Every Finsler manifold becomes an
intrinsicquasimetric space when the distance between two points is defined as the infimum length of the curves that join them.
A Finsler manifold is a
differentiable manifoldM together with a Finsler metric, which is a continuous nonnegative function F: TM → [0, +∞) defined on the
tangent bundle so that for each point x of M,
F(v + w) ≤ F(v) + F(w) for every two vectors v,w tangent to M at x (
subadditivity).
F(λv) = λF(v) for all λ ≥ 0 (but not necessarily for λ < 0) (
positive homogeneity).
also known as the fundamental tensor of F at v. Strong convexity of F implies the subadditivity with a strict inequality if u⁄F(u) ≠ v⁄F(v). If F is strongly convex, then it is a Minkowski norm on each tangent space.
A Finsler metric is reversible if, in addition,
F(−v) = F(v) for all tangent vectors v.
A reversible Finsler metric defines a
norm (in the usual sense) on each tangent space.
Examples
Smooth submanifolds (including open subsets) of a
normed vector space of finite dimension are Finsler manifolds if the norm of the vector space is smooth outside the origin.
Around any point z on M there exists a smooth chart (U, φ) of M and a constant C ≥ 1 such that for every x, y ∈ U
The function d: M × M → [0, ∞] is
smooth in some punctured neighborhood of the diagonal.
Then one can define a Finsler function F: TM →[0, ∞] by
where γ is any curve in M with γ(0) = x and γ'(0) = v. The Finsler function F obtained in this way restricts to an asymmetric (typically non-Minkowski) norm on each tangent space of M. The
induced intrinsic metricdL: M × M → [0, ∞] of the original
quasimetric can be recovered from
and in fact any Finsler function F: TM → [0, ∞) defines an
intrinsicquasimetricdL on M by this formula.
Geodesics
Due to the homogeneity of F the length
of a
differentiable curveγ: [a, b] → M in M is invariant under positively oriented
reparametrizations. A constant speed curve γ is a
geodesic of a Finsler manifold if its short enough segments γ|c,d are length-minimizing in M from γ(c) to γ(d). Equivalently, γ is a geodesic if it is stationary for the energy functional
in the sense that its
functional derivative vanishes among differentiable curves γ: [a, b] → M with fixed endpoints γ(a) = x and γ(b) = y.
Canonical spray structure on a Finsler manifold
The
Euler–Lagrange equation for the energy functional Eγ] reads in the local coordinates (x1, ..., xn, v1, ..., vn) of TM as
where k = 1, ..., n and gij is the coordinate representation of the fundamental tensor, defined as
Assuming the
strong convexity of F2(x, v) with respect to v ∈ TxM, the matrix gij(x, v) is invertible and its inverse is denoted by gij(x, v). Then γ: [a, b] → M is a geodesic of (M, F) if and only if its tangent curve γ': [a, b] → TM∖{0} is an
integral curve of the
smooth vector fieldH on TM∖{0} locally defined by
where the local spray coefficients Gi are given by
By
Hopf–Rinow theorem there always exist length minimizing curves (at least in small enough neighborhoods) on (M, F). Length minimizing curves can always be positively reparametrized to be geodesics, and any geodesic must satisfy the Euler–Lagrange equation for Eγ]. Assuming the strong convexity of F2 there exists a unique maximal geodesic γ with γ(0) = x and γ'(0) = v for any (x, v) ∈ TM∖{0} by the uniqueness of
integral curves.
If F2 is strongly convex, geodesics γ: [0, b] → M are length-minimizing among nearby curves until the first point γ(s)
conjugate to γ(0) along γ, and for t > s there always exist shorter curves from γ(0) to γ(t) near γ, as in the
Riemannian case.
Fréchet manifold – topological space modeled on a Fréchet space in much the same way as a manifold is modeled on a Euclidean spacePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
Global analysis – which uses Hilbert manifolds and other kinds of infinite-dimensional manifolds