Homologically maximizing geodesics in conformally flat tori

Abstract

We study homologically maximizing timelike geodesics in conformally flat tori. A causal geodesic $\gamma$ in such a torus is said to be homologically maximizing if one (hence every) lift of $\gamma$ to the universal cover is arclength maximizing. First we prove a compactness result for homologically maximizing timelike geodesics. This yields the Lipschitz continuity of the time separation of the universal cover on strict sub-cones of the cone of future pointing vectors. Then we introduce the stable time separation $\mathfrak{l}$. As an application we prove relations between the concavity properties of $\mathfrak{l}$ and the qualitative behavior of homologically maximizing geodesics.