Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / iii / Paper 17 / 3 / b

First recover the induced boundary metric from the boundary distance function. If $c(t)$ is a smooth boundary curve with $c(0)=x$ and $\dot{c}(0)=w\in T_x\partial M$, the local metric expansion of distance givesOne can obtain this expansion in local coordinates from the fact that the metric tends uniformly to its value at $x$; distances to nearby points have that constant metric's first-order norm. Equality of the two boundary distance functions makes the two quadratic values equal for every boundary-tangent $w$. Polarization therefore recovers the full bilinear induced metric:This does not yet identify the metrics on normal vectors or mixed tangent-normal pairs.

Let ${\nu }_i$ be the inward unit normal for $g_i$. The boundary normal coordinatesare collar neighborhoods for a common sufficiently small $\epsilon$. The Gauss lemma gives $c_i^{\ast }{g}_i=d{r}^2+h_i(r)$ with $h_i(0)=h$. Hence the local boundary-fixing map $c_2\circ c_1^{-1}$ already satisfiesbecause both pulled-back metrics there are $d{r}^2+h$.

To justify a global diffeomorphism, rather than assume a local collar map extends, interpolate the positive metrics by $g_s=(1-s)g_1+s{g}_2$, $0\le s\le 1$. Their inward unit normals and exponential maps give smoothly varying collarsCompactness of $[0,1]\times \partial M$ gives a uniform collar size after shrinking $\epsilon$. On the image of each collar define the time-dependent vector fieldMultiply it by a smooth cutoff which is one for small $r$ and zero before the collar's outer edge, and extend it by zero to the rest of $M$. This gives a smooth global time-dependent vector field. It vanishes on the boundary, because $C_s(x,0)=x$ for all $s$. Its flow ${\Psi }_s$ exists for the full interval and fixes the boundary. For sufficiently small fixed $r$, the curve $s\mapsto C_s(x,r)$ solves this flow equation, so uniqueness givesHere $C_0=c_1$ and $C_1=c_2$. Thus the final map $\psi ={\Psi }_1$ agrees with the local map from the $g_1$ collar to the $g_2$ collar near the boundary. In particular $D\psi$ fixes tangential vectors and sends ${\nu }_1$ to ${\nu }_2$ there. Since the tangent-normal splittings are orthogonal and the normals have unit length,The construction only needs equality of the induced boundary metrics; the equal-distance hypothesis supplies that equality.