Generic injectivity of the X-ray transform (Q7023259)

Let \(M\) be a closed manifold. Let us call a Riemannian metric \(g\) on \(M\) Anosov if its geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle \(\pi:SM\to M\) is Anosov. The main result of the paper is Theorem~1.1, which states that, when \(\dim M\geq 3\), the X-ray transforms \(I_m^g\) on symmetric \(m\)-cotensor fields are s-injective for every \(g\) in a dense open subset of the set of Anosov metrics. Here, s-injectivity means injectivity of \(I_m^g\) restricted to the subspace of solenoidal (divergence-free) fields. Knowing that s-injectivity of \(I^g_m\) is equivalent to the s-injectivity of an elliptic pseudodiffential operator \(\Pi_m^g\), called generalized X-ray transform, the authors prove their theorem using perturbations by \(g\) and microlocal calculus.\N\NFurthermore, the authors consider X-ray transforms of symmetric tensors with values in a Hermitian bundle \(\mathcal{E}\to M\) equipped with a unitary connection \(\nabla^{\mathcal{E}}\). Here, the role of the generator \(X\) of the geodesic flow on \(SM\) is taken over by the pullback connection \((\pi^* \nabla^{\mathcal{E}})_X\) which is a first-order differential operator acting on \(C^\infty(SM;\pi^*\mathcal{E})\). Theorem~1.5 gives, when \(\dim M\geq 3\), a result on generic s-injectivity of the twisted generalized X-ray transform \(\Pi_m^{\nabla^{\mathcal{E}}}\).\N\NApplications are given to rigidity problems and, in the final section, to generic injectivity on manifolds with boundary.