Rigidity for surfaces of non-positive curvature (Q917056)

Let \(M_ 0\) be a compact Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary N, and define \(d_ 0: N\times N\to [0,\infty)\) by \(d_ 0(p,q)=\) the distance in \(M_ 0\) between p and q. The Riemannian manifold is called boundary rigid if the following property holds: Let \(M_ 1\) be any other Riemannian manifold with the same boundary N, and let \(d_ 1: N\times N\to [0,\infty)\) be the corresponding boundary distance function. Then \(M_ 0\) is isometric to \(M_ 1\) if \(d_ 0=d_ 1\). In this paper and a previous one [C] [Rigidity and the distance between boundary points, to appear in J. Differ. Geom.] the author considers geometric conditions under which a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary is boundary rigid. This problem was apparently first considered by \textit{M. Gromov} [J. Differ. Geom. 18, 1-147 (1983; Zbl 0515.53037)] and \textit{R. Michel} [Invent. Math. 65, 71-83 (1981; Zbl 0471.53030)]. See [C] for further discussion. In [C] the author introduced the condition SGM, which means roughly that all geodesic segments in M are the unique minimizing paths between the endpoints. In the present paper the author proves Theorem A: If M denotes a compact, nonpositively curved 2-dimensional SGM manifold with boundary, then M is boundary rigid. A property related to boundary rigidity is geodesic conjugacy. Two compact, Riemannian manifolds \(M_ 1\), \(M_ 2\) without boundary are said to be geodesically conjugate if there exists a \(C^ 1\) diffeomorphism F between the unit tangent bundles \(SM_ 1\), \(SM_ 2\) such that \(F\circ g^ t=g^ t\circ F\), where \(\{g^ t\}\) denotes the geodesic flow in both \(SM_ 1\) and \(SM_ 2\). The simplest example of a geodesic conjugacy is a diffeomorphism \(F=dI\), where I is an isometry of \(M_ 1\) onto \(M_ 2\). If \(M_ 1=M_ 2\), then \(F=g^{t_ 0}\), for a fixed number \(t_ 0\), is also a geodesic conjugacy. The author also proves Theorem B: Let \(M_ 0\) be a compact, 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold with genus \(\geq 2\) and nonpositive Gaussian curvature. Let \(M_ 1\) be another compact, 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold that is geodesically conjugate to \(M_ 0\) by a diffeomorphism F: SM\({}_ 1\to SM_ 0\). Then there exist a number \(t_ 0\) and an isometry I: \(M_ 1\to_ 0\) such that \(F=g^{t_ 0}\circ dI.\) Note that \(M_ 1\) has no curvature assumption. If \(M_ 0\) is a flat 2- torus, then Theorem B fails but one has Theorem C: Let \(M_ 0\) be a flat 2-torus, and let \(M_ 1\) be a compact 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold that is geodesically conjugate to \(M_ 0\). Then \(M_ 1\) is isometric to \(M_ 0\). For compact manifolds \(M_ 0\), \(M_ 1\) of nonpositive sectional curvature the property of being geodesically conjugate is equivalent to the property of having the same marked (closed geodesic) length spectrum. From this viewpoint \textit{J.-P. Otal} proved Theorem B somewhat earlier but required both \(M_ 0\) and \(M_ 1\) to have negative curvature [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 131, No.1, 151-162 (1990; Zbl 0699.58018)]. Otal also proved a result similar to Theorem A in ``Sur les longueurs des géodesiques d'une métrique a courbure négative'', Comment. Math. Helv. 65, No.2, 334-347 (1990). The method of proof for the results in the present paper involves a detailed study of the behavior of Jacobi vector fields under the various geometric conditions considered.