Hyperbolic manifolds are geodesically rigid

Abstract.

We show that if all geodesics of two non-proportional metrics on a closed manifold coincide (as unparameterized curves), then the manifold has a finite fundamental group or admits a local-product structure. This implies that, if the manifold admits a metric of negative sectional curvature, then two metrics on the manifold have the same geodesics if and only if they are proportional.