Chebyshev potentials, Fubini--Study metrics, and geometry of the space of K\"ahler metrics

Abstract

The Chebyshev potential of a K\"ahler potential on a projective variety, introduced by Witt Nystr\"om, is a convex function defined on the Okounkov body. It is a generalization of the symplectic potential of a torus-invariant K\"ahler potential on a toric variety, introduced by Guillemin, that is a convex function on the Delzant polytope. A folklore conjecture asserts that a curve of Chebyshev potentials associated to a curve in the space of K\"ahler potentials is linear in the time variable if and only if the latter curve is a geodesic in the Mabuchi metric. This is classically true in the special toric setting, and in general Witt Nystr\"om established the sufficiency. The goal of this article is to disprove this conjecture. More generally, we characterize the Fubini--Study geodesics for which the conjecture is true on projective space. The proof involves explicitly solving the Monge--Amp\`ere equation describing geodesics on the subspace of Fubini--Study metrics and computing their Chebyshev potentials.