---
title: "Infinitely many closed geodesics on Riemannian spheres and closed three-manifolds"
authors:
  - "OpenAI (internal model)"
year: 2026
venue: "openai/math manuscript collection (GitHub), result family 345; unreviewed"
arxiv: null
doi: null
source: "https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Infinitely-many-closed-geodesic-images-on-every-Riemannian-sphere-September-24-2026/paper.pdf"
topics:
  - "openai-math"
  - "ai-generated-math"
  - "differential-geometry"
  - "unformalized"
seed_rank: 2200
seed_batch: "openai-math-2026-10-07"
reviewed: "2026-10-07"
pool: "maths-foundations"
relevance_score: 7
lineage: ai-mathematical-reasoning
cites:
  - title: "Infinitely many closed geodesic images on every Riemannian sphere"
    url: "https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Infinitely-many-closed-geodesic-images-on-every-Riemannian-sphere-September-24-2026/paper.pdf"
    year: 2026
    arxiv: null
    doi: null
---

# Infinitely many closed geodesics on Riemannian spheres and closed three-manifolds

## One-sentence takeaway

OpenAI's result family 345 (Differential geometry) claims: Proves that every smooth Riemannian metric on Sn, n ≥ 2, has infinitely many prime closed geodesics with pairwise distinct images.

## Why it matters here

Differential geometry is the deep background for geometry processing, curvature flows and mesh work in graphics. More broadly, every card in this batch is evidence for the `ai-mathematical-reasoning` thread: per the repo README, an unreleased internal OpenAI model produced it, using about three hours of ChatGPT Pro thinking compute per result on average, across roughly 4,000 posed problems.

## Key ideas

- Family summary (repo): The same conclusion holds on every closed manifold admitting a finite smooth spherical cover and on every closed three-manifold, without orientability or nondegeneracy restrictions.
- *Infinitely many closed geodesic images on every Riemannian sphere*: We resolve the sphere case of the closed-geodesic infinitude problem: every smooth Riemannian metric on the standard sphere Sn, n ≥ 2, has infinitely many prime closed geodesics with pairwise distinct images. The two-sphere case is classical; the result in higher dimensions includes degenerate metrics. Using finite covers and theorems of Perelman and Rademacher–Taimanov, we also obtain the same conclusion for every smooth Riemannian metric on a nonempty closed smooth three-manifold.

## Caveats

- Unreviewed: these are AI-generated manuscripts posted to GitHub with no peer review or arXiv deposit. The repo README says results are "at different stages of verification" and that "some of the unformalized results could have issues."
- This card restates the repo's family summary, manuscript abstracts and Lean scope notes. It is not an independent check of the proofs, and the scope of each theorem is exactly as stated there.
- Lean: not formalized. The repo has no Lean development for this family, so the claim rests on the prose manuscript(s) alone.

## Links

- Manuscript: [Infinitely many closed geodesic images on every Riemannian sphere](https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Infinitely-many-closed-geodesic-images-on-every-Riemannian-sphere-September-24-2026/paper.pdf)
- Family entry: https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/CONTENTS.md
- Overview PDF: https://github.com/openai/math/blob/main/overview.pdf
- Repo: https://github.com/openai/math