Homotopy properties of horizontal loop spaces and applications to closed sub-Riemannian geodesics

DOI10.1090/BTRAN/33zbMATH Open1412.53055arXiv1509.07000OpenAlexW2240246958WikidataQ115291030 ScholiaQ115291030MaRDI QIDQ5743363FDOQ5743363

Authors: Andrea Mondino, Antonio Lerario 

Publication date: 9 May 2019

Published in: Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Series B (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Given a manifold $M$ and a proper sub-bundle $DeltasubsetTM$, we study homotopy properties of the horizontal base-point free loop space $Lambda$, i.e. the space of absolutely continuous maps $gamma:S^{1}oM$ whose velocities are constrained to $Delta$ (for example: legendrian knots in a contact manifold). A key technical ingredient for our study is the proof that the base-point map $F:LambdaoM$ (the map associating to every loop its base-point) is a Hurewicz fibration for the $W^{1,2}$ topology on $Lambda$. Using this result we show that, even if the space $Lambda$ might have deep singularities (for example: constant loops form a singular manifold homeomorphic to $M$), its homotopy can be controlled nicely. In particular we prove that $Lambda$ (with the $W^{1,2}$ topology) has the homotopy type of a CW-complex, that its inclusion in the standard base-point free loop space (i.e. the space of loops with no non-holonomic constraint) is a homotopy equivalence, and consequently its homotopy groups can be computed as $p{i}_k(Lambda)simeqp{i}_k(M)ltimesp{i}_{k+1}(M)$ for all $kgeq0.$ These topological results are applied, in the second part of the paper, to the problem of the existence of closed sub-riemannian geodesics. In the general case we prove that if $(M,Delta)$ is a compact sub-riemannian manifold, each non trivial homotopy class in $p{i}_1(M)$ can be represented by a closed sub-riemannian geodesic. In the contact case, we prove a min-max result generalizing the celebrated Lyusternik-Fet theorem: if $(M,Delta)$ is a compact, contact manifold, then every sub-riemannian metric on $Delta$ carries at least one closed sub-riemannian geodesic. This result is based on a combination of the above topological results with a delicate study of the Palais-Smale condition in the vicinity of abnormal loops (singular points of $Lambda$).

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.07000

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zbMATH Keywords

Legendrian knotsclosed sub-Riemannian geodesicsHurewitz fibrationabnormal loops

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Sub-Riemannian geometry (53C17) Geodesics in global differential geometry (53C22) Contact manifolds (general theory) (53D10) Variational problems in applications to the theory of geodesics (problems in one independent variable) (58E10) Homotopy and topological questions for infinite-dimensional manifolds (58B05)

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Cited In (4)

• Homotopically invisible singular curves
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• Homotopy properties of horizontal path spaces and a theorem of Serre in subriemannian geometry
• Horizontal path spaces and Carnot-Carathéodory metrics

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