Related papers: Sub-Riemannian geodesics on nested principal bundl…

In this paper we obtain an existence theorem for normal geodesics joining two given submanifolds in a globally hyperbolic stationary spacetime. The proof is based on both variational and geometric arguments involving the causal structure of…

We solve explicitly the geodesic equation for a wide class of (pseudo)-Riemannian homogeneous manifolds (G/H,m), including those with G compact, as well as non-compact semisimple Lie groups, under a simple algebraic condition for the metric…

We study the regularity and branching of strictly abnormal minimizing geodesics in sub-Riemannian geometry. We construct examples of real-analytic sub-Riemannian manifolds admitting minimizing geodesics that lose regularity at an interior…

We consider the free nilpotent Lie algebra $L$ with 2 generators, of step 4, and the corresponding connected simply connected Lie group $G$. We study the left-invariant sub-Riemannian structure on $G$ defined by the generators of $L$ as an…

This paper uncovers a large class of left-invariant sub-Rie\-mannian systems on Lie groups that admit explicit solutions with certain properties, and provides geometric origins for a class of important curves on Stiefel manifolds, called…

We discuss some specializations of the frames of flat orthonormal frame bundles over geometries of indefinite signature, and the resulting symmetries of families of embedded Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian geometries. The specializations…

We show that the pseudo-Riemannian geometry of submanifolds can be formulated in terms of higher order multi-linear maps. In particular, we obtain a Poisson bracket formulation of almost (para-)K\"ahler geometry.

In this note, we show that sub-Riemannian manifolds can contain branching normal minimizing geodesics. This phenomenon occurs if and only if a normal geodesic has a discontinuity in its rank at a non-zero time, which in particular for a…

We generalize the concept of sub-Riemannian geometry to infinite-dimensional manifolds modeled on convenient vector spaces. On a sub-Riemannian manifold $M$, the metric is defined only on a sub-bundle $\calH$ of the tangent bundle $TM$,…

This thesis discusses exotic 7-spheres, i.e. manifolds that are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordinary 7-sphere, using a set of analytical and computational tools from theoretical physics. The theory of fibre bundles and…

We study geodesics on hypersurfaces close to the standard (n-1)-dimensional sphere in n-dimensional Euclidean space. Following Poincar\'e, we treat the problem within the framework of the analytical mechanics, and employ the perturbation…

In this letter we investigate some aspects of the noncommutative differential geometry based on derivations of the algebra of endomorphisms of an oriented complex hermitian vector bundle. We relate it, in a natural way, to the geometry of…

This review article intends to introduce the reader to non-integrable geometric structures on Riemannian manifolds and invariant metric connections with torsion, and to discuss recent aspects of mathematical physics--in particular…

In differential geometry, geometric structures can often be encoded by differential forms satisfying algebraic and differential constraints. This is in particular the case for spinorial G-structures, where the defining tensors are…

We explicitly describe the length minimizing geodesics for a sub-Riemannian structure of the elliptic type defined on $SL(2, \mathbb{R})$. Our method uses a symmetry reduction which translates the problem into a Riemannian problem on a two…

The Special Euclidean group on the plane $SE(2)$ has the left-invariant sub-Riemannian structure. Every sub-Riemannian manifold possesses a Hamiltonian function governing the sub-Riemannian geodesic flow. Two natural questions are: What are…

This is a survey paper on Morse theory and the existence problem for closed geodesics. The free loop space plays a central role, since closed geodesics are critical points of the energy functional. As such, they can be analyzed through…

The goal of this paper is to study periodic geodesics for sub-Riemannian metrics on a contact 3D-manifold.We develop two rather independent subjects:1) The existence of closed geodesics spiraling around periodic Reeb orbits for a generic…

A Riemannian manifold is called a geodesic orbit manifolds, GO for short, if any geodesic is an orbit of a one-parameter group of isometries. By a result of C.Gordon, a non-flat GO nilmanifold is necessarily a two-step nilpotent Lie group…

Hermitian bundle gerbes with connection are geometric objects for which a notion of surface holonomy can be defined for closed oriented surfaces. We systematically introduce bundle gerbes by closing the pre-stack of trivial bundle gerbes…