Cut and conjugate times in round real projective space

ID: cut-and-conjugate-times-in-round-real-projective-space

In unit-curvature Real projective space of dimension at least two, Riemannian distance is for unit lifts. A unit-speed geodesic has lift , with unit and perpendicular to , and therefore ceases to minimize after . Its normal Jacobi fields with zero initial value are times parallel vector fields along a curve, giving first conjugate point at time . The two times differ in every direction.

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