Rigidity of flat holonomies (Q7016908)

For a negatively curved manifold \(M\), one has the Busemann functions associated to each geodesic ray \(c_v\), whose level sets, the horospheres \(H_\xi\), only depend on the endpoint \(\xi\in\partial_\infty\widetilde{M}\), not on the geodesic ray \(c_v\) heading towards \(\xi\). One may wonder to which extent the geometry of the horospheres determines the geometry of \(M\).\N\NA closed Riemannian manifold \(M\) is called strongly \(\frac{1}{4}\)-pinched if the sectional curvature satisfies \(-4<K(x)\le -1\), or \(\frac{1}{2}\)-relatively pinched if there is a strictly negative function \(C(x)\) with \(C(x)\le K(x) < \frac{1}{2}C(x)\). If either of these conditions is satisfied, one can define stable holonomies \(\Pi^\xi(x,y)\colon T_xH_\xi\to T_yH_\xi\) between the tangent spaces of a horosphere \(H_\xi\) for any two points \(x,y\in H_\xi\), see [\textit{C. Bonatti} et al., Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 20, No. 4, 579--624 (2003; Zbl 1025.37018); \textit{B. Kalinin} and \textit{V. Sadovskaya}, Geom. Dedicata 167, 167--188 (2013; Zbl 1301.37017)]. If \(M\) has constant negative curvature, then the stable holonomy coincides with the parallel transport along the unique geodesic joining \(x\) to \(y\). The paper under review proves the converse in dimensions \(\ge 3\): If stable holonomy and parallel transport coincide, then \(M\) is homothetic to a hyperbolic manifold.\N\NThe proof consists in showing the claim that, for a periodic orbit \(g_l(v)\) of period \(l(v)\) of the geodesic flow, all eigenvalues of \(Dg_{l(v)}\) restricted to the horosphere have the same modulus, because by [\textit{C. Butler}, J. Differ. Geom. 109, No. 1, 39--79 (2018; Zbl 1391.37032)] this is known to imply homothety to a hyperbolic manifold.\N\NTo prove this claim, the authors show that the horospheres are flat and that, given the periodic orbit \(g_l(v)\), one can construct a quasi-isometry from the universal covering \(\widetilde{M}\) to a Heintze group \(G_A={\mathbb R}^n\rtimes_A{\mathbb R}\), with \({\mathbb R}^n\) a horosphere, the eigenvalues of the matrix \(A\) having positive real parts, and such that \(e^{l(v)A}\) is conjugate to the restriction of \(Dg_{l(v)}\) to the horosphere. Given that, one obtains from the Švarc-Milnor lemma a quasi-isometry from \(G_A\) to the hyperbolic group \(\pi_1M\), which by [\textit{X. Xie}, Geom. Topol. 18, No. 2, 831--872 (2014; Zbl 1344.53036)] implies that the real part of the Jordan form of \(A\) is a multiple of the identity matrix. In particular, the real parts of the eigenvalues are all equal, which implies that the exponentials of the eigenvalues have the same modulus. But these are the eigenvalues of \(Dg_{l(v)}\) on the horosphere, which is what is needed to apply Butler's theorem.