Rigidity of Lyapunov exponents for geodesic flows

Abstract

In this paper, we study rigidity problems between Lyapunov exponents along periodic orbits and geometric structures. More specifically, we prove that for a surface M without focal points, if the value of the Lyapunov exponents is constant over all periodic orbits, then M is the flat 2-torus or a surface of constant negative curvature. We obtain the same result for the case of Anosov geodesic flow for surface, which generalizes C. Butler's result [5] in dimension two. Using completely different techniques, we also prove an extension of [5] to the finite volume case, where the value of the Lyapunov exponents along all periodic orbits is constant, being the maximum or minimum possible.