number of continuous geodesic motion planners required within the manifold. Therefore, it can be considered as the geometric counterpart to the concept of topological complexity as defined by \textit{M. Farber} [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29, No. 2, 211--221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)]. The primary challenge in determining the geodesic complexity lies in the structure of the cut locus within the manifold. In the paper under review, the authors introduce the concept of a fibered decomposition of the cut locus and demonstrate that when such a decomposition exists, it results in a new upper bound for the geodesic complexity. Their central finding is summarized as follows: \textbf{Theorem}: Let \((M, g)\) be a complete Riemannian manifold. If the total cut locus of \(M\) admits a fibered decomposition \(A_1, \dots, A_k\) with associated fibrations \(\pi_i: \widetilde{A}_i \rightarrow A_i\) for \(i \in \{1, \dots, k\},\) then \[\mbox{GC}(M,g)\leq \sum _{i=1}^k\mbox{secat}(\pi _i:\widetilde{A}_i\rightarrow A_i)+1\] Here, \(\mbox{secat}\) represents the sectional category of a fibration. The authors also establish a criterion for a homogeneous manifold concerning the cut locus of a single point, indicating that its total cut locus admits a fibered decomposition. They then demonstrate that each irreducible, compact, simply connected symmetric space satisfies this criterion. As an application, the authors calculate the geodesic complexity of \(\mathbb{C}P^n\) (the complex projective space) and \(\mathbb{H}P^n\) (the quaternionic projective space), equipped with their standard or Fubini-Study metric. Finally, they explore the total cut locus of three-dimensional lens spaces of the form \(L(p;1)\) (with \(p \geq 3\)) featuring metrics of constant sectional curvature, as these spaces serve as examples of homogeneous manifolds whose total cut loci admits a fibered decomposition. Through a comprehensive analysis of the involved fibrations in the fibered decomposition, they establish that \(6 \leq \mbox{GC}(L(p;1),g) \leq 7.\)