On the geometry of Riemannian manifolds with a Lie structure at infinity

Abstract

A manifold with a ``Lie structure at infinity'' is a non-compact manifold $M_0$ whose geometry is described by a compactification to a manifold with corners M and a Lie algebra of vector fields on M, subject to constraints only on $M \smallsetminus M_0$. The Lie structure at infinity on $M_0$ determines a metric on $M_0$ up to bi-Lipschitz equivalence. This leads to the natural problem of understanding the Riemannian geometry of these manifolds. We prove, for example, that on a manifold with a Lie structure at infinity the curvature tensor and its covariant derivatives are bounded. We also study a generalization of the geodesic spray and give conditions for these manifolds to have positive injectivity radius. An important motivation for our work is to study the analysis of geometric operators on manifolds with a Lie structure at infinity. For example, a manifold with cylindrical ends is a manifold with a Lie structure at infinity. The relevant analysis in this case is that of totally characteristic operators on a compact manifold with boundary equipped with a ``b-metric.'' The class of conformally compact manifolds, which was recently proved of interest in the study of Einstein's equation, also consists of manifolds with a Lie structure at infinity.