Analysis and geometry of shape spaces

I - V
Peter W. Michor
Winterschool Geometry and Physics, Srni, Jan. 1724, 2009
Content:
Introduction: What are shape spaces and what
are they good for. A little bit of history.
Shape spaces of plane curves:
The topology of shape space.
Hamiltonian background and conserved momenta.
A bunch of metrics, their geodesics and curvatures:
The L
2
-metric and its vanishing of geodesic dis-
tance.
Almost local metrics.
Immersion Sobolev metrics.
The scale invariant Sobolov H
1
-metric and its rela-
tion to the Grassmannian of 2-planes in an innite
dimensional space, and Neretin geodesics.
A covariant formula for curvature and its rela-
tion to ONeills curvature formulas.
Shape spaces as quotients of dieomorphism
groups:
Right invariant metrics on dieomorphism groups,
their geodesics and curvatures.
Landmark space, geodesics and curvatures.
Spaces of submanifolds (plane curves and higher
dimensional ones)
High dimensional shape space Imm(M, N)/ Di(M)
Vanishing geodesic distance on dieomorphism
groups. Burgers equation corresponds to this phe-
nomenon. The Camassa-Holm equation has to
positive geodesic distance. For the Korteweg-de
Vries equation we do not know.
The universal Teichmueller space with the Weil-
Peterssen metric as shape space. (not done)
Based on:
P.M. and D. Mumford. Riemannian geometries on spaces of plane curves.
J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 8 (2006), 1-48, arXiv:math.DG/0312384.
H. Kodama, P.M. The homotopy type of the space of degree 0 im-
mersed curves. Revista Matematica Complutense 19 (2006), 227-234.
arXiv:math/0509694.
P.M. and D. Mumford. An overview of the Riemannian metrics on spaces
of curves using the Hamiltonian approach. Appl. Numerical Harmonic
Analysis 23 (2007), 74-113.
arXiv:math.DG/0605009
P.M., David Mumford, Jayant Shah, Laurent Younes: A Metric on Shape
Space with Explicit Geodesics. Rend. Lincei Mat. Appl. 9 (2008) 25-57.
arXiv:0706.4299
Mario Micheli, P.M., David Mumford: Landmarks. In preparation.
David Mumford: Lectures at the Chennai Mathematical Institute.
P.M., David Mumford: Vanishing geodesic distance on spaces of subman-
ifolds and dieomorphisms, Documenta Math. 10 (2005), 217245.
arXiv:math.DG/0409303
V.Cervera, F.Mascaro, P.M.: The action of the dieomorphism group on
the space of immersions. Di. Geom. Appl. 1 (1991), 391401
For background material: Peter W. Michor: Some Geometric Evolution
Equations Arising as Geodesic Equations on Groups of Dieomorphism,
Including the Hamiltonian Approach. IN: Phase space analysis of Par-
tial Dierential Equations. Birkhauser Verlag 2006. Pages 133-215.
arXiv:math/0609077
Introduction:
What are shapes, why are they interesting, and
how are they arranged in shape spaces.
Shape spaces of plane curves:
Some spaces:
Di(S
1
) a regular Lie group, = Di
+
(S
1
)Di

(S
1
).
Emb = Emb(S
1
, R
2
), the manifold of all smooth
embeddings S
1
R
2
.
T Emb(S
1
, R
2
) = Emb(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R
2
).
Imm = Imm(S
1
, R
2
), the manifold of all smooth
immersions S
1
R
2
.
T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = Imm(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R
2
).
Imm
free
= Imm
free
(S
1
, R
2
), the manifold of all free
smooth immersions S
1
R
2
, i.e., those with triv-
ial isotropy group for the right action of Di(S
1
)
on Imm(S
1
, R
2
).
B
e
= B
e
(S
1
, R
2
) = Emb(S
1
, R
2
)/ Di(S
1
), the man-
ifold of 1-dimensional connected
submanifolds of R
2
,
B
i
= B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) = Imm(S
1
, R
2
)/ Di(S
1
), an in-
nite dimensional orbifold
B
i,free
= Imm
free
(S
1
, R
2
)/ Di(S
1
), a manifold, the
base of a principal ber bundle,
Notation. We work mostly with arclength ds, ar-
clength derivative D
s
and the unit tangent vector
v to the curve:
ds = [c

[d
D
s
=

/[c

[
v = c

/[c

[
Attention: Given a family of curves c(, t), then

and
t
commute but D
s
and
t
dont. Rota-
tion through 90 degrees (complex multiplication by

1) will be denoted by:

J =
_
0 1
1 0
_
.
The unit normal vector to the image curve is thus
n = Jv.
Curvature and length on Imm(S
1
, R
2
)
: Imm(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R),
(c) =
det(c

, c

)
[c

[
3
= n, D
s
v)
d(c)(h) =
Jh

, c

)
[c

[
3
+
Jc

, h

)
[c

[
3
3(c)
h

, c

)
[c

[
2
.
= D
2
s
(h), n) 2D
s
(h), v)
The length function
: Imm(S
1
, R
2
) R, (c) =
_
S
1
[c

[ d
d
c
(h) =
_
S
1
h

, c

)
[c

[
d =
_
S
1
D
s
(h), v)ds
=
_
S
1
h, D
s
(v))ds =
_
S
1
(c)h, n)ds
The degree of immersions. The degree or rota-
tion degree of an immersion c : S
1
R
2
is the wind-
ing number around 0 of the tangent c

: S
1
R
2
.
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) decomposes into the disjoint
union of the open submanifolds Imm
k
(S
1
, R
2
) for
k Z according to the degree k. These are con-
nected according to a theorem of Whitney and
Graustein (1931-32)
Theorem. The manifold Imm
k
(S
1
, R
2
) of immersed
curves of degree k contains S
1
as a strong smooth
deformation retract.
For k ,= 0 the manifold
B
k
i
(S
1
, R
2
) := Imm
k
(S
1
, R
2
)/ Di
+
(S
1
)
is contractible.
For k = 0 we have (surprise, Kodama-M.)

1
(B
0
(S
1
, R
2
)) = Z,

2
(B
0
(S
1
, R
2
)) = Z,

k
(B
0
(S
1
, R
2
)) = 0 for k > 2.
The tangent bundle is
T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = Imm(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R
2
), the
cotangent bundle is
T

Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = Imm(S
1
, R
2
) T(S
1
)
2
where the second factor consists of periodic distri-
butions.
We consider smooth Riemannian metrics
on Imm(S
1
, R
2
), i.e., smooth mappings
G : Imm(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
, R
2
) R
(c, h, k) G
c
(h, k), bilinear in h, k
G
c
(h, h) > 0 for h ,= 0.
Each such metric is weak in the sense that G
c
,
viewed as bounded linear mapping
G
c
: T
c
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = C

(S
1
, R
2
)
T

c
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = T(S
1
)
2
G : T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) T

Imm(S
1
, R
2
)
G(c, h) = (c, G
c
(h, ))
is injective, but can never be surjective.
In the sequel we shall further assume that that
the weak Riemannian metric G itself admits G-
gradients with respect to the variable c in the fol-
lowing sense:
dG
c
(m)(h, k) = G
c
(m, H
c
(h, k)) = G
c
(K
c
(m, h), k)
H, K : ImmC

(c, h, k) H
c
(h, k), K
c
(h, k)
smooth and bilinear in h, k.
We will check and compute these gradients for sev-
eral concrete metrics below.
The fundamental symplectic form on
T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) pulled back from the canonical sym-
plectic form on the contangent bundle via the map-
ping G : T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) T

Imm(S
1
, R
2
) is then:

(c,h)
((k
1
,
1
), (k
2
,
2
)) =
= dG
c
(k
1
)(h, k
2
) G
c
(
1
, k
2
)
+dG
c
(k
2
)(h, k
1
) +G
c
(
2
, k
1
)
= G
c
(k
2
, H
c
(h, k
1
) K
c
(k
1
, h))
+G
c
(
2
, k
1
) G
c
(
1
, k
2
)
The geodesic equation. The Hamiltonian vector
eld of the Riemann energy function
E(c, h) =
1
2
G
c
(h, h), E : T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) R
is the geodesic vector eld:
grad

1
(E)(c, h) = h
grad

2
(E)(c, h) =
1
2
H
c
(h, h) K
c
(h, h)
and the geodesic equation becomes:
_
_
_
c
t
= h
h
t
=
1
2
H
c
(h, h) K
c
(h, h)
c
tt
=
1
2
H
c
(c
t
, c
t
) K
c
(c
t
, c
t
)
The momentum mapping for a G-isometric group
action. Consider a (possibly innite dimensional
regular) Lie group with Lie algebra g with a right
action g r
g
by isometries on Imm(S
1
, R
2
). Fun-
damental vector eld mapping : g X(Imm(S
1
, R
2
)),
a bounded Lie algebra homomorphism, given by

X
(c) =
t
[
0
r
exp(tX)
(c).
momentum map j : g C

G
(T Imm(S
1
, R
2
), R):
j
X
(c, h) = G
c
(
X
(c), h).
: T Imm(S
1
, R
2
) g

, (c, h), X) = j
X
(c, h).
It ts into the following commmutative diagram
and is a homomorphism of Lie algebras:
0
//
H
0
i
//
C

G
grad

//
X

//
H
1
//
0
g
j
iiR
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R

T Imm
OO
is equivariant for the group action. Along any
geodesic t c(t, ) this momentum mapping is
constant, thus for any X g
(c, c
t
), X) = j
X
(c, c
t
) = G
c
(
X
(c), c
t
)
is constant in t.
We can apply this construction to the following
group actions on Imm(S
1
, R
2
).
The smooth right action of the group Di(S
1
) on
Imm(S
1
, R
2
), given by composition from the right:
c c for Di(S
1
). For X X(S
1
) the
fundamental vector eld is then given by

Di
X
(c) =
X
(c) =
t
[
0
(c Fl
X
t
) = c

.X.
The reparametrization momentum, for any vector
eld X on S
1
is thus:
j
X
(c, h) = G
c
(c

.X, h).
Assuming the metric is reparametrization invariant,
it follows that on any geodesic c(, t), the expres-
sion G
c
(c

.X, c
t
) is constant for all X.
The left action of the Euclidean motion group
M(2) = R
2
SO(2) on Imm(S
1
, R
2
) given by c
e
aJ
c+B for (B, e
aJ
) R
2
SO(2). The fundamental
vector eld mapping is

(B,a)
(c) = aJc +B
The linear momentum is thus G
c
(B, h), B R
2
and
if the metric is translation invariant, G
c
(B, c
t
) will
be constant along geodesics. The angular momen-
tum is similarly G
c
(Jc, h) and if the metric is rota-
tion invariant, then G
c
(Jc, c
t
) will be constant along
geodesics.
The action of the scaling group of R given by
c e
r
c, with fundamental vector eld
a
(c) = a.c.
If the metric is scale invariant, then the scaling
momentum G
c
(c, c
t
) will also be invariant along
geodesics.
If the Riemannian metric G on Imm is invariant
under the action of Di(S
1
) it induces a metric on
the quotient B
i
as follows. For any C
0
, C
1
B
i
,
consider all liftings c
0
, c
1
Imm such that (c
0
) =
C
0
, (c
1
) = C
1
and all smooth curves t (
c(t, )) in Imm(S
1
, R
2
) with c(0, ) = c
0
and c(1, ) =
c
1
. Since the metric G is invariant under the action
of Di(S
1
) the arc-length of the curve t (c(t, ))
in B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) is given by
L
hor
G
(c) := L
G
((c(t, )))
=
_
1
0
_
G
(c)
(T
c
.c
t
, T
c
.c
t
) dt
=
_
1
0
_
G
c
(c

t
, c

t
) dt
dist
B
i
(S
1
,R
2
)
G
(C
1
, C
2
) = inf
c
L
hor
G
(c).
The simplest (L
2
-) metric.
G
0
c
(h, k) =
_
S
1
h, k)ds =
_
S
1
h, k)[c

[ d
We compute the G
0
-gradients of c G
0
c
(h, k):
dG
0
(c)(m)(h, k) = G
0
c
(K
0
c
(m, h), k) = G
0
c
_
m, H
0
c
(h, k)
_
,
K
0
c
(m, h) = D
s
(m), v)h, D
s
=

[c

[
, v =
c

[c

[
.
H
0
c
(h, k) = D
s
_
h, k)v
_
Geodesic equation
c
tt
=
1
2[c

_
[c
t
[
2
c

[c

[
_

1
[c

[
2
c
t
, c

)c
t
.
Horizontal Geodesics for G
0
c
t
, c

) = 0 and c
t
= an = aJ
c

[c

[
for a C

(S
1
, R).
We use functions a, s = [c

[, and , only holonomic

derivatives:
s
t
= as, a
t
=
1
2
a
2
,

t
= a
2
+
1
s
_
a

s
_

= a
2
+
a

s
2

a

s
3
.
We may assume s[
t=0
1. Let v() = a(0, ), the
initial value for a. Then
s
t
s
= a = 2
a
t
a
, so log(sa
2
)
t
= 0, thus
s(t, )a(t, )
2
= s(0, )a(0, )
2
= v()
2
,
a conserved quantity along the geodesic. We sub-
stitute s =
v
2
a
2
and = 2
a
t
a
2
to get
a
tt
4
a
2
t
a

a
6
a

2v
4
+
a
6
a

v
5

a
5
a
2

v
4
= 0,
a(0, ) = v(),
a nonlinear hyperbolic second order equation. Note
that wherever v = 0 then also a = 0 for all t. So
substitute a = vb. The outcome is
(b
3
)
tt
=
v
2
2
(b
3
)

2vv

(b
3
)

3vv

2
b
3
,
b(0, ) = 1.
This is the codimension 1 version where
Burgers equation is the codimension 0 version.
Now the big surprise for the L
2
-metric:
Theorem. For c
0
, c
1
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) there exists
always a variation through immersions t c(t, )
with c(0, ) = c
0
and (c(1, )) = (c
1
) for any given
immersions c
0
and c
1
such that L
hor
G
0
(c) is arbitrarily
small.
Thus the distance dist
B
i
G
0
on B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) vanishes.
The simplest (L
2
-) metric G
0
is useless on shape
space.
The general almost local metric G

.
G

c
(h, k) :=
_
S
1
(
c
,
c
())h(), k())ds.
The metric G

is invariant under the reparame-

tization group Di(S
1
) and under the Euclidean
motion group.
We compute the G

-gradients of c G

c
(h, k):
dG

(c)(m)(h, k) = G

c
(K

c
(m, h), k)
= G

c
_
m, H

c
(h, k)
_
,
K

c
(m, h) =
__
S
1

c
m, n)ds
_

1
(, )
(, )
h
+

2
(, )
(, )
_
D
2
s
(m), n) 2D
s
(m), v)
_
h
+D
s
(m), v)h
H

c
(h, k) =
1
(, )
_

c
_

1
(, )h, k)ds
_
n
+D
2
s
_

2
(, )h, k)n
_
+
+2D
s
_

2
(, )h, k)v
_
D
s
_
(, )h, k)v
_
_
Conserved momenta for G

along any geodesic

t c( , t):
(
c
,
c
)v, c
t
)[c

[
2
X(S
1
) reparam. mom.
_
S
1
(
c
,
c
)c
t
ds R
2
linear moment.
_
S
1
(
c
,
c
)Jc, c
t
)ds R angular moment.
Setting the reparametrization momentum to 0 and
doing symplectic reduction amounts exactly to in-
vestigating the quotient space
B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) = Imm(S
1
, R
2
)/ Di(S
1
)
and using horizontal geodesics for doing so; a hori-
zontal geodesic is G

-normal to the Di(S

1
)-orbits.
If it is normal at one time it is normal forever (since
the reparametrization momentum is conserved).
Horizontality for G

.
T
c
(c Di(S
1
)) = X.c

: X C

(S
1
, R). Thus
the bundle of horizontal vectors is
A
c
= h C

(S
1
, R
2
) : h, v) = 0
= a.n C

(S
1
, R
2
) : a C

(S
1
, R)
A tangent vector h T
c
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) = C

(S
1
, R
2
)
has an orthonormal decomposition
h = h

+h

T
c
(c Di
+
(S
1
)) A
c
h

= h, v)v T
c
(c Di
+
(S
1
)),
h

= h, n)n A
c
,
into smooth tangential and normal components,
independent of the choice of (, ).
Consider a path t c(, t) in the manifold Imm(S
1
, R
2
).
It projects to a path c in B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) whose energy
is called the horizontal energy of c:
E
hor
G

(c) =
1
2
_
b
a
_
S
1
(
c
,
c
)c
t
, n)
2
ddt
=
1
2
_
[a,b]S
1
(
c
,
c
)
[n
0
S
[
2
_
1 [n
0
S
[
2
d
S
Here the nal expression is only in terms of the
surface S and its bration over the time axis, and
is valid for any path c. This anisotropic area func-
tional has to be minimized in order to prove that
geodesics exists between arbitrary curves (of the
same degree) in B
i
(S
1
, R
2
).
The horizontal geodesic equation.
Let c(, t) be a horizontal geodesic for the metric
G

. Then c
t
(, t) = a(, t).n(, t). Denote the in-
tegral of a function over the curve with respect to
arclength by a bar. Then the geodesic equation for
horizontal geodesics is:
a
t
=
1
2
_
_
+
2

_
a
2
D
2
s
_

2
a
2
_
+2
2
aD
2
s
(a)
2
1
(a) a +(
1
a
2
)
_
Curvature on B
i
for G

.
Let W(
1
,
2
) = h(
1
)m(
2
) h(
2
)m(
1
)
so that its second derivative

2
W(
1
,
1
) = W
2
(
1
,
1
) = h(
1
)m

(
1
)h

(
1
)m(
1
)
is the Wronskian of h and m.
R

0
(m, h, m, h) = G

0
(R
0
(m, h)m, h) =
=
_
_
.
2

2
+

2
.

2
2(

2
)
2
(
2
)
2
2
_
(
1
)W
2
(
1
,
1
)
2
d
1
+
_

22
(
1
)
2
W
22
(
1
,
1
)
2
d
1
+
__
_

2
_
(
1
)W
2
(
1
,
1
)
_
W(
1
,
2
)(
2
) d
2
d
1
+
__
_

12
_
(
1
)W
22
(
1
,
1
)
_
W(
1
,
2
)(
2
) d
2
d
1
+
__

1
(
1
)
2
_
1

2
.

(
2
)
_
W
1
(
1
,
2
)
2
d
2
d
1
+
__
_

2
.
3

2
.
4

2
4
+
_

2
.
2
_

+
_

2
8
_
.
1
_
(
1
)

1
(
2
)W(
1
,
2
)
2
d
2
d
1
+
___
_

11
2

2
1
4
_
(
1
)
1
(
1
)

1
2
(
2
)
_
(
2
)(
3
)W(
1
,
2
)W(
1
,
3
) d
2
d
1
d
3
Special case: the metric G
A
.
If we choose (
c
,
c
) = 1 + A
2
c
then we obtain
the metric we have investigated before:
G
A
c
(h, k) =
_
S
1
(1 +A
c
()
2
)h(), k())ds.
The horizontal geodesic equation for the G
A
-metric
reduces to
a
t
=
1
1 +A
2
c
_

1
2

c
a
2
+A
_
a
2
(D
2
s
(
c
) +
1
2

3
c
)
4D
s
(
c
)aD
s
(a) 2
c
D
s
(a)
2
_
_
Along a geodesic t c(t, ) we have the following
conserved quantities:
(1 +A
2
c
)v, c
t
)[c

[
2
X(S
1
) reparam. mom.
_
S
1
(1 +A
2
c
)c
t
ds R
2
linear momentum
_
S
1
(1 +A
2
c
)Jc, c
t
)ds R angular momentum
Lipschitz continuity of

: B
i
R
0
.
For C
0
and C
1
in B
i
= Imm/ Di(S
1
) we have for
A > 0:
_
(C
1
)
_
(C
0
)
1
2

A
dist
B
i
(S
1
,R
2
)
G
A
(C
1
, C
2
).
Area swept out bound.
If c is any path from C
0
to C
1
, then
_
_
_
area of the region
swept out by the
variation c
_
_
_ max
t
_
(c(t, )) L
hor
G
A
(c).
Maximum distance bound.
Consider < min

A/4,
3/4
/

8 and let
= 4(
3/4
A
1/4
+
1/4
)

. Then for any path c

starting at C
0
whose length L
hor
G
A
is , the nal curve
lies in the tubular neighborhood of C
0
of width .
More precisely, if we choose the path c(t, ) to be
horizontal, then
max

[c(0, ) c(1, )[ < .

Corollary.
For any A > 0, the map from B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) in the G
A
metric to the space B
cont
i
(S
1
, R
2
) in the Frechet
metric is continuous, and, in fact, uniformly contin-
uous on every subset where the length is bounded.
In particular, G
A
is a separating metric on B
i
(S
1
, R
2
).
Moreover, the completion B
i
(S
1
, R
2
) of B
i
(S
1
, R
2
)
in this metric can be identied with a subset of
B
lip
i
(S
1
, R
2
).
Explicit equicontinuity bounds, under appropriate
parameterization.
Corollary.
If a path c(, t), 0 t 1 satises:
[c

(, t)[ (t)/2 for all , t,

c
t
, c

)(0, t) 0 in a base point 0 for all t

_
C
t
(1 +A
2
C
t
)[c
t
, ic

)[
2
d/[c

[ L
2
for all t,
then
[c(
1
, t
1
) c(
2
, t
2
)[

max
2
[
1

2
[+
+7(
3/4
max
/A
1/4
+
1/4
max
)
_
L(t
1
t
2
) (1)
whenever [t
1
t
2
[ min(2
_
A
min
,
3/2
min
)/(8L).
A numerical simulation of the geodesic connect-
ing two circles. Minimize E
hor
G
1
(c) for variations c
with initial and end curves unit circles at distance
3 produced the following image for the geodesic:
The geodesic joining 2 random shapes of size
about 1 at distance 5 apart with A = .25 (using
20 time samples and a 48-gon approximation for
all curves).
The forward integration of the geodesic equation
when A = 0, starting from a straight line in the
direction given by a smooth bump-like vector eld.
Note that two corner like singularities with curva-
ture going to are about to form.
Top Row: Geodesics in 3 metrics joining the same two ellipses. Ellipses
have eccentricity 3, same center and are rotated at 60

degree.
A = 1; A = 0.1; A = 0.01.
Bottom Row: Geodesic triangles in B
e
formed by joining three ellipses at
angles 0, 60 and 120 degrees, for the same three values of A. Here the
intermediate shapes are just rotated versions of the geodesic in the top
row but are laid out on a plane triangle for visualization purposes.
The sectional curvature on B
i
R
0
(a, b, a, b) = G
A
0
(R
0
(a, b)a, b) =
=
_
S
1
_
1
2
(A
2
1)(ab

b)
2
+A(ab

b)
2
_
d
+
_
S
1
A
2
A
2

4
+2A
2

4A
2

2
1 +A
2
(ab

b)
2
d
=
_
S
1
(A
2
1)
2
+4A
2

8A
2

2
2(1 +A
2
)
W(a, b)
2
d
+
_
S
1
A W(a, b)

2
d
where W(a, b) = ab

b is the Wronskian of a and

b.
Special case: the conformal metrics
((c), (c)) = ((c)), metric proposed by Menucci
and Yezzi and, for linear, independently by Shah:
G

c
(h, k) = (
c
)
_
S
1
h, k)ds = (
c
)G
0
c
(h, k).
All these metrics are conformally equivalent to the
basic L
2
-metric G
0
.
As they show, the inmum of path lengths in this
metric is positive so long as saties an inequality
() C. for some C > 0.
More precisely (Shah), if Area(c) is area swept over
by the path c,
dist
G

(C
0
, C
1
) = inf
c
Area(c)

Ae. inf
c
Area(c) dist
G
e
A
(C
0
, C
1
)

Ae.e
A
max
inf
c
Area(c)
The horizontal geodesic equation reduces to:
a
t
=

2
a
2
+

1

_
1
2
__
a
2
.ds
_

__
.a.ds
_
a
_
If we change variables and write
b(s, t) = ((t)).a(s, t), then this equation simpli-
es to:
b
t
=

2
_
b
2

_
b
2
ds
_
Along a geodesic t c(t, ) we have the following
conserved quantities:
(
c
)v, c
t
)[c

()[
2
X(S
1
) reparam. moment.
(
c
)
_
S
1
c
t
ds R
2
linear moment.
(
c
)
_
S
1
Jc, c
t
)ds R angular moment.
Curvature on B
i
for the conformal metrics.
Sectional curvature has been computed by J. Shah.
Let g, h be orthonomal, then
Curv. in plane g.h)
=

2
(g.D
s
(h) h.D
s
(g))
2
+

1

_
g
2
.
2
+h
2
.
2
_
+
3
1

2
2.
2
1

4
2

_
(g.)
2
+(h.)
2
_

_
D
s
(g)
2
+D
s
(h)
2
+

1

2
2

2
_
Note that the rst two lines are positive while the
last line is negative. The rst term is the curvature
term for the H
0
-metric. The key point about this
formula is how many positive terms it has.
Special case: the smooth scale invariant met-
ric G
SI
(, ) =
3
+A

gives the metric:

G
SI
c
(h, k) =
_
S
1
_
1

3
c
+A

2
c

c
_
h, k)ds.
The beauty of this metric is that (a) it is scale
invariant and (b) log() is Lipschitz, hence the in-
mum of path lengths is always positive.
Horizontal geodesics in this metric as special case
of the equation for G

:
a
t
=
1
1 +A()
2
_
_
1 +A()
2
_
a
2
2
2A
2
D
s
(a)
2
4A
2
D
s
()aD
s
(a)
+
_
3 +A()
2
_
(a) a
3
2
(a
2
)

A
2
2
(a)
2

_
where the overline stands now for the average of
a function over the curve, i.e.
_
ds/.
Since this metric is scale invariant, there are now
four conserved quantities, instead of three:
(, )v, c
t
)[c

()[
2
X(S
1
) reparam. mom.
_
S
1
(, )c
t
ds R
2
linear moment.
_
S
1
(, )Jc, c
t
)ds R angular moment.
_
S
1
(, )c, c
t
)ds R scaling moment.
The Wasserstein metric and a related G

-metric.
The Wasserstein metric (also known as the Monge-
Kantorovich metric) is a metric between probability
measures on a common metric space. Let and
be 2 probability measures on a metric space (X, d).
Consider all measures on XX whose marginals
under the 2 projections are and . Then:
d
wass
(, ) = inf

__
XX
d(x, y)d(x, y).
where inf is over all with pr
1,
() = and pr
2,
() =
.
The Wasserstein norm is sandwiched between G

1
and G

W
for
W
=
1

+
1
12

2
.
Immersion-Sobolev metrics on Imm(S
1
, R
2
) and
on B
i
Note that D
s
=

[c

[
is anti self-adjoint for the metric
G
0
, i.e., for all h, k C

(S
1
.R
2
) we have
_
S
1
_
D
s
(h), k
_
ds =
_
S
1
_
h, D
s
(k)
_
ds
The metric:
G
imm,n
c
(h, k) =
_
S
1
(h, k) +A.D
n
s
h, D
n
s
k)) .ds
=
_
S
1
L
n
(h), k)ds where
L
n
(h) or L
n,c
(h) = I +(1)
n
A.D
2n
s
(h)
Geodesics in the H
imm,n
-metric
(L
n
(c
t
))
t
= L
n
(c
t
), D
s
(c
t
))v

[c
t
[
2
(c)
2
n D
s
(c
t
), v)L
n
c
t
+
A
2
.
2n1

j=1
(1)
n+j
D
2nj
s
c
t
, D
j
s
c
t
)(c)n
Existence of geodesics. Theorem
Let n 1. For each k 2n +1 the geodesic equa-
tion has unique local solutions in the Sobolev space
of H
k
-immersions. The solutions depend C

on t
and on the initial conditions c(0, . ) and c
t
(0, . ).
The domain of existence (in t) is uniform in k and
thus this also holds in Imm(S
1
, R
2
).
Sketch of Proof Flow equation of a smooth (C

)
vector eld on the H
2
-open set U
k
H
k
(S
1
, R
2
) in
the Sobolev space H
k
(S
1
, R
2
) H
k
(S
1
, R
2
) where
U
k
= c H
k
: [c

[ > 0 H
k
is H
2
-open.
c
t
= u =: X
1
(c, u)
u
t
= L
1
n,c
_
L
n,c
(u), D
s
(u))D
s
(c)

[c
t
[
2
(c)
2
JD
s
(c) D
s
(u), D
s
c)u
+
A
2
.
2n1

j=1
(1)
n+j
D
2nj
s
u, D
j
s
u)(c)JD
s
(c)
+(1)
n
A.
2n1

j=1
D
j
s
_
D
s
(u), D
s
(c))D
2nj
s
(u)
_
_
=: X
2
(c, u)
The conserved momenta of G
imm,n
along any
geodesic t c(t, ):
c

, L
n,c
(c
t
))[c

()[ X(S
1
) repar. moment.
_
S
1
L
n,c
(c
t
) ds R
2
linear moment.
_
S
1
Jc, L
n,c
(c
t
)) ds R angular moment.
Horizontality for G
imm,n
h T
c
Imm(S
1
, R
2
) is
G
imm,n
c
-orthogonal to the Di(S
1
)-orbit through c
if and only if
0 = G
imm,n
c
(h,
X
(c)) =
_
S
1
X.L
n,c
(h), c

) ds
for all X X(S
1
). So the G
imm,n
-normal bundle is
given by
A
n
c
= h C

(S, R
2
) : L
n,c
(h), v) = 0.
The G
n
-orthonormal projection T
c
Imm A
n
c
, de-
noted by h h

= h
,G
n
and the complemen-
tary projection h h

T
c
(c Di(S
1
)) are 1-
dimensional pseudo-dierential operators.
They are determined as follows:
h

= X(h).v where L
n,c
(h), v) = L
n,c
(X(h).v), v)
Thus we are led to consider the linear dierential
operators associated to L
n.c
L

c
, L

c
: C

(S
1
) C

(S
1
),
L

c
(f) = L
n,c
(f.v), v) = L
n,c
(f.n), n),
L

c
(f) = L
n,c
(f.v), n) = L
n,c
(f.n), v).
The operator L

c
is of order 2n and also unbounded,
self-adjoint and positive on L
2
(S
1
, [c

[ d). In par-
ticular, L

c
is injective. L

c
, on the other hand is of
order 2n 1 and is skew-adjoint. For example, if
n = 1, then one nds that:
L

c
= A.D
2
s
+(1 +A.
2
).I
L

c
= 2A..D
s
A.D
s
().I
The operator L

c
: C

(S
1
) C

(S
1
) is invertible.
This is by deformation invariance of the index.
We want to go back and forth between the natural
horizontal space of vector elds a.n and the G
imm,n
-
horizontal vector elds h [ Lh, v) = 0: We use
C
c
: C

(S
1
, R
2
) C

(S
1
) given by
C
c
(h) := (L

c
)
1
L

c
,
a pseudo-dierential operator of order -1 so that
a.n +C(a).v is H
imm,n
-horizontal
The restriction of the metric G
imm,n
to horizontal
vector elds h
i
= a
i
.n + b
i
.v can be computed like
this:
G
imm,n
c
(h
1
, h
2
) =
_
S
1
Lh
1
, h
2
).ds
=
_
S
1
_
L

+L

C
_
a
1
.a
2
.ds.
Thus the metric restricted to horizontal vector elds
is given by the pseudo dierential operator L
red
=
L

+L

(L

)
1
L

.
The metric on the cotangent space to B
i
, is simple.
On the smooth cotangent space
C

(S
1
, R
2
)

= G
0
c
(T
c
Imm(S
1
, R
2
)) T(S
1
)
2
the dual metric is given by convolution with the
elementary kernel K
n
.

G
n
c
(a
1
, a
2
) =
__
S
1
S
1
K
n
(s
1
s
2
).
.n
c
(s
1
), n
c
(s
2
)).a
1
(s
1
).a
2
(s
2
).ds
1
ds
2
.
Horizontal geodesics
For any smooth path c in Imm(S
1
, R
2
) there exists
a smooth path in Di(S
1
) with (t, ) = Id
S
1
depending smoothly on c such that the path e given
by e(t, ) = c(t, (t, )) is horizontal: L
n,c
(e
t
), e

) =
0.
We may specialize the general geodesic equation to
horizontal paths and then take the v and n parts
of the geodesic equation. For a horizontal path we
may write L
n,c
(c
t
) = an for a(t, ) = L
n,c
(c
t
), n).
The v part of the equation turns out to vanish
identically and then n part gives us
a
t
=
[c
t
[
2
(c)
2
D
s
c
t
, v)a+
+
(c)
2
2n1

j=1
(1)
n+j
D
2nj
s
c
t
, D
j
s
c
t
)
A Lipschitz bound for arclength in G
imm,n
[
_
(C
1
)
_
(C
0
)[
C(A, n)
2
dist
B
i
G
n
(C
1
, C
0
)
The scale invariant Sobolov H
1
-metric and its
relation to the Grassmannian of 2-planes in an in-
nite dimensional space, and Neretin geodesics.
G
c
(h, k) = lim
A
1
A
G
imm,scal,1
c
(h, k)
=
1
(c)
_
S
1
D
s
h, D
s
k) ds
=
1
(c)
_
S
1
h, D
2
s
k) ds
on Imm/translations or c Imm : c(1) = 0.
Geodesics in this metric
c
tt
=
1
2
D
2
s
_

c
n
c
_
|c
t
|
2
G
c

1
2
D
1
s
_
[D
s
c
t
[
2
v
c
_

c
_

c
c
t
, n
c
) ds c
t
D
1
s
_
D
s
c
t
, v
c
)D
s
c
t
_
The conserved momenta of G
imm,n
along any
geodesic t c(t, ):
1
(c)
c

, D
2
s
(c
t
))[c

()[ X(S
1
) repar. moment.
1
(c)
_
S
1
D
2
s
(c
t
) ds = 0 R
2
linear moment.
1
(c)
_
S
1
ic, D
2
s
(c
t
)) ds R angular moment.
1
(c)
_
S
1
c, D
2
s
(c
t
)) ds =
t
log((t)) scaling moment.
Thm. For each k 3/2 this geodesic equation
has unique local solutions in the Sobolev space of
H
k
-immersions. The solutions depend C

on t and
on the initial conditions c(0, . ) and c
t
(0, . ). The
domain of existence (in t)
is uniform in k and thus this also holds in Imm

:=
c Imm(S
1
, R
2
) : c(1) = 0.
Sphere, Stiefel, and Grassmannian
V := f C

(R, R) : f(x +2) = f(x)

below only : odd case. +: even case.
|f|
2
=
_
2
0
f
2
dx weak inner product on V .
Gr(2, V ) Grassmannian of oriented 2-planes.
T
W
Gr = L(W, W

) with metric
|v|
2
= tr(v

v) = |v(e)|
2
+|v(f)|
2
,
e, f orthonormal basis of W.
For W Gr(2, V ) let
Z(V ) = x : f(x) = 0f W.
Gr
0
(2, V ) = W Gr(2, V ) : Z(W) = open in
Gr(2, V ).
The Stiefel manifold St(2, V ) of orthonormal pairs
in V .
St
0
(2, V ) = (e, f) St : Z(e, f) = open in St.
T
(e,f)
St = (e, f) V
2
: 0 = e, de) = f, f) =
e, f) +f, e)
Metric |(e, f)|
2
= |e|
2
+|f|
2
.
St(2, V ) S(V
2
open
) sphere of radius 2.
V
open
= C

([0, 2], R).

The basic bijection
(e, f) = c() =
1
2
_

0
(e +if)
2
dx
: S
0
2fold
//
Imm
open
transl.,scalings
: St
0
2fold
//

OO
Imm
odd
transl.,scalings

OO
: Gr
0

//

Imm
odd
transl.,rot.,scalings

: Gr
0
/U(V )

//
B
i,odd
transl.,rot.,scalings
Thm. is an isometry from the natural metric on
St
0
to Imm
odd
/translations with the metric G.
Proof. c

=
1
2
(e +if)
2
, ds =
1
2
[e +if[
2
d.
c = T
(e,f)
.(e, f) =
_

(e +if)(e +if)dx
D
s
(c) = 2
(e+if)(e+if)
[e+if[
2
[D
s
(c)[
2
ds = ([e[
2
+[f[
2
)d.
The dictionary between pairs (e, f) and immersions
c connects many properties. Curvature works out
especially nicely. We list here some of the connec-
tions:
ds
d
= [c

[ =
1
2
(e
2
+f
2
)
v = D
s
(c) =
(e +if)
2
e
2
+f
2
and if W

(e, f) = ef

fe

is the Wronskian, then:

v

=
_
(e +if)
2
e
2
+f
2
_

= 2
W

(e, f)
(e
2
+f
2
)
iv, hence
= 2
W

(e, f)
(e
2
+f
2
)
2
for the curvature of c.
Reparameterizations
Let U(V ) be the group of all unitary operators on V
of the form f
_

(f ) for all smooth : R R

with

(x) > 0 and (x +2) = (x) +2, i.e. lifts

of Di
+
(S
1
).
The innitesimal action on V of a periodic vector
eld X on R is f
1
2
X

.f +X.f

.
Prop. (e, f) =
_
_

(e ),
_

(f )
_
.
A tangent vector (e, f) T
(e,f)
St is
perpendicular to the rotation orbits i
e, df)
V
= f, de)
V
= 0.
It is perpendicular to the reparameterization orbit
i W

(e, e) +W

(f, f) = 0
where W

(a, b) = a.b

.b is the Wronskian.
Neretin geodesics on Gr(2, V )
Y.A.Neretin: On Jordan angles and the triangle inequality in Grassmann
manifolds, Geom. Dedicata 86 (2001)
If W
0
, W
1
Gr(2, V ), use the singular value decom-
position of the orthonormal projection p : W
0

W
1
. This gives ONB (e
0
, f
0
) of W
0
and (e
1
, f
1
) of
W
1
such that p(e
0
) = cos()e
1
, p(f
0
) = cos()f
1
,
e
0
f
1
and f
0
e
1
for
0 , /2 the Jordan angles.
The metric is then given by
dist(W
0
, W
1
) =
_

2
+
2
and the geodesic by
W(t) =
_

_
e(t) =
sin((1 t))
sin()
.e
0
+
sin(t)
sin()
.e
1
f(t) =
sin((1 t))
sin()
.f
0
+
sin(t)
sin()
.f
1
_

_
We apply this to compute the distance between
curves in Imm
od
/(sim) and B
i,od
/(sim). We write

c
0
= r
0
()e
i
0
()
and

c
1
= r
1
()e
i
1
()
. We put
e
0
=
_
2r
0
cos

0
2

f
0
=
_
2r
0
sin

0
2
,
e
1
=
_
2r
1
cos

1
2

f
1
=
_
2r
1
sin

1
2
,
lifting the curves to 2-planes in the Grassmannian.
The 2 2 matrix M(c
0
, c
1
) of the orthogonal pro-
jection from the space e
0
,

f
0
to e
1
,

f
1
in these
bases is:
_
_
_
S
1
2

r
0
.r
1
. cos

0
2
cos

1
2
d
_
S
1
2

r
0
.r
1
. cos

0
2
sin

1
2
d
_
S
1
2

r
0
.r
1
. sin

0
2
cos

1
2
d
_
S
1
2

r
0
.r
1
. sin

0
2
sin

1
2
d
_
_
Notations:
C

:=
_
S
1
_
r
0
.r
1
cos

1
2
d
=
1
2
_
M(c
0
, c
1
)
11
) M(c
0
, c
1
)
22
_
S

:=
_
S
1
_
r
0
.r
1
sin

1
2
d
=
1
2
_
M(c
0
, c
1
)
21
M(c
0
, c
1
)
12
_
We have to diagonalize this matrix by rotating the
curve c
0
by a constant angle
0
, i.e., the basis
e
0
,

f
0
by the angle
0
/2; and similarly c
1
by a
constant angle
1
. So replace
0
by
0

0
and

1
by
1

1
such that (for both signs)
0 =
_
S
1
_
r
0
.r
1
sin
_
(
0

0
) (
1

1
)
2
_
d
= S

. cos

1
2
C

. sin

1
2
Thus

1
= 2arctan(S

/C

) .
In the newly aligned bases, the diagonal elements of
the matrix will be the cosines of the Jordan angles.
The following lemma gives you a formula for them:
If M =
_
a b
c d
_
, C

=
1
2
(a d), S

=
1
2
(c b), then
the singular values of M are:
_
C
2

+S
2

_
C
2
+
+S
2
+
.
This gives the formula
D
od,rot
(c
0
, c
1
)
2
=
= arccos
2
_
_
S
2
+
+C
2
+
+
_
S
2

+C
2

_
+arccos
2
_
_
S
2

+C
2

_
S
2
+
+C
2
+
_
.
This is the distance in the space
Imm
od
(S
1
, C)/(transl, rot., scalings).
Horizontal Neretin distances.
If we want the distance in the quotient space
B
i,od
/(transl, rot., scalings) by the group
Di(S
1
) we have to take the inmum of this dis-
tance over all reparametrizations.
To simplify, we assume that the initial curves c
0
, c
1
are parametrized by arc length so that r
0
r
1

1/2.
Then consider a reparametrization Di(S
1
) of
one of the two curves, say c
0
:
D
sim,di
(c
0
, c
1
)
2
= inf

_
arccos
2
(
e
(c
0
, c
1
))
+arccos
2
(
f
(c
0
, c
1
))
_
where now

e
(c
0
, c
1
) =
_
S
2

() +C
2

() +
_
S
2
+
() +C
2
+
()

f
(c
0
, c
1
) =
_
S
2

() +C
2

()
_
S
2
+
() +C
2
+
()
S

() :=
1
2
_
S
1
_

sin
(
0
)
1
2
d,
C

() :=
1
2
_
S
1
_

cos
(
0
)
1
2
d.
To describe the inf, we can use that geodesics in
B
i
are horizontal geodesics in Imm.
Consider the Neretin geodesic t e(t), f(t) in
Gr(2, V ) described above
W(t) =
_

_
e(t) =
sin((1 t))
sin()
.e
0
+
sin(t)
sin()
.e
1
f(t) =
sin((1 t))
sin()
.f
0
+
sin(t)
sin()
.f
1
_

_
for
e
0
=
_

cos
(
0
)
0
2
e
1
=
1

cos

1
2
,
f
0
=
_

sin
(
0
)
0
2
f
1
=
1

sin

1
2
,
where the rotations
0
and
1
must be computed
from c
0
and c
1
.
The geodesic is perpendicular to all Di(S
1
)-orbits
if and only if the sum of Wronskians vanishes:
0 = W

(e
0
, e
t
(0)) +W

(f
0
, f
t
(0)) =
=
1
_

_

e
sin
e
cos
(
0
)
0
2
cos

1
2
+

f
sin
f
sin
(
0
)
0
2
sin

1
2
_

_

e
sin
e
cos
(
0
)
0
2
sin

1
2

f
sin
f
sin
(
0
)
0
2
cos

1
2
_
+
2

(
0

)
_

e
sin
e
sin
(
0
)
0
2
cos

1
2

f
sin
f
cos
(
0
)
0
2
sin

1
2
__
This is an ordinary dierential equation for which
is coupled to the (integral) equations for calculat-
ing the s as functions of . If it is non-singular
(i.e., the coecient function of

does not van-

ish for any ) then there is a solution , at least
locally. But the non-existence of the inf described
for open curves above will also aect closed curves
and global solutions may actually not exist. How-
ever, for closed curves that do not double back on
themselves too much geodesics do seem to usually
exist.
The generic way in which a family of open immersions crosses
the hypersurface where Z ,= . The parametrized straight line
in the middle of the family has velocity with a double zero at
the black dot, hence is not an immersion.
100fold blowup in middle
This is a geodesic of open curves running from the curve with the kink
at the top left to the straight line on the bottom right. A blow up of the
next to last curve is shown to reveal that the kink never goes away it
merely shrinks. Thus this geodesic is not continuous in the C
1
-topology
on B
open
. The straight line is parametrized so that it stops for a whole
interval of time when it hits the middle point and thus it is C
1
-continuous
in Imm
open
.
A great circle geodesic on B
od
. The geodesic begins at the circle at the
top left, runs from left to right, then to the second row and nally the
third. It leaves B
od
twice: at the top right and bottom left, in both of
which the singularity of the rst gure occurs in 2 places. The index of
the curve changes from +1 to 3 in the middle row.
Curvature. Let W Gr(2, V ) be a xed 2-plane.
Let : V V be the isomorphism which equals
1 on W and 1 on W

satisfying =
1
. Then
Gr is the symmetric space O(V )/(O(W) O(W

))
with involutive automorphism : O(V ) O(V )
given by (U) = .U. For the Lie algebra in the
V = W W

-decomposition we have
_
1 0
0 1
__
x y
T
y U
__
1 0
0 1
_
=
_
x y
T
y U
_
Here x L(W, W), y L(W, W

). The xed point

group is O(V )

= O(W) O(W

).
The reductive decomposition g = k +p is given by
__
x y
T
y U
__
=
__
x 0
0 U
_
, x so(2)
_
+
__
0 y
T
y 0
_
, y L(W, W

)
_
For the sectional curvature we have (where we as-
sume that Y
1
, Y
2
is orthonormal):
k
span(Y
1
,Y
2
)
= B(Y
2
, [[Y
1
, Y
2
], Y
1
])
= tr
W
(y
T
2
y
2
y
T
1
y
1
+y
T
2
y
1
y
T
1
y
2
2y
T
2
y
1
y
T
2
y
1
)
=
1
2
|y
T
2
y
1
y
T
1
y
2
|
2
L
2
(W,W)
+
1
2
|y
2
y
T
1
y
1
y
T
2
|
2
L
2
(W

,W

)
0.
where L
2
stands for the space of Hilbert-Schmidt
operators. Note that there are many orthonormal
pairs Y
1
, Y
2
on which sectional curvature vanishes
and that its maximum value 2 is attained when y
i
are isometries and y
2
= Jy
1
where J is rotation
through angle /2 in the image plane of y
1
.
We obtain the expression of the curvature in Imm/(sim)
k
Imm,sim
span(h
1
,h
2
)
=
__
C
det(D
s
h
1
, D
s
h
2
)ds
_
2
+
__
CC
1 +cos((x) (y))
2

_
D
s
h
1
(x), D
s
h
2
(y))
D
s
h
2
(x), D
s
h
1
(y))
_
2
ds(x)ds(y)
+
__
CC
1 cos((x) (y))
2

_
det(D
s
h
1
(x), D
s
h
2
(y))
det(D
s
h
2
(x), D
s
h
1
(y))
_
2
ds(x)ds(y)
A major consequence of the calculation for the cur-
vature on the Grassmannian is:
Thm. The sectional curvature
on B
i
/(sim) is 0.
Proof. We apply ONeills formula to the Rieman-
nian submersion
: Gr
0
Gr
0
/U(V )

= B
i
/ Di
+
(S
1
)
k
Gr
0
/U(V )
(W)
(X, Y ) = k
Gr
0
W
(X
hor
, Y
hor
)
+
3
4
|[X
hor
, X
hor
]
ver
[
W
|
2
0
where X
hor
is a horizontal vector eld projecting to
X at (W). The horizontal and vertical projections
exist and are pseudo dierential operators.
We have explicit formulas for the ONeill term and
thus for the sectional curvature k
B
i
/(sim)
span(h
1
,h
2
)
at a
curve C B
i
/(sim) and tangent vector h
i
. We also
have an explicit upper bound for this as a function
of h
1
. This shows that geodesics have at least a
small interval before they meet another geodesic.
The size of this interval can be controlled by an
upper bound that involves the supremum norm of
the rst two derivatives of h
1
.
See the paper for this.
Some numerical experiments:
Curve evolution with and without the closedness
constraint. Lower and upper bounds for the geodesic
distance: 0.443 and 0.444
Curve evolution with and without the closedness
constraint. Lower and upper bounds for the geodesic
distance: 0.462 and 0.464
Curve evolution with and without the closedness
constraint. Lower and upper bounds for the geodesic
distance: 0.433 and 0.439
Curve evolution with and without the closedness
constraint. Lower and upper bounds for the geodesic
distance: 0.498 and 0.532
Curve evolution with and without the closedness
constraint. Lower and upper bounds for the geodesic
distance: 0.513 and 0.528
Shape spaces as quotients of dieo-
morphism groups.
Sobolev metrics on Di(R
2
) and its quotients
Emb(S
1
, R
2
) and B
e
(S
1
, R
2
)
Right invariant metric on the Lie group Di(R
2
)
induced by the inner product
H
n
(X, Y ) =
_
R
2
LX, Y ) dx where
L = L
A,n
= (1 A)
n
, =
2
x
1
+
2
x
2
.
with fundamental solution L
A,n
(F
A,n
) =
0
given
by
F
A,n
(x) =
1
2
_
R
2
e
ix,)
1
(1 +A[[
2
)
n
d
=
c
A
(n1)/2
.[x[
n1
.K
n1
(
[x[

A
),
for the classical modied Bessel functions K
r
.
The geodesic equation on Di(R
2
) is V.Arnolds
equation EPDi:
t (t, ) Di(R
2
)
v(t) = (
t
)
1
X(R
2
), u(t) = L(v(t)),
u
i
t
+

j
_
v
j
.
u
i
x
j
+u
j
.
v
j
x
i
_
+div v.u
i
= 0.
The quotient Emb(S
1
, R
2
).
Di(R
2
) Emb(S
1
, R
2
)
i, where i : S
1
R
2
.
If c = i, the ber through is
. : i = i = : c = c..
The tangent space to the ber is (right translated
by )
X X(R
2
) : X c = 0.
The horizontal subspace is the translate by of
Y :
_
R
2
LY, X) dx = 0, if X c = 0.
If Y is C

then Y = 0. So we need
LY = c

(p().ds) for p C

(S
1
, R
2
), a distribution
carried by c. Thus
Y (x) =
_
S
1
F(x c())p() ds
Y (x) =
_
S
1
F(x c())p() ds
Mapped to T
c
Emb we get
(Y c)() =
_
S
1
F(c() c(
1
)).p(
1
).[c

(
1
)[d
1
=: (F
c
p)() where
F
c
(
1
,
2
) := F(c(
1
) c(
2
))
is an elliptic pseudo dierential operator kernel of
order 2n + 1 which is real and positive, so the
operator p F
c
p is self-adjoint and positive, so
injective, and by index deformation it is bijective
between the Sobolev spaces on S
1
. The inverse
operator (F
c
)
1
has kernel L
c
(,
1
) which is a
pseudo dierential operator kernel of order 2n 1.
Write h = Y c T
c
Emb and express the horizontal
lift Y = Y
h
in terms of h:
h = Y
h
c = F (c

(p.ds)) = F
c
p so p = L
c
h
Y = Y
h
= F (c

((L
c
h).ds))
Y
h
(x) =
_
S
1
F(x c()).
.
_
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)h(
1
)[c

(
1
)[d
1
[c

()[d
Finally the metric:
G
di,n
c
(h, k) =
_
R
2
LY
h
, Y
k
)dx
=
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)h(
1
), k())ds
1
ds.
We can now compute K and H and the geodesic
equation. It becomes simpler if written for the 1-
current L
c
c
t
= p.[c

[ =: q:
q
t
(
0
) =
_
S
1
F

c
(
0
,
1
)q(
0
), q(
1
)) d
1
where F

c
(
1
,
2
) = gradF(c(
1
) c(
2
)).
Existence of geodesics. Theorem.
Let n 1. For each k > 2n
1
2
the geodesic equa-
tion has unique local solutions in the Sobolev space
of H
k
-embeddings. The solutions are C

in t and
in the initial conditions c(0, . ) and c
t
(0, . ). The
domain of existence (in t) is uniform in k and thus
this also holds in Emb(S
1
, R
2
).
Conserved momenta: Along a geodesic c,
G
di,n
c
(c

.X, c
t
) =
=
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)c

(
1
)X(
1
), c
t
())ds
1
ds
is conserved for every vector eld X on S
1
; the
conserved reparametrization momentum is
c

, L
c
c
t
) = c

, q).
Also
__
(S
1
)
2
L
c
(,
1
)c
t
())ds
1
ds =
_
S
1
q() ds is the
conserved linear momentum.
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)Jc(
1
), c
t
())ds
1
ds =
=
_
S
1
Jc(), q())ds
is the conserved angular momentum.
Horizontal geodesics.
A eld h along c is horizontal if L
c
h, c

) = 0. For
a horizontal path we have q, c

) = 0, so let q = a.n.
Then the horizontal geodesic equation is
a
t
() = q
t
, n)() =
=
_
S
1
F

c
(,
1
), n())a()a(
1
)n(), n(
1
)) d
1
Note that also n = Jc

/[c

[ appears. It is a strange
equation, but it is well-posed byt the theorem above.
Geometry of landmark space
and of spaces of currents
The dieomorphism group
Di = Di
S
(R
n
): the regular Lie group of all dif-
feomorphisms which are rapidly falling towards the
identity.
Its Lie algebra is the space X
S
(R
n
) of all smooth
vector elds which decrease rapidly, with the neg-
ative of the usual bracket as Lie bracket.
We consider X
S
(R
n
) as pre Hilbert space H
L
with
inner product
X, Y )
H
L
=
_
R
n
LX, Y ) dx
where L : X
S
(R
n
) X
S
(R
n
) is an invertible lin-
ear (elliptic) scalar dierential operator or pseudo-
dierential operator which is self-adjoint with re-
spect to the weak inner product
G
0
(X, Y ) =
_
R
n
X, Y ) dx
on X
S
(R
n
) and which is applied to each component
of a vector eld separately.
For example:
For the Laplacian =

2
i
and constant A, let
L = (1 A)
l
=

[[l
(A)
[[
l!
! (l )!

2
=

1
++
n
l
(A)

1
++
n
l!

1
! . . .
n
! (l
1
)! . . . (l
n
)!

2
1
x
1
. . .
2
n
x
n
The Fourier transform is

Lu = (1 + A[[
2
)
l
u().
Thus the fundamental solution K of LK = in the
space S

(R
n
) of tempered distributions is
K(x) =
1
(2)
n
_
R
n
e
ix,)
1
(1 +[[
2
)
l
d
n

which can be expressed in terms of the classical

modied Bessel functions K
l1
([x[/

A). It satises
(L
1
u)(x) =
_
R
n
K(xy)u(y)d
n
y for each tempered
distribution u.
Or:
We consider a kernel function K : R
n
R
n
R with
good properties (for example smooth and rapidly
decreasing o the diagonal) and its associated op-
erator K(f)(x) =
_
R
n
K(x, y)f(y) dy which we as-
sume to be invertible on C

S
(R
n
) on the space of
of smooth functions with compact support, and
then we put L = K
1
.
Landmark space as homogeneus space
A landmark q = (q
1
, . . . , q
N
): N-tuple of distinct
points in R
n
.
Land
N
(R
n
)
N
: the open subset of all landmarks.
q
0
= (q
0
1
, . . . , q
0
N
) a xed standard template land-
mark.
Then we have the the surjective mapping
ev
q
0
: Di(R
n
) Land
N
,
ev
q
0
() = (q
0
) = ((q
0
1
), . . . , (q
0
N
)).
The ber of ev
q
0
over a landmark q =
0
(q
0
) is
Di(R
n
) : (q
0
) = q =
=
0
Di(R
n
) : (q
0
) = q
0

= Di(R
n
) : (q) = q
0
;
We shall use the latter representation.
The tangent space to the ber is
X
0
: X X
S
(R
n
), X(q
i
) = 0 for all i.
A tangent vector Y
0
T

0
Di
S
(R
n
) is G
L

0
-
perpendicular to the ber over q if
_
R
n
LY, X) dx = 0 X with X(q) = 0.
If we require Y to be smooth then Y = 0. So we
assume that LY =

i
P
i
.
q
i
, a distributional vector
eld (current) with support in q. Here P
i
T
q
i
R
n
.
But then
Y (x) = L
1
_

i
P
i
.
q
i
_
=
_
R
n
K(x y)

i
P
i
.
q
i
(y) dy
=

i
K(x q
i
).P
i
T

0
ev
q
0
.(Y
0
) = Y (q
k
)
k
=

i
(K(q
k
q
i
).P
i
)
k
Consider a tangent vector P = (P
k
) T
q
Land
N
.
Its horizontal lift with footpoint
0
is P
hor

0
where the vector eld P
hor
on R
n
is given as follows:
Let K
1
(q)
ki
be the inverse of the (N N)-matrix
K(q)
ij
= K(q
i
q
j
). Then
P
hor
(x) =

i,j
K(x q
i
)K
1
(q)
ij
P
j
L(P
hor
(x)) =

i,j
(x q
i
)K
1
(q)
ij
P
j
Note that P
hor
is a vector eld of class H
2l1
.
The Riemannian metric on Land
N
induced by the
g
L
-metric on Di
S
(R
n
) is
g
L
q
(P, Q) = G
L

0
(P
hor
, Q
hor
) =
_
R
n
L(P
hor
), Q
hor
) dx
=
_
R
n
_

i,j
(x q
i
)K
1
(q)
ij
P
j
,

k,l
K(x q
k
)K
1
(q)
kl
Q
l
_
dx
=

i,j,k,l
K
1
(q)
ij
K(q
i
q
k
)K
1
(q)
kl
P
j
, Q
l
)
So the metric is given by:
g
L
q
(P, Q) =

k,l
K
1
(q)
kl
P
k
, Q
l
).
Recall: K
1
(q)
ki
is the inverse of the (N N)-
matrix K(q)
ij
= K(q
i
q
j
).
Lemma Let X, Y X
S
(R
n
) be a vector elds with
support in a compact box B R
n
. Let q
1
, q
2
, q
3
, . . .
be an equidistributed sequence in B: For each
Borel subset U B we require
lim
N
#i N : q
i
U
N
=
Vol(U)
Vol(B)
.
For each N consider the initial part q
N
= (q
1
, . . . , q
N
)
as a point in the landmark space Land
N
of N points
in R
n
. Then we have
lim
N
Vol(B)
2
N
2
N

i,j=1
K
1
(q)
i,j
X(q
i
), Y (q
j
)) =
=
_
R
n
LX, Y ) dx.
The geodesic equation on T

Land
N
(R
n
).
Elements of the cotangent bundle
T

Land
N
(R
n
) = Land
N
(R
n
) ((R
n
)
N
)

are denoted by
(q, ) =
_
_
_(q
1
, . . . , q
N
),
_
_
_

1
.
.
.

N
_
_
_
_
_
_
=
_
_
_
_
_
_
q
1
1
. . . q
1
N
. . .
q
n
1
. . . q
n
N
_
_
_,
_
_
_

1
1
. . .
1
n
. . .

N
1
. . .
N
n
_
_
_
_
_
_
and we shall use this as global coordinates.
The metric looks like
(g
L
)
1
q
(, ) =

i,j
K(q)
ij

i
,
j
),
K(q)
ij
= K(q
i
q
j
).
We consider the the energy function
E(q, ) =
1
2
(g
L
)
1
q
(, ) =
1
2

i,j
K(q)
ij

i
,
j
)
=
1
2

i,j
K(q)
ij

i
,
j
)
and its Hamiltonian vector eld (using R
n
-valued
derivatives to save notation)
H
E
(q, ) =
1
2
N

i,j,k=1
_
K(q)
ij

i
,
j
)

q
k

K(q)
ij

i
,
j
)
q
k

k
_
.
=
N

i,k=1
_
K(q
k
q
i
)
i

q
k
+gradK(q
i
q
k
)
i
,
k
)

k
_
.
So the geodesic equation is the ow of this vector
eld:
q
k
=

i
K(q
i
q
k
)
i

k
=

k
,
i
) gradK(q
i
q
k
)
A covariant formula for curvature and its rela-
tions to ONeills curvature formulas.
Mario Micheli in his 2008 thesis derived the the
coordinate version of the following formula for the
sectional curvature expression, which is valid for
closed 1-forms , on a Riemannian manifold (M, g),
where we view g : TM T

M and so g
1
is the
dual inner product on T

M. Here

= g
1
().
g
L
_
R(

_
=
1
4
|d(g
1
(, ))|
2
+
1
4
g
1
_
d(||
2
), d(||
2
)
_
+
3
4
g
_
[

], [

]
_

1
2

(||
2
)
1
2

(||
2
)
+
1
2
(

)g
1
(, )
Marios formula in coordinates.
Assume that =
i
dx
i
, =
i
dx
i
where the coe-
cients
i
,
i
are constants, hence , are closed.
Then

= g
ij

j
,

= g
ij

j
and we have:
4g
_
R(

_
= (
i

i
) (
j

j
)

_
2g
is
(g
jt
g
kl
,t
)
,s

1
2
g
ij
,s
g
st
g
kl
,t
3g
is
g
kp
,s
g
pq
g
jt
g
lq
,t
_
Covariant curvature and ONeills formula,
nite dimensional.
Let p : (E, g
E
) (B, g
B
) be a Riemannian submer-
sion between nite dimensional manifolds, i.e., for
each b B and x E
b
:= p
1
(b) the g
E
-orthogonal
splitting
T
x
E = T
x
(E
p(x)
)T
x
(E
p(x)
)

=: T
x
(E
p(x)
)Hor
x
(p)
has the property that T
x
p : (Hor
x
(p), g
E
) (T
b
B, g
B
)
is an isometry. Each vector eld X X(E) is
decomposed as X = X
hor
+ X
ver
into horizontal
and vertical parts. Each vector eld X(B)
can be uniquely lifted to a smooth horizontal eld

hor
(Hor(p)) X(E).
ONeills formula says that for any two horizontal
vector elds X, Y on M and any x E, the sectional
curvatures of E and B are related by:
g
p(x)
(R
B
(p

(X
x
), p

(Y
x
))p

(Y
x
), p

(X
x
))
= g
x
(R
E
(X
x
, Y
x
)Y
x
, X
x
) +
3
4
|[X, Y ]
ver
|
2
x
.
Comparing Marios formula on E and B gives an
immediate proof of this fact. Namely: If

1
(B), then the vector eld (p

is horizontal
and we have Tp (p

p. Therefore (p

equals the horizontal lift (

)
hor
. For each x E
the mapping (T
x
p)

: (T

p(x)
B, g
1
B
) (T

x
E, g
1
E
) is
an isometry. We also use:
|[(p

, (p

]
hor
|
2
g
E
= p

|[

]|
2
g
B
Curvature via the cotangent bundle Marios for-
mula for closed 1-forms , on landmark space,
where

k
=

i
K(q
k
q
i
)
i
. We shall use constant
1-forms below.
4g
L
_
R(

_
=
= 2

(||
2
) 2

(||
2
) +2(

)g
1
(, )
|d(g
1
(, ))|
2
+g
1
_
d(||
2
), d(||
2
)
_
+3g
_
[

], [

]
_
=
_
2

i,j,k,l
_
dq
j

_
d
2
K(q
i
q
j
)(dq
l
, dq
k
)(K(q)
il
K(q)
jl
)(K(q)
ik
K(q)
jk
)
+dK(q
i
q
j
)(dq
k
)
_
dK(q
i
q
k
)(dq
l
)(K(q)
il
K(q)
kl
)
dK(q
j
q
k
)(dq
l
)(K(q)
jl
K(q)
kl
)
_
, dq
i
_
+

i,j,k,l
K(q)
ik
dK(q
i
q
j
), dK(q
k
q
l
))dq
i
, dq
j
)dq
k
, dq
l
)(R
3124
+R
1324
)
+3

k,l,i,j,m,n
K
1
(q)
kl
_
K(q)
kj
K(q)
ij
_
dK(q
k
q
i
)(dq
j
)
_
K(q)
kn
K(q)
mn
_
_
dq
i
, dK(q
k
q
m
)(dq
n
) dq
m
_
_
_
( ) ( )
_
Notation for the coordinate formula:
A = indices of landmark points in R
n
a, b, c, = elements of A
, =
a
[a A,
a
[a A, cotangent vectors to /

= the dual tangent vectors, e.g.

a
=

b
K(P
a
P
b
)
b
K(x) = k(|x|), the kernel dening the metric
note: K(x) = k

(|x|)
x
|x|
d
ab
= |P
a
P
b
|, u
ab
= (P
a
P
b
)/d
ab
,
the unit vector between landmarks
K
ab
= k(d
ab
), K
ab
= DK(P
a
P
b
) = k

(d
ab
)u
ab

ab
=
k

(d
ab
)
k
2
(d
ab
)

1
d
ab
k

(d
ab
)
Four expressions in the skew form :

ab,cd
(, ) =
a
, K
cd
)
b

a
, K
cd
)
b

bcd
(, ) =

a
(K
ac
K
ad
)
ab,cd
(, )
=

d
, K
cd
)
b

d
, K
cd
)
b
(Note that the terms in angle brackets are discrete strains)

ab,cd
(, ) = (
a

c
) (
a

c
), (
b

d
) (
c

d
)),
(Bracket in R
n
R
n
, points a, b on left, c, d on right)

bd
(, ) =
_
(

d
) (

d
) (

d
) (

d
),

d
_
With these notations, we get the following formula:
R(, , , ) =
1
2

bd

bd

bbd
(, ),

dbd
(, ))
+
1
2

bcd
(

bcb
(, )

bcd
(, )) ,
cd,bd
(, ))

3
4
|

bb
(, )|
2
K
1 +
1
2

cd
k

bd
d
ab

cd
(, )

1
8

abcd
(K
ab
K
ad
K
cb
+K
cd
)K
ac
, K
bd
)
ab,cd
(, ).
Sobolev metrics on Di(R
2
) and its quotients
Emb(S
1
, R
2
) and B
e
(S
1
, R
2
)
Right invariant metric on the Lie group Di(R
2
)
induced by the inner product
H
n
(X, Y ) =
_
R
2
LX, Y ) dx where
L = L
A,n
= (1 A)
n
, =
2
x
1
+
2
x
2
.
with fundamental solution L
A,n
(K
A,n
) =
0
given
by
K
A,n
(x) =
1
2
_
R
2
e
ix,)
1
(1 +A[[
2
)
n
d
=
C
A
(n1)/2
.[x[
n1
.K
n1
(
[x[

A
),
for the classical modied Bessel functions K
r
.
The geodesic equation on Di(R
2
) is V.Arnolds
equation EPDi:
t (t, ) Di(R
2
)
v(t) = (
t
)
1
X(R
2
), u(t) = L(v(t)),
u
i
t
+

j
_
v
j
.
u
i
x
j
+u
j
.
v
j
x
i
_
+div v.u
i
= 0.
The quotient Emb(S
1
, R
2
).
Di(R
2
) Emb(S
1
, R
2
)
i, where i : S
1
R
2
.
If c = i, the ber through is
. : i = i = : c = c..
The tangent space to the ber is (right translated
by )
X X(R
2
) : X c = 0.
The horizontal subspace is the translate by of
Y :
_
R
2
LY, X) dx = 0, if X c = 0.
If Y is C

then Y = 0. So we need
LY = c

(p().ds) for p C

(S
1
, R
2
), a distribution
carried by c. Thus
Y (x) =
_
S
1
K(x c())p() ds
Y (x) =
_
S
1
K(x c())p() ds
Mapped to T
c
Emb we get
(Y c)() =
_
S
1
K(c() c(
1
)).p(
1
).[c

(
1
)[d
1
=: (K
c
p)() where
K
c
(
1
,
2
) := K(c(
1
) c(
2
))
is an elliptic pseudo dierential operator kernel of
order 2n + 1 which is real and positive, so the
operator p K
c
p is self-adjoint and positive, so
injective, and by index deformation it is bijective
between the Sobolev spaces on S
1
. The inverse
operator (K
c
)
1
has kernel L
c
(,
1
) which is a
pseudo dierential operator kernel of order 2n 1.
Write h = Y c T
c
Emb(S
1
, R
2
) and express the
horizontal lift Y = Y
h
in terms of h:
h = Y
h
c = K (c

(p.ds)) = K
c
p so p = L
c
h
Y = Y
h
= K (c

((L
c
h).ds))
Y
h
(x) =
=
_
S
1
K(x c()).
_
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)h(
1
)[c

(
1
)[d
1
[c

()[d
Finally the metric:
G
di,n
c
(h, k) =
_
R
2
LY
h
, Y
k
)dx
=
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)h(
1
), k())ds
1
ds.
This formula looks innocent, but there is an in-
version of the (nice) operator K
c
in it to get
L
c
= (K
c
)
1
We can now compute K and H and the geodesic
equation. It becomes simpler if written for the 1-
current L
c
c
t
= p.[c

[ =: :

t
(
0
) =
_
S
1
K

c
(
0
,
1
)(
0
), (
1
)) d
1
where K

c
(
1
,
2
) = gradK(c(
1
) c(
2
)).
Existence of geodesics. Theorem.
Let n 1. For each k > 2n
1
2
the geodesic equa-
tion has unique local solutions in the Sobolev space
of H
k
-embeddings. The solutions are C

in t and
in the initial conditions c(0, . ) and c
t
(0, . ). The
domain of existence (in t) is uniform in k and thus
this also holds in Emb(S
1
, R
2
).
Conserved momenta: Along a geodesic c,
G
di,n
c
(c

.X, c
t
) =
=
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)c

(
1
)X(
1
), c
t
())ds
1
ds
is conserved for every vector eld X on S
1
; the
conserved reparametrization momentum is
c

, L
c
c
t
) = c

, ).
Also
__
(S
1
)
2
L
c
(,
1
)c
t
())ds
1
ds =
_
S
1
() ds is the
conserved linear momentum.
__
S
1
S
1
L
c
(,
1
)Jc(
1
), c
t
())ds
1
ds =
=
_
S
1
Jc(), ())ds
is the conserved angular momentum.
Horizontal geodesics.
A eld h along c is horizontal if L
c
h, c

) = 0.
For a horizontal path we have , c

) = 0, so let
= a.n. Then the horizontal geodesic equation is
a
t
() =
t
, n)() =
=
_
S
1
K

c
(,
1
), n())a()a(
1
)n(), n(
1
)) d
1
Note that also n = Jc

/[c

[ appears. It is a strange
equation, but it is well-posed by the theorem above.
Requirements for innite dimensional manifolds
Let (M, g) be a weak Riemannian manifold mod-
elled on convenient locally convex vector spaces.
For x M the metric g
x
: T
x
M T

x
M is usually
only injective (weak metric). The image g(TM)
T

M is called the smooth cotangent bundle asso-

ciated to g. Now
1
g
(M) := (g(TM)) and

=
g
1
X(M), X

= gX are as above. The exterior

derivative restricts to
d :
1
g
(M)
2
(M) = (L
2
skew
(TM; R))
since the embedding g(TM) T

M is a smooth
ber linear mapping.
Further requirements need to be imposed on (M, g).
g : TM T

M is only injective in general, so the

Levi-Civita covariant derivative might not exist in
TM. Existence of
g
is equivalent to: The metric
itself admits gradients with respect to itself: We
express this is locally. So let for the moment M
be a c

-open subset of a convenient vector space

V
M
. Then we assume that we can write
D
x,Z
g
x
(X, Y ) = g
x
(Z, grad
1
g(x)(X, Y ))
= g
x
(grad
2
g(x)(Z, X), Y )
where grad
1
g, grad
2
g : M V
M
V
M
V
M
,
(x, X, Y ) grad
1,2
g(x)(X, Y ),
are smooth and bilinear in X, Y V
M
.
Then the derivation of Marios formula goes through
and the nal formula for curvature holds in both the
nite and innite dimensional cases.
Some constructions above encountered a second
problem: they lead to vector elds whose values do
not lie in T
x
M, but in the Hilbert space completion
T
x
M with respect to | |
g
x
. To manipulate these
as in the nite dimensional case, we need to know
that

xM
T
x
M forms a smooth vector bundle over
M. In other words, in each coordinate chart on an
open subset U M, TM[
U
is a trivial bundle U V
and all the inner products g
x
, x U dene inner
products on one and the same topological vector
space V . We assume that they are all bounded
with respect to each other, so that the completion
V of V with respect to g
x
does not depend on x
and

xU
T
x
M

= U V .
This means that

xM
T
x
M forms a smooth vector
bundle over M with trivialisations the linear exten-
sions of the trivialisations of the bundle TM M.
These two properties will be sucient for all the
constructions we need so we make them into a def-
inition:
Denition. A convenient weak Riemannian mani-
fold (M, g) will be called a robust Riemannian man-
ifold if
(1) The metric g
x
admits gradients in the above
two senses,
(2) The completions T
x
M form a vector bundle as
above.
Covariant curvature and ONeills formula in
innite dimensions. Let p : (E, g
E
) (B, g
B
) be a
Riemann submersion between innite dimensional
robust Riemann manifolds; i.e., for each b B
and x E
b
:= p
1
(b) the tangent mapping T
x
p :
(T
x
E, g
E
) (T
b
B, g
B
) is a surjective metric quo-
tient map so that
|
b
|
g
B
:= inf
_
X
x
T
x
E : T
x
p.X
x
=
b
_
.
The innimum need not be attained in T
x
E but
will be in the completion T
x
E. The orthogonal
subspace Y
x
: g
E
(Y
x
, T
x
(E
b
)) = 0 will therefore
be taken in T
x
(E
b
) in T
x
E.
If
b
= g
B
(

b
, ) g
B
(T
b
B) T

b
B is an element
in the g
B
-smooth dual,
then p

b
:= (T
x
p)

(
b
) = g
B
(

b
, T
x
p ) : T
x
E
R is in T

x
M but in general it is not an element
in the smooth dual g
E
(T
x
E). It is, however, an
element of the Hilbert space completion g
E
(T
x
E)
of the g
E
-smooth dual g
E
(T
x
E) with respect to the
norm | |
g
1
E
, and the element
g
1
E
(p

b
) =: (p

b
)

is in the | |
g
E
-completion
T
x
E of T
x
E. We can call g
1
E
(p

b
) =: (p

b
)

the
horizontal lift of

b
= g
1
B
(
b
) T
b
B.
The metric (g
E
)
x
can be evaluated at elements in
the completion T
x
E. Moreover, for any smooth
sections X, Y (TE) the mapping
g
E
(X, Y ) : M R
is still smooth, by the smooth uniform boundedness
theorem.
Lemma. If is a smooth 1-form on an open subset
U of B with values in the g
B
-smooth dual g
B
(TB),
then p

is a smooth 1-form on p
1
(U) E with
values in the | |
g
1
E
-completion of the g
E
-smooth
dual g
E
(TE). Thus also (p

is smooth from E
into the g
E
-completion of TE, and it has values in
the g
E
-orthogonal subbundle to the vertical bundle
in the g
E
-completion. We may continuously ex-
tend T
x
p to the | |
g
E
-completion, and then we
have Tp(p

p. Moreover, the Lie bracket

of two such forms, [(p

, (p

], is dened. The
exterior derivative d(p

) is dened and is applica-

ble to vector elds with values in the completion
like (p

.
That the Lie bracket is dened, is also a non-trivial
statement: We have to dierentiate in directions
which are not tangent to the manifold.
Theorem. Let p : (E, g
E
) (B, g
B
) be a Riemann
submersion between innite dimensional
robust Riemann manifolds. Then for 1-forms
,
1
g
(B) ONeills formula holds in the form:
g
B
_
R
B
(

_
=
= g
E
_
R
E
((p

, (p

)(p

, (p

_
+
3
4
|[(p

, (p

]
ver
|
2
g
E
Curvature computations
In terms of the dual momenta
= (L
c
h) ds = (L
c
h)[c

[ d
in L
c
T
c
Emb(S
1
, R
2
) T

(S
1
)
2
R
2
, the metric
looks particularly simple:
(G
di,n
)
1
c
(, ) =
__
S
1
S
1
K
c
(,
1
)(
1
), ())
We use again the cotangent expression of curvature
for constant (not depending on c) 1-forms , in
L
c
C

(S
1
, R
2
) T

(S
1
)
2
R
2
, where

= K
c
,
etc
4G
di,n
_
R(

_
=
= G
1
_
d(||
2
), d(||
2
)
_
|d(G
1
(, ))|
2
+3G
_
[

], [

]
_
2

(||
2
) 2

(||
2
) +2(

)G
1
(, )
4G
di,n
_
R(

_
=
=
____
(S
1
)
4
_
det
_
(
1
), (
2
)) (
1
), (
2
))
(
3
), (
4
)) (
3
), (
4
))
_

gradK(c(
1
) c(
2
)), gradK(c(
3
) c(
4
))
_

_
K
c
(
1
,
3
) 2K
c
(
1
,
4
) +K
c
(
2
,
4
)
_
+3
__
(S
1
)
2
L
c
(
3
,
4
)
_
_
S
1
_
gradK(c(
3
) c(
1
)),

(
3
)

(
1
)
_
(
1
)

gradK(c(
3
) c(
1
)),

(
3
)

(
1
)
_
(
1
)
_
,
_
S
1
_
gradK(c(
4
) c(
2
)),

(
4
)

(
2
)
_
(
2
)

gradK(c(
3
) c(
1
)),

(
3
)

(
1
)
_
(
1
)
_
_
+
__
(S
1
)
2
_
2(
1
), (
2
)) d
2
K(c(
1
) c(
2
))
_

(
1
)

(
2
),

(
1
)

(
2
)
_
2(
1
), (
2
)) d
2
K(c(
1
) c(
2
))
_

(
1
)

(
2
),

(
1
)

(
2
)
+4(
1
), (
2
)) d
2
K(c(
1
) c(
2
))
_

(
1
)

(
2
),

(
1
)

(
2
High dimensional shape space
Imm(M, N)/ Di(M).
M, a compact smooth connected manifold of di-
mension m 1.
(N, g) a connected Riemannian manifold of dimen-
sion n > m.
Di(M), the regular Lie group of all dieomor-
phisms of M.
Di
x
0
(M), the subgroup of dieomorphisms xing
x
0
M.
Emb = Emb(M, N), the manifold of all smooth
embeddings M N.
Imm = Imm(M, N), the manifold of all smooth im-
mersions M N.
Imm
free
= Imm
free
(M, N), the manifold of all smooth
free immersions M N (those with trivial
isotropy group for the right action of Di(M)
on Imm(M, N)).
B
e
= B
e
(M, N) = Emb(M, N)/ Di(M), the mani-
fold of submanifolds of type M in N, base of
a smooth principal bundle.
B
i
= B
i
(M, N) = Imm(M, N)/ Di(M), an innite
dimensional orbifold.
B
i,f
= B
i,
(M, N) = Imm
f
(M, R
2
)/ Di(M), a man-
ifold, the base of a principal ber bundle.
Free immersions
An immersion f : M N is called free if Di(M)
acts freely on it, i.e., f = f for Di(M)
implies = Id. We have the following results:
If Di(M) has a xed point and if
f = f for any immersion f then = Id.
If for f Imm(M, N) there is a point x c(M)
with only one preimage then f is a free immersion.
There exist free immersions without such points.
We might view Imm
f
(M, N) as the nonlinear Stiefel
manifold of parametrized submanifolds of type M
in N and consequently B
i,f
(M, N) as the nonlinear
Grassmannian of unparametrized submanifolds of
type M.
Non free immersions. Since M is compact, the
orbit space B
i
(M, N) = Imm(M, N)/ Di(M) is Haus-
dor. For any immersion f the isotropy group
Di(M)
f
is a nite group which acts as group
of covering transformations for a nite covering
q
f
: M

M such that f factors over q
f
to a free
immersion

f :

M N with

f q
f
= f.
For each f Imm there exist a slice (f) in a
strong sense:
(f) is invariant under the isotropy group Di(M)
f
.
If (Q(f) ) (f) ,= for Di(M) then is
in the isotropy group Di(M)
f
.
(f) Di(M) is an invariant open neighbour-
hood of the orbit f Di(M) in Imm(M, N) ad-
mitting a smooth retraction r onto the orbit. The
ber r
1
(f ) equals (f ).
We do not have a principal bundle and thus no
principal connections, but we can prove the main
consequence, the existence of horizontal paths, di-
rectly:
Lemma. For any smooth path f in
Imm(M, N) there exists a smooth path in Di(M)
with (t, ) = Id
M
depending smoothly on f such
that the path h given by h(t, ) = c(t, (t, )) is
horizontal: g(h
t
, Th) = 0.
Volumes of an immersion. For an immersion
f Imm(M, N), we consider the volume density
vol
g
(f) = vol(f

g) Vol(M) on M given by
vol
g
(f)[
U
=
_
det((f

g)
ij
)[du
1
du
m
[
for any chart (U, u : U R
m
) of M.
Lemma. The derivative of vol
g
: Imm(M, N)
Vol(M) is
d vol
g
(f)(h) = Tr
f

g
(g(S
f
, h

)) vol(f

g)+
+div
f

g
(h

)(f

g)) vol(f

g).
The second summand vanishes when integrated
over M.
The metric on Imm. Let h, k C

f
(M, TN) be
tangent vectors with foot point f Imm(M, N),
i.e., vector elds along f. We consider the follow-
ing weak Riemannian metric on
Imm(M, N), for a constant A 0:
G
A
f
(h, k) :=
=
_
M
(1 +A| Tr
f

g
(S
f
)|
2
g
N(f)
)g(h, k) vol(f

g)
where | Tr
f

g
(S
f
)|
g
N(f)
is the norm of the mean
curvature. The metric G
A
is invariant for the action
of Di(M). This makes the map : Imm(M, N)
B
i
(M, N) into a Riemannian submersion (o the
singularities of B
i
(M, N)).
The tangent vectors to the orbits are
T
f
(f Di(M)) = Tf. : X(M). The bundle
A Imm(M, N) of tangent vectors normal to the
Di(M)-orbits is independent of A:
A
f
= h C

(M, TN) : g(h, Tf) = 0

= (f

(TN[
M
/Tf.TM)) = (f

TN/TM),
the space of sections of the normal bundle.
A tangent vector
h T
f
Imm(M, N) = C

f
(M, TN) = (f

TN) has
an orthonormal decomposition
h = h

+h

T
f
(f Di
+
(M)) A
f
into smooth tangential and normal components.
The metric G
A
on Imm(M, N) is invariant under
Di(M) and induces a metric on the quotient B
i
(M, N):
For any F
0
, F
1
B
i
, consider all liftings f
0
, f
1
Imm
such that
(f
0
) = F
0
, (f
1
) = F
1
and all smooth curves t
f(t, ) in Imm(M, N) with f(0, ) = f
0
and f(1, ) =
f
1
. The length of t (f(t, )) in B
i
(M, N) is given
by
L
hor
G
A
(f) := L
G
A
((f(t, ))) =
=
_
1
0
_
G
A
(f)
(T
f
.f
t
, T
f
.f
t
) dt =
_
1
0
_
G
A
f
(f

t
, f

t
) dt
=
_
1
0
__
M
(1 +A| Tr
f

g
(S
f
)|
2
g
)g(f

t
, f

t
) vol(f

g)
_
1
2
dt
In fact the last computation only makes sense on
B
i,f
(M, N) but we take it as a motivation.
The metric on B
i
(M, N) is dened by taking the
inmum of this over all paths f (and all lifts f
0
, f
1
):
dist
B
i
G
A
(F
1
, F
2
) = inf
f
L
hor
G
A
(f).
Theorem. For f
0
, f
1
Imm(M, N) there exists al-
ways a path t f(t, ) in Imm(M, N) with f(0, ) =
f
0
and (f(1, )) = (f
1
) such that L
hor
G
0
(f) is arbi-
trarily small.
So the lowest order metric is not suitable for vision.
Sketch the proof!
Lipschitz continuity of

Vol
g
: B
i
(M, N) R
0
.
For F
0
and F
1
in B
i
(M, N) = Imm(M, N)/ Di(M)
we have for A > 0:
_
Vol
g
(F
1
)
_
Vol
g
(F
0
)
1
2

A
dist
B
i
G
A
(F
1
, F
2
).
Area swept out bound. If f is any path from F
0
to F
1
, then
_
(m+1) volume of the region swept
out by the variation f
_

max
t
_
Vol
g
(f(t, )) L
hor
G
A
(f).
Together with Lipschitz continuity this shows that
the geodesic distance L
B
i
G
A
separates points at least
on B
e
(M, N), if A > 0.
Horizontal energy of a path as anisotropic vol-
ume We consider a path t f(t, ) in Imm(M, N).
It projects to a path f in B
i
whose energy is:
E
G
A
( f) =
1
2
_
b
a
G
A
(f)
(T.f
t
, T.f
t
) dt =
=
1
2
_
b
a
G
A
f
(f

t
, f

t
) dt =
=
1
2
_
b
a
_
M
(1+A| Tr
f

g
(S
f
)|
2
g
)g(f

t
, f

t
) vol(f

g) dt.
We now consider the graph
f
: [a, b] M (t, x)
(t, f(t, x)) [a, b]N of the path f and its image
f
,
an immersed submanifold with boundary of RN.
E
hor
G
A
( f) =
=
1
2
_
[a,b]M
(1 +A| Tr
f

g
(S
f
)|
2
g
N(f)
)

|f

t
|
2
_
1 +|f

t
|
2
g
vol(

f
(dt
2
+g))
This is intrinsic for the graph
f
and the bration
pr
1
: R N R. To nd a geodesic between the
shapes (f(a, )) and (f(b, )) we look for an
immersed surface which is critical for E
hor
G
A
. This is
a Plateau-problem with anisotropic volume.
The geodesic equation of G
0
in Imm(M, N)

t
f
t
+div
f

g
(f

t
)f
t
g(f

t
, Tr
f

g
(S
f
))f
t
+
+
1
2
Tf. grad
f

g
(|f
t
|
2
g
) +
1
2
|f
t
|
2
g
Tr
f

g
(S
f
) = 0
We restrict to geodesics t f(t, ) in Imm(M, N)
which are horizontal: g(f
t
, Tf) = 0. Then f

t
= 0
and f
t
= f

t
, so the equation splits into a verti-
cal (tangential) part which vanishes identically, and
a horizontal (normal) part which is the geodesic
equation in B
i
for G
0
:

N(f)

t
f
t
g(f
t
, Tr
f

g
(S
f
))f
t
+
+
1
2
|f
t
|
2
g
Tr
f

g
(S
f
) = 0.
g(Tf, f
t
) = 0.
The sectional curvature for G
0
in B
i
(M, N)
k
f
(P(m, h)) =
G
0
f
(R(m, h)m, h)
|m|
2
|h|
2
G
0
a
(m, h)
2
.
We get then for x, y (A
f
):
R
f
(x, y, x, y) = G
0
f
(R
f
(x, y)x, y) =
=
_
M
vol(f

g)
_

1
2

Tr(L
f
L
f
)(x y) 0

1
4
| Tr(L
f
x
)y Tr(L
f
y
)x|
2
g
0
+
1
4
|x y|
2
| Tr
g
(S
f
)|
2
0
+g(R
g
(x, y)x, y)
+|x y|
2
Ric(TM, span(x, y))

1
2
|(g(x,

y) g(y,

x)|
2

1
M
0
+
1
2
|x

y y

x|
2

1
M

2
N(f)
_
0.
Corollary. If M has codimension 1 in N then
all sectional curvatures are non-negative. For any
codimension, sectional curvature in the plane spanned
by x and y is non-negative if x and y are parallel,
i.e., x y = 0 in
_
2
T

N.
Vanishing geodesic distance on groups
of dieomorphisms:
(N, g) a connected Riemannian manifold.
Di
c
(N) the group of all dieomorphisms with com-
pact support on N,
Di
0
(N) the subgroup of those which are dieotopic
in Di
c
(N) to the identity; this is the connected
component of the identity in Di
c
(N), which a reg-
ular Lie group. The Lie algebra is X
c
(N), the space
of all smooth vector elds with compact support
on N. Moreover, Di
0
(N) is a simple group (has
no nontrivial normal subgroups).
The right invariant H
0
-metric on Di
0
(N) is then
given as follows, where h, k : N TN are vector
elds with compact support along and where X =
h
1
, Y = k
1
X
c
(N):
G
0

(h, k) =
_
N
g(h, k) vol(

g)
=
_
N
g(X , Y )

vol(g)
=
_
N
g(X, Y ) vol(g)
Theorem. Geodesic distance on Di
0
(N) with
respect to the H
0
-metric vanishes.
x
t
ph
3
2r etr etr
ph(x)
ph+(x)
ph(x)
x
slopea
ph
slopela
ph+
0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Time t
S
p
a
c
e

x
Particle trajectories under , = 0.6
Geodesics and sectional curvature on Di(N):
For a right invariant weak Riemannian metric G
on an (possibly innite dimensional) Lie group the
geodesic equation and the curvature are given in
terms of the dual operator (if it exists) ad(X)

of
the adjoint ad(X) : g g on the Lie algebra by:
following formulas:
u
t
= ad(u)

u, u =
t

1
4G(R(X, Y )X, Y ) = 3G([X, Y ], [X, Y ])
2G(X, [Y, [X, Y ]]) 2G(Y, [X, [Y, X]])
+4G(ad(X)

X, ad(Y )

Y )
G(ad(X)

Y +ad(Y )

X, ad(X)

Y +ad(Y )

X)
In our case, for Di
0
(N), we have
ad(X)Y = [X, Y ]
G
0
(X, Y ) =
_
N
g(X, Y ) vol(g)
G
0
(ad(Y )

X, Z) = G
0
(X, [Y, Z]) =
=
_
N
g
_
/
Y
X +(g
1
/
Y
g)X +div
g
(Y )X, Z
_
vol(g)
ad(Y )

= /
Y
+g
1
/
Y
(g) +div
g
(Y ) = /
Y
+(Y ),
where the tensor eld
(Y ) = g
1
/
Y
(g) +div
g
(Y ) : TN TN
is self adjoint with respect to g.
Thus the geodesic equation for G
0
is
u
t
= (g
1
/
u
(g))(u) div
g
(u)u = (u)u,
u =
t

1
.
The main part of the sectional curvature is given
by:
4G(R(X, Y )X, Y ) =
=
_
N
_
|(X)Y (Y )X +[X, Y ]|
2
g
4g([(X), (Y )]X, Y )
_
vol(g)
So sectional curvature consists of a part which is
visibly non-negative, and another part which is dif-
cult to decompose further.
Example. For (N, g) = (R, can) or (S
1
, can) the
geodesic equation is Burgers equation, a com-
pletely integrable innite dimensional system,
u
t
= 3u
x
u, u =
t

1
,
to which corresponds vanishing geodesic distance.
and we get G
0
(R(X, Y )X, Y ) =
_
[X, Y ]
2
dx so
that all sectional curvatures are non-negative.
Example. For (N, g) = (R
n
, can) or ((S
1
)
n
, can):
(ad(X)Y )
k
=

i
((
i
X
k
)Y
i
X
i
(
i
Y
k
))
G
0
(ad(X)Y, Z) =
_
R
n
dX.Y dY.X, Z)dx
=
_
R
n

i,k
Y
k
_
(
k
X
i
)Z
i
+(
i
X
i
)Z
k
+X
i
(
i
Z
k
)
_
dx
(ad(X)

Z)
k
=
=

i
_
(
k
X
i
)Z
i
+(
i
X
i
)Z
k
+X
i
(
i
Z
k
)
_
,
so that the geodesic equation is given by

t
u
k
= (ad(u)

u)
k
=
=

i
_
(
k
u
i
)u
i
+(
i
u
i
)u
k
+u
i
(
i
u
k
)
_
,
the n-dimensional analogon of Burgers equation,
called the basic Euler-Poincare equation (EPDi)
by Holm. Also here we have vanishing geodesic
distance.
Stronger metrics on Di
0
(N).
A very small strengthening of the weak Riemannian
H
0
-metric on Di
0
(N) makes it into a true met-
ric. We dene the stronger right invariant weak
Riemannian metric by the formula:
G
A

(h, k) =
_
N
(g(X, Y ) +Adiv
g
(X). div
g
(Y )) vol(g).
Theorem. For any distinct dieomorphisms
0
,
1
,
the inmum of the lengths of all paths from
0
to

1
with respect to G
A
is positive.
Example We consider the groups Di
c
(R) or Di(S
1
)
with Lie algebras X
c
(R) or X(S
1
) with Lie bracket
ad(X)Y = [X, Y ] = X

Y XY

. The G
A
-metric
equals the H
1
-metric on X
c
(R), and we have:
G
A
(X, Y ) =
_
R
(XY +AX

)dx
=
_
R
X(1
2
x
)Y dx,
ad(X)

= (1
2
x
)
1
(2X

+X
x
)(1 A
2
x
)
so that the geodesic equation in Eulerian represen-
tation u = (
t
)
1
X
c
(R) or X(S
1
) is

t
u = ad(u)

u
= (1
2
x
)
1
(3uu

2Au

Au

u),
u
t
u
txx
= Au
xxx
.u +2Au
xx
.u
x
3u
x
.u,
which for A = 1 is the Camassa-Holm equation,
another completely integrable innite dimensional
Hamiltonian system. Here geodesic distance is a
metric.
Virasoro-Bott group. Let Di denote any of the
groups Di(S
1
), Di
c
(R) (dieomorphisms with
compact support), or Di
S
(R). Then
c : Di Di R
c(, ) : =
1
2
_
log(( )

)d log(

)
=
1
2
_
log(

)d log(

)
satises c(,
1
) = 0, c(Id, ) = 0, c(, Id) = 0,
and is a smooth Hochschild group cocycle, i.e.,
c(
2
,
3
)c(
1

2
,
3
)+c(
1
,
2

3
)c(
1
,
2
) = 0,
called the Bott cocycle.
The corresponding central extension group R
c
Di, called the Virasoro-Bott group, is a regular
Lie group with operations
_

__

_
=
_

+ +c(, )
_
,
_

_
1
=
_

1
_
for , Di and , R.
The Lie algebra of the Virasoro-Bott Lie group is
the central extension R

X of X, called the Vira-

soro Lie algebra, with bracket:
_
_
X
a
_
,
_
Y
b
_
_
=
_
[X, Y ]
(X, Y )
_
=
_
X

Y XY

(X, Y )
_
(X, Y ) = (X)Y =
_
X

dY

=
_
X

dx =
=
1
2
_
det
_
X

_
dx,
is the Gelfand-Fuchs Lie algebra cocycle
: XX R, which is a bounded skew-symmetric
bilinear mapping satisfying the cocycle condition
([X, Y ], Z) +([Y, Z], X) +([Z, X], Y ) = 0.
It is a generator of the 1-dimensional bounded Cheval-
ley cohomology H
2
(X, R) for any of the Lie algebras
X = X(S
1
), X
c
(R), or S(R)
x
.
We shall use the L
2
-inner product on R

X, where
X = X(S
1
), X
c
(R), S(R)
x
:
__
X
a
_
,
_
Y
b
__
0
:=
_
XY dx +ab.
Integrating by parts we get
_
ad
_
X
a
__
Y
b
_
,
_
Z
c
_
_
0
=
_
_
X

Y XY

(X, Y )
_
,
_
Z
c
_
_
0
=
_
(X

Y Z XY

Z +cX

) dx
=
_
(2X

Z +XZ

+cX

)Y dx
=
_
_
Y
b
_
, ad
_
X
a
_

_
Z
c
_
_
0
, where
ad
_
X
a
_

_
Z
c
_
=
_
2X

Z +XZ

+cX

0
_
.
The H
0
geodesic equation on the Virasoro-Bott
group (Ovsienko-Khesin):
_
u
t
a
t
_
= ad
_
u
a
_

_
u
a
_
=
_
3u
x
u au
xxx
0
_
where
_
u(t)
a(t)
_
=
s
_
(s)
(s)
_
.
_
(t)
1
(t)
_

s=t
=
s
_
(s) (t)
1
(s) (t) +c((s), (t)
1
)
_

s=t
=
_

t

1

_

tx

xx
2
2
x
dx
_
Thus a is a constant in time and the geodesic equa-
tion is hence the Korteweg-de Vries equation
u
t
+3u
x
u +au
xxx
= 0.
with its natural companions

t
= u ,
t
= a +
_

tx

xx
2
2
x
dx.
I do not know whether the right invariant L
2
-metric
on the Virasoro-Bott group has vanishing geodesic
distance?
On Mondays I think: YES
On Tuesdays I think: NO
. . .
At the end of last main lecture:
Many thanks to the organizers (except one of them)
for a great conference, and for the ne weather and
great snow.