Jacobi field

A Jacobi field is the infinitesimal connecting vector between neighboring members of a one-parameter family of geodesics. It satisfies the geodesic-deviation equation along the reference geodesic.

For $\gamma (t)={\exp }_p(tV)$, every Jacobi field with $J(0)=0$ is uniquely of the formDifferentiate the geodesic variation ${\exp }_p(t(V+sB))$ in $s$ to obtain the formula. Uniqueness of the Jacobi equation with prescribed initial value and derivative shows that all such fields are obtained. A nontrivial field vanishing at $t=L>0$ therefore corresponds to a nonzero vector in the kernel of $(d{\exp }_p{)}_{LV}$, giving the conjugate point criterion.

For the Riemann curvature tensor convention $R(X,Y)Z={\nabla }_X{\nabla }_{Y}Z-{\nabla }_Y{\nabla }_{X}Z-{\nabla }_{[X,Y]}Z$, define ${\mathcal{R}}_X(v)=R(v,X)X$. Curvature pair interchange makes this operator self-adjoint. If $v\perp X$, then $⟨{\mathcal{R}}_{X}v,v⟩=K(v,X)|v{|}^2|X{|}^2$. The Jacobi field equation is $D_t^{2}J+{\mathcal{R}}_{\dot{\gamma }}J=0$. The operator $v\mapsto R(X,v)X$ is $-{\mathcal{R}}_X$ and is likewise self-adjoint; this sign distinction matters when testing curvature inequalities.

For a Lie group with a bi-invariant Riemannian metric, vary $\gamma (t)=e^{tA}$ by conjugation: $F(s,t)=e^{sX}{e}^{tA}{e}^{-sX}$. Its Jacobi field is $J_X(t)=X{e}^{tA}-e^{tA}X$. If $e^A$ is central, all these fields vanish at both endpoints. Their space has dimension $\dim \mathfrak{g}-\dim \mathfrak{z}(A)$, since the kernel is the centralizer of an element of a Lie algebra.

In dimension $n\ge 2$, along a nonconstant geodesic, such a Jacobi field is determined injectively by $D_{t}J(0)$, which lies in the $(n-1)$-dimensional normal space. On the round unit sphere the geodesic from a point to its antipode, parametrized with speed $\pi$ on $[0,1]$, has fields $J(t)=\sin (\pi t)E(t)$ for all parallel normal fields $E$, attaining the bound. For a constant geodesic the endpoint-vanishing Jacobi field space is zero.