Isosystolic inequalities on two-dimensional Finsler tori (Q6619999)

This a survey of known isosystolic inequalities on Finsler tori. The authors consider Finsler metrics on the \(2\)-torus \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\). If \(\gamma:[a,b] \rightarrow\mathbb{T}^{2}\) is a piecewise smooth contour, then the (Finsler) length of \(\gamma\) is \(\int_{a}^{b}\left\Vert \dot{\gamma}(t)\right\Vert_{\gamma(t)}^{F}dt\), where \(\left\Vert \cdot\right\Vert_{\gamma(t)}^{F}\) denotes the (possibly non-symmetric) Finsler norm in \(T_{\gamma(t)}\) \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\) . For a Finsler metric \(F\) on \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\), the systole, \(\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)\), is defined as the greatest lower bound of Finsler lengths of all non-contractible, piecewise smooth closed contours \(\gamma\) in \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\). The authors considers two Finsler areas on \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\): the Busemann-Hausdorff area \(\operatorname{area}_{BH}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)\) and the Holmes-Thompson area \(\operatorname{area}_{HT}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)\). The Busemann-Hausdorff area coincides with the \(2\)-dimensional Hausdorff measure for reversible Finsler metrics (i.e., when every Finsler unit ball in every tangent space is symmetric), whereas the Holmes-Thompson area is symplectic volume (normalized by a constant) of the bundle of the dual convex bodies in \(T^{\ast}\mathbb{T}^{2}\). For \(2\)-dimensional Riemannian manifolds, both areas coincide with the standard Riemannian area. An isosystolic inequality takes the form \(\operatorname{area}_{BH}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)\geq C\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)^{2}\) or \(\operatorname{area}_{HT}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)\geq C\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F)^{2}\).\N\NFirst, the authors discuss results related to the Hermite constant \(\gamma_{n}\). Let \(L\) be a full-rank lattice in \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\). Then \(\det(L)\) is defined as the absolute value of the determinant of any of its basis, and the norm of \(L\), \(N(L)\), is defined as the minimum value of \(\langle \lambda,\lambda\rangle\) over all \(\lambda\in L\backslash\{0\}\). The Hermite invariant of \(L\) is \(\mu(L)=N(L)/(\det(L))^{2/n}\). Finally, the Hermite constant \(\gamma_{n}\) is the least upper bound of all Hermite invariants \(\mu(L)\) over all full rank lattices in \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\). It is well-known that \(\gamma_{2}=2/\sqrt{3}\). As a corollary, the authors derive the following Hermite constant in dimension \(2\) in systolic formulation theorem: specifically, if the Riemannian \(2\)-manifold \((\mathbb{T}^{2},g)\) is flat, then\N\[\N\operatorname{area}(\mathbb{T}^{2},g)\geq(\sqrt{3}/2)\cdot\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},g)^{2}.\N\]\NMoreover, equality holds if and only if \((\mathbb{T}^{2},g)\) is isometric to the quotient of the Euclidean plane by a hexagonal lattice.\N\NNext, the authors state and prove an unpublished version of Loewner's theorem, extending the above isosystolic inequality to possibly non-flat Riemannian tori \((\mathbb{T}^{2},g)\).\N\NThe authors consider flat Finsler metrics. Let \(K\subset\mathbb{R}^{2}\) be a symmetric convex body. Then \(K\) corresponds to a unique symmetric form \(\left\Vert \cdot\right\Vert_{K}\) on \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\). \(\left\Vert \cdot\right\Vert_{K}\) induces a unique \(\mathbb{Z}^{2}\)-periodic flat Finsler reversible metric \(\widetilde{F}_{K}\) on \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\), specifically, \(\widetilde{F}_{K}(\widetilde{x},\widetilde {v})=\left\Vert \widetilde{v}\right\Vert_{K}\). Hence, to each symmetric convex body \(K\), there corresponds a unique flat Finsler reversible metric \(F_{K}\) on \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\). Minkowski's first theorem in systolic formulation states that any flat reversible torus \(\mathbb{T}^{2}\) satisfies the following optimal isosystolic inequality:\N\[\N\operatorname{area}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\geq(\pi/4)\cdot\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})^{2}.\N\]\NThe authors also discuss non-reversible cases for \(\operatorname{area}_{BH}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\) and \(\operatorname{area}_{HT}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\). They present an example showing that for the Buseman-Hausdorff area for flat non-reversible case, there is a sequence of convex bodies \(K_{n}\subset\mathbb{R}^{2}\) such that\N\[\N\frac{\operatorname{area}_{BH}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K_{n}})}{\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K_{n}})^{2}} \rightarrow0\text{ as }n\rightarrow\infty,\N\]\Ni.e., systolic freedom is possible. In case of Holmes-Thompson area, for flat reversible Finsler tori \((\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\), the authors present the following optimal isosystolic inequality: \(\operatorname{area}_{HT}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\geq\frac{2}{\pi}\operatorname{sys} (\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})^{2}\). However, for any flat (possibly non-reversible) torus \((\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})\), the isosystolic inequality \(\operatorname{area}_{HT}(\mathbb{T}^{2} ,F_{K})\geq\frac{3}{2\pi}\operatorname{sys}(\mathbb{T}^{2},F_{K})^{2}\) holds.\N\NThe authors also present results related to asymptotic geometry of the universal covering of Finsler tori and derive optimal inequalities for non-flat Finsler metrics, including the author's new result.