Geodesic flow

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.

A perpendicular Jacobi field on a Riemannian surface has scalar equation $\ddot{y}+Ky=0$. For strictly negative curvature on a closed manifold, the displayed derivative is uniformly positive definite, so the quadratic-form criterion for an Anosov flow makes the geodesic flow Anosov. When $K=-1$, the stable and unstable lines in the canonical frame are respectively $\mathbb{R}(H-V)$ and $\mathbb{R}(H+V)$, with factors $e^{-t}$ and $e^t$.

A smooth real function $\lambda$ on the unit tangent bundle determines this unit-speed smooth flow. Its base velocity is $v$, so its generator never vanishes. In the canonical frame its divergence in Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow is $V\lambda$. The special case where $\lambda$ depends only on the base is a magnetic flow; when $\lambda (x,v)=⟨E(x),iv⟩$ it is a Gaussian thermostat.

Write a tangent variation of a surface thermostat as $aF+yH+zV$ in the canonical frame. The commutators $[F,H]=-\lambda F+(K-H\lambda +{\lambda }^2)V$ and $[F,V]=-H-(V\lambda )V$ give $\dot{a}=\lambda y$ and the stated transverse equation. Near the vertical projective direction, $r=y/z$ obeys $\dot{r}=1-(V\lambda )r+(K-H\lambda +{\lambda }^2)r^2$.

At unit speed on a Riemannian surface, the right-hand side is $⟨E,iv⟩iv$. This removes the velocity-parallel component of the forcing, so differentiating $|\dot{\gamma }{|}^2$ gives zero. The dynamics need not preserve the ordinary Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow.

For $F=X+\lambda V$, the canonical fields $X,V$ preserve Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow, so the divergence is $V\lambda$. For a Gaussian thermostat, $\lambda =⟨E,iv⟩$ and $V(iv)=-v$, giving the stated sign. If $E=\nabla f$, then the density $e^{f\circ \pi }$ makes this divergence zero.

A unit-speed curve with $D_t\dot{\gamma }=f(\gamma )i\dot{\gamma }$ defines the magnetic flow. The vertical term rotates the velocity while the horizontal part transports it along the base. Since $V(f\circ \pi )=0$, the divergence of $X+fV$ in Liouville volume vanishes. The associated two-form on the unit tangent bundle is $d\alpha -f{\pi }^{\ast }{\Omega }_a=-{\iota }_F\mu$, whose kernel is the magnetic flow direction.

On a connected closed oriented surface, a magnetic Anosov flow with $\int f{\Omega }_a=0$ preserves a smooth contact form only when $f=0$. To see the obstruction, take $d\eta =f{\Omega }_a$ and $\sigma =\alpha -{\pi }^{\ast }\eta$. An invariant contact form can be normalized to evaluate to one on $F$; its differential is a constant multiple of ${\iota }_F\mu$, since smooth invariant functions are constant. Averaging closed one-forms forces that multiple to be $-1$, so the contact form differs from $\sigma$ by a closed form. Its fibre-average decomposition gives $Fh=(\eta -\xi )(v)-af$. The degree-zero/one kernel theorem gives $af=0$ and $d\eta =d\xi =aK{\Omega }_a$, forcing $f=0$ whether $a$ vanishes or not. For $f=0$, the canonical form $\alpha$ is invariant and contact.

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.