The Riemannian L^2 topology on the manifold of Riemannian metrics

Abstract

We study the manifold of all Riemannian metrics over a closed, finite-dimensional manifold. In particular, we investigate the topology on the manifold of metrics induced by the distance function of the L^2 Riemannian metric - so called because it induces an L^2 topology on each tangent space. It turns out that this topology on the tangent spaces gives rise to an L^1-type topology on the manifold of metrics itself. We study this new topology and its completion, which agrees homeomorphically with the completion of the L^2 metric. We also give a user-friendly criterion for convergence (with respect to the L^2 metric) in the manifold of metrics.

arXiv comment31 pages; v2: minor corrections, published version

References in corpus (2)

• The Completion of the Manifold of Riemannian Metrics with Respect to its $L^2$ Metric
• The Metric Geometry of the Manifold of Riemannian Metrics over a Closed Manifold

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