A unit geodesic vector field on a Riemannian manifold is a vector field whose integral curves are geodesics, or in other worlds have zero acceleration. A geodesic vector field on a Riemannian manifold is a smooth vector field with acceleration of each of its integral curves is proportional to velocity. In this paper, we show that the presence of a geodesic vector field on a Riemannian manifold influences its geometry. We find characterizations of n-spheres as well as Euclidean spaces using geodesic vector fields.

In the paper, we consider geodesic mappings of spaces with an affine connections onto generalized symmetric and Ricci-symmetric spaces. In particular, we studied in detail geodesic mappings of spaces with an affine connections onto 2-, 3-, and m- (Ricci-) symmetric spaces. These spaces play an important role in the General Theory of Relativity. The main results we obtained were generalized to a case of geodesic mappings of spaces with an affine connection onto (Ricci-) symmetric spaces. The main equations of the mappings were obtained as closed mixed systems of PDEs of the Cauchy type in covariant form. For the systems, we have found the maximum number of essential parameters which the solutions depend on. Any m- (Ricci-) symmetric spaces ($m\ge 1$) are geodesically mapped onto many spaces with an affine connection. We can call these spaces projectivelly m- (Ricci-) symmetric spaces and for them there exist above-mentioned nontrivial solutions.

We consider conformal and concircular mappings of Eisenhart’s generalized Riemannian spaces. We prove conformal and concircular invariance of some tensors in Eisenhart’s generalized Riemannian spaces. We give new generalizations of symmetric spaces via Eisenhart’s generalized Riemannian spaces. Finally, we describe some properties of covariant derivatives of tensors analogous to Yano’s tensor of concircular curvature in Eisenhart symmetric spaces of various kinds.

In the present paper, we study two different approaches of tensor decomposition. The first part aims to study some properties of tensors that result from the fact that some components are vanishing in certain coordinates. It is proven that these conditions allow tensor decomposition, especially (1, $\sigma$), $\sigma =1,2,3$ tensors. We apply the results for special tensors such as the Riemann, Ricci, Einstein, and Weyl tensors and the deformation tensors of affine connections. Thereby, we find new criteria for the Einstein spaces, spaces of constant curvature, and projective and conformal flat spaces. Further, the proof of the theorem of Mikeš and Moldobayev is repaired. It has been used in many works and it is a generalization of the criteria formulated by Schouten and Struik. The second part deals with the properties of a special differential operator with respect to the general decomposition of tensor fields on manifolds with affine connection. It is shown that the properties of special differential operators are transferred to the components of a given decomposition.

In this paper, we proved that any intersections of an \(n\)-dimensional sphere with a two-dimensional plane in \((n+1)\)-dimensional Euclidean space are almost geodesic curves on the sphere. In this case, if the plane contains a sphere center, then the intersection is a geodesic on the sphere.

The paper is devoted to studying equidistant two-dimensional (pseudo-) Riemannian spaces. Embeddings of these spaces in three-dimensional Euclidean and Minkowski spaces as revolution or helical surfaces are given. The general solution of equidistant equations is found beyond these spaces under minimal requirements for the differentiability of the studied objects. These vector fields are associated with Killing vector fields on those spaces.