Related papers: Variational aspects of the geodesic problem in sub…

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 $TM$,…

We consider geodesics in both Riemannian and Lorentzian manifolds with metrics of low regularity. We discuss existence of extremal curves for continuous metrics and present several old and new examples that highlight their subtle…

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 use the notion of generalized connection over a bundle map in order to present an alternative approach to sub-Riemannian geometry. Known concepts, such as normal and abnormal extremals, will be studied in terms of this new formalism. In…

It is well-known that normal extremals in sub-Riemannian geometry are curves which locally minimize the energy functional. Most proofs of this fact do not make, however, an explicit use of relations between local optimality and the geometry…

We examine the total mixed scalar curvature of a fixed distribution as a functional of a pseudo-Riemannian metric. We develop variational formulas for quantities of extrinsic geometry of the distribution to find the critical points of this…

We study the geometry of the second-order expansion of the extended end-point map for the sub-Riemannian geodesic problem. Translating the geometric reality into equations we derive new second-order necessary optimality conditions in…

We are interested in regularity properties of semi-stable solutions for a class of singular semilinear elliptic problems with advection term defined on a smooth bounded domain of a complete Riemannian manifold with zero Dirichlet boundary…

The geodesics for a sub-Riemannian metric on a three-dimensional contact manifold $M$ form a 1-parameter family of curves along each contact direction. However, a collection of such contact curves on $M$, locally equivalent to the solutions…

Two-dimensional almost-Riemannian structures are generalized Riemannian structures on surfaces for which a local orthonormal frame is given by a Lie bracket generating pair of vector fields that can become collinear. Generically, there are…

Consider a sub-Riemannian geometry $(U,D,g)$ where $U$ is a neighborhood at 0 in $\R^n,$ $D$ is a rank-2 smooth $(C^\infty $ or $C^\omega)$ distribution and $g$ is a smooth metric on $D$. The objective of this article is to explain the role…

The space of all non degenerate bilinear structures on a manifold $M$ carries a one parameter family of pseudo Riemannian metrics. We determine the geodesic equation, covariant derivative, curvature, and we solve the geodesic equation…

We consider the problem of minimizing $\int_{0}^L \sqrt{\xi^2 +K^2(s)}\, ds $ for a planar curve having fixed initial and final positions and directions. The total length $L$ is free. Here $s$ is the variable of arclength parametrization,…

The paper is a study of geodesic in two-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian metrics. Firstly, the local properties of geodesics in a neighborhood of generic parabolic points are investigated. The equation of the geodesic flow has singularities at…

We provide a new and simple system of equations for the normal sub-Riemannian geodesics. These use a partial connection that we show is canonically available, given a choice of complement to the distribution. We also describe conditions…

We investigate the minimal and isoperimetric surface problems in a large class of sub-Riemannian manifolds, the so-called Vertically Rigid spaces. We construct an adapted connection for such spaces and, using the variational tools of…

We derive a formula for the first variation of horizontal perimeter measure for $C^2$ hypersurfaces of completely general sub-Riemannian manifolds, allowing for the existence of characteristic points. For $C^2$ hypersurfaces in vertically…

We study curvature invariants of a sub-Riemannian manifold (i.e., a manifold with a Riemannian metric on a non-holonomic distribution) related to mutual curvature of several pairwise orthogonal subspaces of the distribution, and prove…

We study some sub-Riemannian objects (such as horizontal connectivity, horizontal connection, horizontal tangent plane, horizontal mean curvature) in hypersurfaces of sub-Riemannian manifolds. We prove that if a connected hypersurface in a…

A Finsler geometry may be understood as a homogeneous variational problem, where the Finsler function is the Lagrangian. The extremals in Finsler geometry are curves, but in more general variational problems we might consider extremal…