The exponential map at a cuspidal singularity

We study spaces with a cuspidal (or horn-like) singularity embedded in a smooth Riemannian manifold and analyze the geodesics in these spaces which start at the singularity. This provides a basis for understanding the intrinsic geometry of such spaces near the singularity. We show that these geodesics combine to naturally define an exponential map based at the singularity, but that the behavior of this map can deviate strongly from the behavior of the exponential map based at a smooth point or at a conical singularity: While it is always surjective near the singularity, it may be discontinuous and non-injective on any neighborhood of the singularity. The precise behavior of the exponential map is determined by a function on the link of the singularity which is an invariant -- essentially the only boundary invariant -- of the induced metric. Our methods are based on the Hamiltonian system of geodesic differential equations and on techniques of singular analysis. The results are proved in the more general natural setting of manifolds with boundary carrying a so-called cuspidal metric. Revision: restructured many parts of the paper completely; stated main theorems for cusps of any order; replaced 'cusp' by 'cuspidal', also in title, added references