New results on noncompact harmonic manifolds

DOI10.4171/CMH/265MaRDI QIDQ439893zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Gerhard Knieper

Publication date 17 August 2012

Published in Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0910.3872

zbMATH Keywords

conjugate pointsexponential volume growthgeodesic flowharmonic manifoldhorosphereLichnerowicz conjecture

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Smooth ergodic theory, invariant measures for smooth dynamical systems (37C40) Uniformly hyperbolic systems (expanding, Anosov, Axiom A, etc.) (37D20) Foliations (differential geometric aspects) (53C12) Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces (53C23) Rigidity results (53C24) Differential geometric aspects of harmonic maps (53C43)

Abstract: The Lichnerowicz conjecture asserts that all harmonic manifolds are either flat or locally symmetric spaces of rank~1. This conjecture has been proved by Z. Szab'{o} cite{Sz} for harmonic manifolds with compact universal cover. E. Damek and F. Ricci cite{DR} provided examples showing that in the noncompact case the conjecture is wrong. However, such manifolds do not admit a compact quotient. In this paper we study, using a notion of rank, the asymptotic geometry and the geodesic flow on simply connected nonflat and noncompact harmonic manifolds denoted by $X$. In the first part of the paper we show that the following assertions are equivalent. The volume growth is purely exponential, the rank of $X$ is one, the geodesic flow is Anosov with respect to the Sasaki metric, $X$ is Gromov hyperbolic. In the second part of the paper we show that the geodesic flow is Anosov if $X$ is a nonflat harmonic manifold with no focal points. In the course of the proof we obtain that certain partially hyperbolic flows on arbitrary Riemannian manifolds without focal points are Anosov, which is of interest beyond harmonic manifolds. Combining the results of this paper with the rigidity theorem's of cite{BCG}, cite{BFL} and cite{FL}, we confirm the Lichnerowicz conjecture for all compact harmonic manifolds without focal points or with Gromov hyperbolic fundamental groups.

Review text

A complete Riemannian manifold \(X\) is called harmonic if all harmonic functions on \(X\) satisfy the mean value property. Equivalently, in normal coordinates centered at \(p\in X\) the square of the volume density \(\theta_p(q)^2=\det[g_{ij}(q)]\) depends only on dist\((p,q)\). The Euclidean and rank 1 symmetric spaces are harmonic.NEWLINENEWLINEThe Lichnerowicz conjecture of 1944 asserts the converse, namely that all harmonic manifolds are either flat or locally symmetric spaces of rank 1. This conjecture was proven in 1990 by Z. I. Szabó for manifolds with compact universal cover. In 1992, E. Damek and F. Ricci showed that generally in the noncompact case the conjecture is wrong. In 1995 G. Besson, G. Courtois and S. Gallot proved the conjecture for negatively curved manifolds with a compact quotient.NEWLINENEWLINEThe first main result of the paper is the equivalence of the following properties for a simply connected nonflat noncompact harmonic manifold \(X\): (1) the volume growth is purely exponential; (2) the rank of \(X\) is one; (3) the geodesic flow is Anosov with respect to the Sasaki metric; (4) \(X\) is Gromov hyperbolic.NEWLINENEWLINEThe second main result of the paper is that the geodesic flow is Anosov if \(X\) is a nonflat harmonic manifold with no focal points.NEWLINENEWLINEFinally, as a combination of the main results of this paper and the rigidity theorems of G. Besson, G. Courtois, S. Gallot, and that of Y. Benoist, P. Foulon, F. Labourie, the author deduces the Lichnerowicz conjecture for all compact manifolds without focal points (in particular, for nonpositively curved spaces) and for compact manifolds with Gromov hyperbolic fundamental groups.

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Cited in

(31)

• On compact asymptotically harmonic manifolds
• The Lichnerowicz conjecture on harmonic manifolds
• Busemann functions in a harmonic manifold
• Harmonic manifolds and tubes
• Two theorems on harmonic manifolds
• An intrinsic approach to Lichnerowicz conjecture
• Harmonic manifolds of hypergeometric type and spherical Fourier transform
• Integral geometric properties of non-compact harmonic spaces
• Minimal codimension one foliation of a symmetric space by Damek-Ricci spaces
• The marked length spectrum of Anosov manifolds
• Harmonic Hadamard manifolds and Gauss hypergeometric differential equations
• Geometric properties of rank one asymptotically harmonic manifolds
• Boundaries of non-compact harmonic manifolds
• The Fourier transform on harmonic manifolds of purely exponential volume growth
• Dynamics of L^p multipliers on harmonic manifolds
• Harmonic functions on rank one asymptotically harmonic manifolds
• New proof of the Hörmander multiplier theorem on compact manifolds without boundary
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 682463 (Why is no real title available?)
• Harmonic Finsler manifolds with minimal horospheres
• Geodesic stretch, pressure metric and marked length spectrum rigidity
• Information geometry of Busemann-barycenter for probability measures
• Entropy rigidity of symmetric spaces without focal points
• The shifted wave equation on non-flat harmonic manifolds
• Differential operators on non-compact harmonic manifolds
• Sphere-like isoparametric hypersurfaces in Damek-Ricci spaces
• Hyperbolic properties of geodesic flows on certain manifolds without conjugate points
• A note on the volume entropy of harmonic manifolds of hypergeometric type
• Sharp Hardy-type inequalities for non-compact harmonic manifolds and Damek-Ricci spaces
• Weighted estimates for Hardy-Littlewood maximal functions on harmonic NA groups
• Boundary exceptional sets of superharmonic functions on harmonic manifolds of purely exponential volume growth
• Spiderwebs and sharp L^p bounds for the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator on Gromov hyperbolic spaces

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