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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Santalo Formula

Let M be a simple Riemannian manifold with boundary M. For (x,v)SM, let τ(x,v) denote the exit time of the geodesic starting at x with tangent vector v, i.e. τ(x,v) is the (necessarily unique, and finite) time at which expx(tv)M.

We let +(SM) denote the set
+(SM)={(x,v)SM | xM,v,ν>0}
where ν denotes the inward unit normal to M in M. The exponential map identifies SM with the set
Ω={(x,v,t)+(SM)×R | 0tτ(x,v)},
via (x,v,t)expx(tv). Let Φ:ΩM denote this diffeomorphism. Then we have, for all fC(SM)
SMfdvol(SM)=Ω(Φf)(Φdvol(SM))=+(SM)τ(x,v)0f(ϕt(x,v))Φdvol(SM).
Therefore, we can compute integrals of functions over SM by integrating along geodesics, provided that we can cmopute Φdvol(SM). This is the content of the Santalo formula.

Theorem (Santalo formula). For all fC(SM), we have
SMfdvol(SM)=+(SM)τ(x,v)0f(ϕt(x,v))v,νdtdvol((SM))

Proof. Necessarily, we must have
Φ(dvol(SM))=a(x,v)dtdvol((SM))),
for some function a(x,v). The reason we can assume that a is independent of t is that Φ is defined via geodesic flow, and geodesic flow preserves the volume form on SM. To compute the factor a(x,v), we just need to compute
i/tΦ(dvol(SM))=Φ(iΦ(/t)dvol(SM))
From the definition of Φ, we have that Φ(/t) is the Reeb vector field on SM, i.e. the vector field generating geodesic flow. Therefore, Φ(/t) is equal, at a point (x,v) to the horizontal lift of the vector v. Therefore, using the definition of the induced volume form on a hypersurface of a Riemannian manifold, we find
i/tΦ(dvol(SM))=v,νdvol((SM))
where ν is the inward pointing unit normal to (SM) in SM. This shows that a(x,v)=v,ν and completes the proof.

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