Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4668225 Advances in Mathematics 2006 17 Pages PDF
Abstract

We construct a class of Finsler metrics in three-dimensional space such that all their geodesics are lines, but not all planes are extremal for their Hausdorff area functionals. This shows that if the Hausdorff measure is used as notion of volume on Finsler spaces, then totally geodesic submanifolds are not necessarily minimal, filling results such as those of Ivanov [On two-dimensional minimal fillings, St. Petersburg Math. J. 13 (2002) 17–25] do not hold, and integral-geometric formulas do not exist. On the other hand, using the Holmes–Thompson definition of volume, we prove a general Crofton formula for Finsler spaces and give an easy proof that their totally geodesic hypersurfaces are minimal.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Mathematics Mathematics (General)