Metric Lines in the Special Euclidean group on the plane

Abstract

The Special Euclidean group on the plane $SE(2)$ has the left-invariant sub-Riemannian structure. Every sub-Riemannian manifold possesses a Hamiltonian function governing the sub-Riemannian geodesic flow. Two natural questions are: What are the necessary conditions for periodic sub-Riemannian geodesics? What geodesics are the metric lines in SE(2)? We answer both questions, and our method for the second is an alternative proof using the Hamilton-Jacobi theory.