COMPACT MANIFOLDS WITH THE MINIMAL ENTROPY

On a compact manifold without conjugate points, the volume entropy can be obtained as the average mean curvature of the horospheres in the universal covering space. In the case when the volume entropy is zero, we prove that the universal covering space is diffeomorphic to a product space with a line factor. This fact can be considered as a surporting evidence for the Mane's conjecture, which claims the flatness of the mainfold.