Exponential map (${\exp }_p$)

For $p$ in a Riemannian manifold and $v$ sufficiently close to zero in $T_{p}M$, let ${\gamma }_v$ be the geodesic with ${\gamma }_v(0)=p$ and ${\dot{\gamma }}_v(0)=v$. The exponential map isEquivalently, ${\exp }_p(tv)={\gamma }_v(t)$ wherever both sides are defined.

For the Riemannian exponential map ${\exp }_p(v)={\gamma }_v(1)$, uniqueness of the geodesic equation gives ${\exp }_p(tv)={\gamma }_v(t)$. Differentiation at $t=0$ yields $(d{\exp }_p{)}_{0}v=v$. Smooth ODE dependence and the inverse function theorem therefore make ${\exp }_p$ a diffeomorphism on a neighborhood of zero, producing geodesic normal coordinates. This is a local assertion and requires no geodesic completeness.

A convex normal neighbourhood is an open set whose points have unique smoothly varying joining geodesics, with the joining geodesic contained in the set. The corresponding star-shaped restriction of each exponential map is a diffeomorphism onto the neighbourhood. Hence its differential is invertible and no such joining geodesic admits a nonzero Jacobi field vanishing at both endpoints. Every point of a Riemannian manifold has arbitrarily small such neighbourhoods. This is stronger than merely requiring the existence of a minimizing geodesic in the set.

The geodesic flow sends a tangent vector $v$ to the velocity at time $t$ of the unique geodesic with initial velocity $v$. Smooth dependence of solutions of the geodesic equation makes it a smooth flow on the tangent bundle wherever defined.

The metric defines this globally smooth Hamiltonian on the cotangent bundle. With $\omega =d{x}^i\wedge d{p}_i$ and ${\iota }_{X_H}\omega =dH$, its Hamiltonian vector field projects to affinely parametrized geodesics. The momentum is $p_i=g_{ij}{\dot{x}}^j$, and its conserved value is half the squared speed.

The domain of ${\exp }_p$ is the star-shaped open setSmooth dependence for ordinary differential equations makes $(p,v)\mapsto {\exp }_p(v)$ smooth on its open domain in $TM$.

For $S=({\mathbb{R}}^2\setminus \{0\})\times \{0\}\subset {\mathbb{R}}^3$ and $p=(1,0,0)$, geodesics are straight lines until they hit the missing origin. Thus $(-2,0,0)\notin {\mathcal{D}}_p$, and $(-1,0,0)$ is not in the image of ${\exp }_p$ because its unique straight segment from $p$ passes through the origin.

A normal neighbourhood of $p$ is the diffeomorphic image under ${\exp }_p$ of a star-shaped neighbourhood of $0$ in $T_{p}M$. In a sufficiently small normal ball, radial geodesics from $p$ uniquely minimize length.

The injectivity radius at $p$ is the largest radius on which ${\exp }_p$ is a diffeomorphism from the tangent-space ball onto its image. The injectivity radius of a compact Riemannian manifold is the positive infimum of these pointwise radii.

Choose an orthonormal basis of $T_{p}M$ and use its linear coordinates on a neighborhood of zero on which ${\exp }_p$ is a diffeomorphism. Transporting these coordinates through ${\exp }_p$ gives geodesic normal coordinates centered at $p$.

In geodesic normal coordinates at $p$, radial geodesics have coordinates $x(t)=tv$. The geodesic equation at $t=0$ gives ${\Gamma }_{jk}^i(p)v^j{v}^k=0$ for every $v$. The Levi-Civita connection is torsion free, making these coefficients symmetric in $j,k$; the polarization identity then gives ${\Gamma }_{jk}^i(p)=0$. This does not imply vanishing curvature, which depends on derivatives of the coefficients.

A geodesic sphere is a level set of Riemannian distance from a point. For sufficiently small positive $r$, it is the exponential map image of the radius-$r$ tangent sphere, a smooth compact hypersurface. The Gauss lemma makes its tangent space orthogonal to the radial direction. Larger distance spheres need not be smooth at the cut locus.

A chart $x$ centered at $p$ on a star-shaped coordinate domain is a geodesic normal chart exactly when $g_{ij}(0)={\delta }_{ij}$ andfor every $x$ and $k$. This is the geodesic equation for every radial curve $t\mapsto tx$.

Choose an orthonormal basis of $T_{p}M$ and put $e(\theta )=(\cos \theta ,\sin \theta )$. Away from the centre and cut locus,defines geodesic polar coordinates centred at $p$.

The radial direction is orthogonal to the angular directions under the exponential map. On a surface this makes the first fundamental form in geodesic polar coordinateswith $\sqrt{G(r,\theta )}/r\to 1$ as $r\to 0$.

For $h(r,\theta )=\sqrt{G(r,\theta )}$, the angular Jacobi field equation on a surface becomesThe Riemannian area element is $h(r,\theta )drd\theta$.

If $h^{\prime \prime }+Kh=0$, $h(0)=0$, $h^{\prime }(0)=1$, $h>0$, and $K\le C$ for $C>0$, thenSubtract a smaller multiple of the sine solution and use the monotonicity of its Wronskian with $h$.

If $K\le 0$, then $h_{rr}=-Kh\ge 0$, so $h\ge r$. Every geodesic polar ball of radius $\epsilon$ therefore satisfies

If $K\le C$ with $C>0$, scalar comparison givesbefore $\pi /\sqrt{C}$. Consequently