On geodesically reversible Finsler manifolds

Abstract

A Finsler manifold is said to be geodesically reversible if the reversed curve of any geodesic remains a geometrical geodesic. Well-known examples of geodesically reversible Finsler metrics are Randers metrics with closed [Formula: see text]-forms. Another family of well-known examples are projectively flat Finsler metrics on the [Formula: see text]-sphere that have constant positive curvature. In this paper, we prove some geometrical and dynamical characterizations of geodesically reversible Finsler metrics, and we prove several rigidity results about a family of the so-called Randers-type Finsler metrics. One of our results is as follows: let [Formula: see text] be a Riemannian–Finsler metric on a closed surface [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] be a small antisymmetric potential on [Formula: see text] that is a natural generalization of [Formula: see text]-form (see Sec. 1). If the Randers-type Finsler metric [Formula: see text] is geodesically reversible, and the geodesic flow of [Formula: see text] is topologically transitive, then we prove that [Formula: see text] must be a closed [Formula: see text]-form. We also prove that this rigidity result is not true for the family of projectively flat Finsler metrics on the [Formula: see text]-sphere of constant positive curvature.