Shortest and straightest geodesics in sub-Riemannian geometry

DOI10.1016/J.GEOMPHYS.2020.103713zbMATH Open1446.53023arXiv1909.08275OpenAlexW3026325892WikidataQ115352763 ScholiaQ115352763MaRDI QIDQ778977FDOQ778977

Dmitri Alekseevsky

Publication date: 21 July 2020

Published in: Journal of Geometry and Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: There are many equivalent definitions of Riemannian geodesics. They are naturally generalised to sub-Riemannian manifold, but become non-equivalent. We give a review of different definitions of geodesics of a sub-Riemannian manifold and interrelation between them. We recall three variational definitions of geodesics as (locally) shortest curves (Euler-Lagrange, Pontyagin and Hamilton) and three definitions of geodesics as straightest curves (d'Alembert , Levi-Civita-Schouten and Cartan-Tanaka ), used in nonholonomic mechanics and discuss their interrelations. We consider a big class of sub-Riemannian manifolds associated with principal bundle over a Riemannian manifolds, for which shortest geodesics coincides with straightest geodesics. Using the geometry of flag manifolds, we describe some classes of compact homogeneous sub-Riemannian manifolds (including contact sub-Riemannian manifolds and symmetric sub-Riemannian manifolds) where straightest geodesics coincides with shortest geodesics. Construction of geodesics in these cases reduces to description of Riemannian geodesics of the Riemannian homogeneous manifold or left-invariant metric on a Lie group.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.08275

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zbMATH Keywords

sub-Riemannian geometrysub-Riemannian geodesicssub-Riemannian homogeneolus manifolds

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Sub-Riemannian geometry (53C17)

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Cited In (7)

• On Eisenhart's type theorem for sub-Riemannian metrics on step \(2\) distributions with ad-surjective Tanaka symbols
• Homogeneous geodesics in sub-Riemannian geometry
• Sublinear deviation between geodesics and sample paths
• Non-holonomic equations for the normal extremals in geometric control theory
• More on Riemann metrics in \(\mathbb R^2\) for which the lines are the shortest paths
• Length minimizing paths in the hyperbolic plane: proof via paired subcalibrations
• The sub-Riemannian geometry of screw motions with constant pitch

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