The Bott-Samelson theorem for positive Legendrian isotopies

Abstract

The classical Bott-Samelson theorem states that if on a Riemannian manifold all geodesics issuing from a certain point return to this point, then the universal cover of the manifold has the cohomology ring of a compact rank one symmetric space. This result on geodesic flows has been generalized to Reeb flows and partially to positive Legendrian isotopies by Frauenfelder-Labrousse-Schlenk. We prove the full theorem for positive Legendrian isotopies.