Large deviations and Aubry-Mather measures supported in nonhyperbolic closed geodesics (Q632359)

The title gives a good description of this article. We begin by discussing the objects appearing in the main theorem. Let \((M,g)\) be a compact 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold, and let \(L : TM \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) be a \(C^{\infty}\), convex, super linear Lagrangian. Let \(\mathfrak{M}(L)\) denote the set of probability measures on \(TM\) that are invariant under the Euler-Lagrange flow of \(L\). Let \(A_{L} : \mathfrak{M}(L) \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) be defined by \(A_{L}(\mu) = \int L~d\mu\). A measure \(\mu \in \mathfrak{M}(L)\) is an Aubrey-Mather measure if \(A_{L}(\mu) \leq A_{L}(\nu)\) for all \(\nu \in \mathfrak{M}(L)\). The union of the supports of all Aubrey-Mather measures is called the Mather set. The union of certain orbits of the Euler-Lagrange flow determined by \(L\) is called the Aubrey set. In this article, the Mather and Aubrey sets are equal and supported on a nonhyperbolic closed geodesic in \(M\). Moreover, there is a unique Aubrey-Mather measure. If \(\Delta\) denotes the Laplacian of \((M,g)\), then each \(C^\infty\) closed 1-form \(\omega\) defines a twisted Laplacian \(\Delta_\omega\) and a corresponding twisted Brownian motion \(Q^t\) that admits a unique (up to scaling) stationary measure \(\mu_\omega\). We state the main result. Let \((M,g)\) be a compact, 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold with Gaussian curvature \(K\leq 0\). Let \(d\) denote the Riemannian metric on \(M\). Let \(\omega\) be a closed 1-form on \(M\). Define a Lagrangian \(L:TM \rightarrow \mathbb R\) by \(L(v)= g(v,v)-\omega(v)\). Assume furthermore that the following conditions are satisfied: {\parindent=5mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] there is a closed geodesic \(\gamma\) along which \(K\equiv 0\) and which is the support for the unique Aubrey-Mather measure \(\mu\) determined by \(L\). The Aubrey and Mather sets coincide; \item[2.] \(K < 0\) in the complement of \(\gamma\); \item[3.] there exists a smallest positive integer \(m\) with the following property: Let \(\beta:(-\varepsilon,\varepsilon)\rightarrow M\) be a geodesic such that \(\beta(0) \in \gamma\) and \(\beta'(0)\) is orthogonal to \(\gamma\). Then \(\frac{d^{m}}{dt^{m}}~K(\beta(t))|_{t=0} \neq 0\). \end{itemize}} For every \(\lambda > 0\) let \(\mu_{\lambda \omega}\) be the stationary measure for the \(\lambda \omega\) twisted Brownian motion. Then there exists \(D>0\) such that for every open ball \(A\) of \(M\) that does not intersect \(\gamma\), one has a) \(-(1/D) \inf_{x \in A} d(x,\gamma)^{2 + \frac{m}{2}} \leq \lim_{\lambda \rightarrow + \infty} \frac{1}{\lambda} \ln(\mu_{\lambda \omega}(A)\), and b) \(\lim_{\lambda \rightarrow + \infty}~\frac{1}{\lambda} \ln(\mu_{\lambda \omega}(\overline{A}) \leq D\inf_{x \in A} d(x,\gamma)^{2+\frac{m}{2}}\). N. Anantharaman previously proved inequalities similar to those in a) and b) but where the function \(d(x,\gamma)^{2 + \frac{m}{2}}\) is replaced by the second Peierl's barrier function \(P(x,x)\) whose definition we omit. The authors use the results of Anantharaman to prove the main theorem in this article by relating \(P(x,x)\) to suitable Busemann functions \(B : \widetilde{M} \rightarrow \mathbb R\), where \(\widetilde{M}\) denotes the universal Riemannian cover of \(M\). Each unit vector in \(\widetilde{M}\) defines a \(C^{2}\) Busemann function whose level sets are called horospheres and coincide with the classical horocycles if \(\widetilde{M}\) is the hyperbolic plane.