Topological consequences of null-geodesic refocusing and applications to $Z^x$ manifolds

Abstract: Let $(M,h)$ be a connected, complete Riemannian manifold, let $x\in M$ and $l>0$. Then $M$ is called a $Z^x$ manifold if all geodesics starting at $x$ return to $x$ and it is called a $Y^x_l$ manifold if every unit-speed geodesic starting at $x$ returns to $x$ at time $l$. It is unknown whether there are $Z^x$ manifolds that are not $Y^x_l$-manifolds for some $l>0$. By the B\'erard-Bergery theorem, any $Y^x_l$ manifold of dimension at least $2$ is compact with finite fundamental group. We prove the same result for $Z^x$ manifolds $M$ for which all unit-speed geodesics starting at $x$ return to $x$ in uniformly bounded time. We also prove that any $Z^x$ manifold $(M,h)$ with $h$ analytic is a $Y^x_l$ manifold for some $l>0$. We start by defining a class of globally hyperbolic spacetimes (called observer-refocusing) such that any $Z^x$ manifold is the Cauchy surface of some observer-refocusing spacetime. We then prove that under suitable conditions the Cauchy surfaces of observer-refocusing spacetimes are compact with finite fundamental group and show that analytic observer-refocusing spacetimes of dimension at least $3$ are strongly refocusing. We end by stating a contact-theoretic conjecture analogous to our results in Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry.