Duistermaat-Guillemin trace formula 2026-10-14
For the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator on a closed manifold, the singular support of the wave trace lies in zero together with signed lengths of closed geodesics. Under the clean fixed-set hypotheses, its singularity at a periodic-geodesic length has an expansion determined by the geodesic flow and its linearized return map. In particular, when the relevant leading coefficient does not vanish through cancellation, that length is determined by the spectrum. The inclusion of singular supports alone does not justify an unconditional recovery of every geodesic length.
A perpendicular Jacobi field on a Riemannian surface has scalar equation . 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 , the stable and unstable lines in the canonical frame are respectively and , with factors and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 17 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Evaluate the smooth one-form on unit velocities to obtain . Its integral along a periodic orbit of the geodesic flow is exactly the one-form integral along the corresponding closed geodesic. Negative curvature makes this geodesic flow an Anosov flow; the geodesic flow of a connected closed negatively curved surface is also topologically transitive. Apply the smooth Livsic theorem to obtain withIf there is more than one connected component, apply this argument to each component separately.
The vertical vector field of a surface unit tangent bundle differentiates rotation of , soFor each , writing shows explicitly thatThe fibre disintegration of Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow is . Integrating the displayed equality over the base therefore gives . Substitution into the supplied Pestov identity for a geodesic flow yieldsBoth terms are nonnegative and . Thus everywhere. Since every unit-circle fibre is connected, is independent of velocity and descends to a smooth function on : . Its geodesic derivative isComparison with , first on unit vectors and then on all vectors by linearity, provesThus the one-form is an exact differential form. This proves the degree-one geodesic X-ray transform conclusion directly from the given integral identity and the stated smooth coboundary theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 17 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A simple Riemannian manifold has strictly convex boundary, no conjugate points, and a unique connecting geodesic depending smoothly on its endpoints. In particular its unit-speed geodesics are nontrapping. Write for the inward unit normal, and identify inward and outward parts of its boundary unit tangent bundle byThe signs are a convention; here means inward. If is strictly inward, let be its first exit time. The geodesic scattering relation isThus it records both the exit point and the outward unit velocity, not just the exit point. On strictly outward vectors extend by following the same geodesic flow backwards to its previous entry point, retaining the velocity orientation. On tangential vectors set . The extended scattering relation is an involution on the full boundary unit bundle, since its forward and backward constructions undo one another. On a simple Riemannian manifold, the travel time equals the boundary distance function between the two endpoints; travel time is often recorded separately as lens data.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 17 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the unit tangent bundle projection. Write for the geodesic flow generator and for the vertical vector field of a surface unit tangent bundle, positively rotating toward . The acceleration prescribed in the question changes only this velocity angle, so the surface thermostat generator isIt never vanishes: . Also and are linearly independent, since .
The vertical Maslov cycle of a surface thermostat isThere is exactly one such plane in each fibre, so is the image of a smooth section. A two-plane containing corresponds to a line in the rank-two quotient ; thus is a projective bundle with fibre . Its total dimension is four and the cycle has dimension three, making it a smooth hypersurface. In this two-dimensional transverse space the Maslov cycle means the projective line meeting the distinguished vertical line, which here is just that distinguished line itself in each fibre.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 14 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a nonsingular smooth flow generated by on a closed manifold, the Anosov flow condition is a continuous -invariant splittingand constants such that, for all ,The norm can come from any auxiliary Riemannian metric; compactness makes the resulting definitions equivalent. The centre direction is the flow direction, with nowhere zero.
One construction is a suspension flow. The hyperbolic toral automorphism of defined byhas eigenvalues , with . Form the closed three-dimensional mapping torus and move in the second coordinate at unit speed. Each crossing of the section applies . The two one-dimensional eigenspaces give invariant transverse bundles, and after crossings their derivatives multiply by and . The difference between and elapsed time is bounded, so any smooth Riemannian metric gives the required uniform exponential estimates. The vertical direction supplies the centre line.
A different construction is the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle of a closed oriented hyperbolic surface. This bundle is a closed three-manifold. In curvature , a normal Jacobi field along a unit-speed geodesic satisfies . The initial data give , while give . The linearized geodesic flow transports these initial data as , so they give one stable and one unstable direction with precisely those exponential rates. The remaining tangent direction is the geodesic vector field. Thus this also constructs an Anosov flow, using geometric rather than return-map hyperbolicity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 14 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The geodesic flow of a closed negatively curved surface is a topologically transitive Anosov flow. In particular, its Jacobi-field hyperbolicity and the usual negative-curvature transitivity theorem allow the smooth Livsic theorem to be applied. Set . The given closed-geodesic integrals are exactly its periodic-orbit obstructions on . Therefore
We make the differential operators and signs explicit. On the unit tangent bundle, let generate positive fibre rotation, be the geodesic vector field and . For the canonical coframe of a surface unit tangent bundle, writeand let be the Levi-Civita connection form with . This uses for a one-form, keeping for the given tensor. The dual frame is , and the structure equations areThese follow by writing the two horizontal forms as a rotated local orthonormal coframe and , with its connection 1-form. Equivalently, differentiating the sine and cosine components of twice in the fibre angle givesThe curvature equation also gives . The Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow will be taken positive in the base/positive-fibre orientation, namely .
The Lie bracket of vector fields identities give an operator identity that supplies the required equation. First,Using and , differentiate this expression once more to obtainFor and , the first term vanishes by the explicit fibre calculation. Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 50 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Let be the cotangent bundle projection. Its canonical one-form on a cotangent bundle is defined intrinsically by , so locally . Choose the position-first symplectic formIt is closed by and nondegenerate, since contraction with is , which vanishes only when both coefficient sets vanish. The intrinsic definition of makes this symplectic form independent of coordinates.
Use the convention . Then the Hamiltonian vector field and the Poisson bracket areso . Choosing and gives the same equations; choosing only one of these sign changes would reverse the flow.
For the geodesic Hamiltonian, Hamilton's equations givePut , so . Differentiating givesConsequently,Symmetrizing the velocity factors and raising the first index converts this toThese Christoffel symbols are those of the Levi-Civita connection. Thus a Hamiltonian integral curve of a vector field projects to an affinely parametrized geodesic. Conversely, an affinely parametrized geodesic lifts by to an integral curve of a vector field of , since reversing the calculation proves both Hamilton's equations. This is the geodesic flow on the cotangent bundle. The conserved Hamiltonian is half the squared speed, and the zero-energy case gives the constant geodesics.
A quadratic homogeneous polynomial depends only on the symmetric part of its coefficient matrix. Accordingly take its unique symmetric coefficients of a quadratic polynomial, . This is the standard implicit convention in identifying such polynomials with symmetric tensors. If an arbitrary nonsymmetric representative were allowed, the literal equivalence would fail: in Euclidean , , and all other components zero give the zero polynomial, which has zero Poisson bracket with every function, whereas the lowered coefficient array is not a Killing tensor because it is not symmetric.
Lower the indices of the symmetric coefficient tensor using the Riemannian metric. Since ,Along an affinely parametrized geodesic, metric compatibility and implyHere parentheses mean normalized symmetrization over all indicated indices. The left side is by the Hamiltonian vector field convention. Therefore a rank-two Killing tensor, defined by symmetry and , gives a quadratic geodesic first integral.
Conversely, if everywhere on , the last cubic expression vanishes for every at every point, because the Riemannian metric identifies tangent and cotangent spaces invertibly. A symmetric trilinear form is determined by its diagonal cubic polynomial: equivalently, compare its coefficients, or polarize the cubic. Hence . This proves both directions:with symmetry understood on the coefficient representative from the outset. The equivalence is local and does not require geodesic completeness.
For the final construction, the antisymmetric differential two-form is a Killing-Yano two-form. Its defining equation says . Antisymmetry of also says , so the three-index tensor is totally antisymmetric.
The proposed tensor is symmetric, since it is the inner product of the covectors and :There is a useful geometric proof of its Killing tensor equation. Along any affinely parametrized geodesic, define . ThenThe first term vanishes by antisymmetry in , and the second by the geodesic equation. Thus is carried by parallel transport. By metric compatibility, its squared norm is constant, andEvery tangent vector is the initial velocity of a local geodesic, so differentiation at the initial point gives for every . The same cubic-coefficient argument provesThis proves that the square of a Killing-Yano two-form is a rank-two Killing tensor and supplies a nonnegative quadratic geodesic first integral. The argument also explains the conserved quantity: it is the squared norm of a covector that the Killing-Yano two-form makes parallel along every geodesic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 3 25I b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Choose an orthonormal basis of and write . On a punctured disc on which the exponential map is a diffeomorphism, the mapdefines geodesic polar coordinates centred at . The curves are unit-speed geodesics, so the first coefficient of the first fundamental form isThe Gauss lemma says that radial and angular coordinate vectors are orthogonal, hence
The angular variation is a Jacobi field along each radial geodesic, with initial dataSince , smooth dependence of the geodesic flow givesConsequentlyas required.
Weak stable bundle 2026-10-14
The weak stable bundle adjoins the flow direction to the strong stable bundle. It is tangent to the weak stable foliation. For a geodesic flow on a hyperbolic surface, the canonical frame gives .