Topological properties of manifolds admitting a \(Y^x\)-Riemannian metric (Q988906)

A complete Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is a \(Y_l^x\)-manifold if every unit speed geodesic \(\gamma(t)\) with \(\gamma(0)=x\) satisfies \(\gamma(l)=x\) for a nonzero \(l\in{\mathbb{R}}\). These manifolds are related to Blaschke manifolds and manifolds all of whose geodesics are closed. It is known that, for a \(Y_l^x\)-manifold of dimension at least \(2\), \(M\) is closed with finite fundamental group and the cohomology ring \(H^*(M,{\mathbb{Q}})\) is generated by one element. More generally, let \((M,g)\) be a Riemannian manifold and \(x\in M\). \(M\) is a \(Y^x\)-manifold if there exists \(\bar\varepsilon >0\) such that for every positive \(\varepsilon < \bar\varepsilon\) there exist \(l=l(\varepsilon)\) with \(l>\varepsilon\) such that for every unit speed geodesic with \(\gamma(0)=x\), the point \(\gamma(l)\) is \(\varepsilon\)-close to \(x\). Further, let \((M,g)\) be a Riemannian manifold and \(x\in M\). \(M\) is a \(\tilde Y^x\)-manifold if there exists \(\bar\varepsilon >0\) such that for every positive \(\varepsilon < \bar\varepsilon\) there exist \(l=l(\varepsilon)\) with \(l>\varepsilon\) and \(y=y(\varepsilon)\) such that for every unit speed geodesic with \(\gamma(0)=y\), the point \(\gamma(l)\) is \(\varepsilon\)-close to \(x\). In the paper, these notions are studied. One of the main results is the following: Let \(M\) be a manifold of dimension at least \(2\) such that there exists a complete Riemannian metric \(g\) on \(M\) and a point \(x\in M\) with the property that \((M,g)\) is a \(\tilde Y^x\)-manifold. Then \(M\) is a closed manifold and \(|\pi_1(M)|<\infty\).