Geometry of geodesics Joonas Ilmavirta
[email protected] February 2020 Version 5 These are lecture notes for the course “MATS4120 Geometry of geodesics” given at the University of Jyväskylä in Spring 2020. Basic differential geome- try or Riemannian geometry is useful background but is not strictly necessary. Exercise problems are included, and problems marked important should be solved as you read to ensure that you are able to follow. Previous feedback has been very useful and new feedback is welcome. Contents 1 Riemannian manifolds 2 2 Distance and geodesics 10 3 Connections and covariant differentiation 16 4 Fields along a curve 21 5 Jacobi fields 26 6 The exponential map 31 7 Minimization of length 37 8 The index form 42 9 The tangent bundle 50 10 Horizontal and vertical subbundles 55 11 The geodesic flow 61 12 Derivatives on the unit sphere bundle 65 13 Geodesic X-ray tomography 71 14 Looking back and forward 77 1 Geometry of geodesics 1 Riemannian manifolds 1.1 A look on geometry A central concept in Euclidean geometry is the Euclidean inner product, although its importance is somewhat hidden in elementary treatises. We will relax its rigidity to allow for a certain kind of variable inner product. This provides a rich geometrical framework — Riemannian geometry — and shines new light on the nature of Euclidean geometry as well. There is much to be studied beyond Riemannian geometry, but we will not go there. Neither will we study all of Riemannian geometry; we shall focus on the geometry of geodesics. Gaps will be left, especially early on, and may be filled in by more general courses or textbooks on Riemannian geometry.