English

Rigidity of Busemann convex Finsler metrics

Differential Geometry 2018-02-13 v3 Metric Geometry

Abstract

We prove that a Finsler metric is nonpositively curved in the sense of Busemann if and only if it is affinely equivalent to a Riemannian metric of nonpositive sectional curvature. In other terms, such Finsler metrics are precisely Berwald metrics of nonpositive flag curvature. In particular in dimension 2 every such metric is Riemannian or locally isometric to that of a normed plane. In the course of the proof we obtain new characterizations of Berwald metrics in terms of the so-called linear parallel transport.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1711.02951,
  title  = {Rigidity of Busemann convex Finsler metrics},
  author = {Sergei Ivanov and Alexander Lytchak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.02951},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

v3: one of the open questions posed in the previous version turned out to have simple counter-examples; Section 6 is rewritten and now describes these examples; the corresponding part of the introduction is changed