Lai (2021) used singular Ricci flows, introduced by Kleiner and Lott (2017), to construct a nonnegative Ricci curvature Ricci flow $g(t)$ emerging from an arbitrary 3D complete noncompact Riemannian manifold $(M^3, g_0)$ which has nonnegative Ricci curvature. We show $g(t)$ is complete for positive times provided $g_0$ satisfies a volume ratio lower bound that approaches zero at spatial infinity. Our proof combines a pseudolocality result of Lai (2021) for singular flows, together with a pseudolocality result of Hochard (2016) and Simon and Topping (2022) for nonsingular flows. We also show that the construction of complete nonnegative complex sectional curvature flows by Cabezas-Rivas and Wilking (2015) can be adapted here to show $g(t)$ is complete for positive times provided $g_0$ is a compactly supported perturbation of a nonnegative sectional curvature metric on $\mathbb{R}^3$.
We prove a pseudolocality type theorem for compact Ricci Flow under local integral bounds of curvature. The main tool is Local Ricci Flow introduced by Deane Yang in [4] and Pseudolocality Theorem of Perelman in [3]. We also study L^p bounds for the derivatives of curvature and smooth extension of Local Ricci Flow.
In this paper, we prove a pseudolocality-type theorem for $\mathcal L$-complete noncompact Ricci flow which may not have bounded sectional curvature; with the help of it we study the uniqueness of the Ricci flow on noncompact manifolds. In particular, we prove the strong uniqueness theorem for the $\mathcal L$-complete Ricci flow on the Euclidean space. This partially answers a question proposed by B-L.~Chen.
In this paper we will give a simple proof of a modification of a result on pseudolocality for the Ricci flow by P.Lu without using the pseudolocality theorem 10.1 of Perelman [P1]. We also obtain an extension of a result of Hamilton on the compactness of a sequence of complete pointed Riemannian manifolds $\{(M_k,g_k(t),x_k)\}_{k=1}^{\infty}$ evolving under Ricci flow with uniform bounded sectional curvatures on $[0,T]$ and uniform positive lower bound on the injectivity radii at $x_k$ with respect to the metric $g_k(0)$.
In \cite{P1}, Perelman established a differential Li-Yau-Hamilton (LYH) type inequality for fundamental solutions of the conjugate heat equation corresponding to the Ricci flow on compact manifolds (also see \cite{N2}). As an application of the LYH inequality, Perelman proved a pseudolocality result for the Ricci flow on compact manifolds. In this article we provide the details for the proofs of these results in the case of a complete non-compact Riemannian manifold. Using these results we prove that under certain conditions, a finite time singularity of the Ricci flow must form within a compa…
We obtain an improved pseudolocality result for Ricci flows on two-dimensional surfaces that are initially almost-hyperbolic on large hyperbolic balls. We prove that, at the central point of the hyperbolic ball, the Gauss curvature remains close to the hyperbolic value for a time that grows exponentially in the radius of the ball. This two-dimensional result allows us to precisely conjecture how the phenomenon should appear in the higher dimensional setting.
In 2011 Enders, Müller and Topping showed that any blow up sequence of a Type I Ricci flow near a singular point converges to a non-trivial gradient Ricci soliton, leading them to conclude that for such flows all reasonable definitions of singular points agree with each other. We prove the analogous result for the harmonic Ricci flow, generalizing in particular results of Guo, Huang and Phong and Shi. In order to obtain our result, we develop refined compactness theorems, a new pseudolocality theorem, and a notion of reduced length and volume based at the singular time for the harmonic Ricci f…
Mean curvature flow evolves isometrically immersed base manifolds $M$ in the direction of their mean curvatures in an ambient manifold $\bar{M}$. If the base manifold $M$ is compact, the short time existence and uniqueness of the mean curvature flow are well-known. For complete isometrically immersed submanifolds of arbitrary codimensions, the existence and uniqueness are still unsettled even in the Euclidean space. In this paper, we solve the uniqueness problem affirmatively for the mean curvature flow of general codimensions and general ambient manifolds. In the second part of the paper, ins…
In this article we use Ricci flow to show that complete PIC1 manifolds with maximal volume growth are diffeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^n$. One of the key ingredients is local estimates of curvature lower bounds on an initial time interval of the Ricci flow. As another application of these estimates we obtain pseudolocality type results related to the PIC1 condition.
In [Cheeger-Tian 2005], Cheeger-Tian proved an $ε$-regularity theorem for $4$-dimensional Einstein manifolds without volume assumption. They conjectured that similar results should hold for critical metrics with constant scalar curvature, shrinking Ricci solitons, Ricci flows in $4$-dimensional manifolds and higher dimensional Einstein manifolds. In this paper we consider all these problems. First, we construct counterexamples to the conjecture for $4$-dimensional critical metrics and counterexamples to the conjecture for higher dimensional Einstein manifolds. For $4$-dimensional shrinking Ric…
In this paper we analyze Ricci flows on which the scalar curvature is globally or locally bounded from above by a uniform or time-dependent constant. On such Ricci flows we establish a new time-derivative bound for solutions to the heat equation. Based on this bound, we solve several open problems: 1. distance distortion estimates, 2. the existence of a cutoff function, 3. Gaussian bounds for heat kernels, and, 4. a backward pseudolocality theorem, which states that a curvature bound at a later time implies a curvature bound at a slightly earlier time. Using the backward pseudolocality theorem…
In this paper, we study the behavior of Ricci flows on compact orbifolds with finite singularities. We show that Perelman's pseudolocality theorem also holds on orbifold Ricci flow. Using this property, we obtain a weak compactness theorem of Ricci flows on orbifolds under some natural technical conditions. This generalizes the corresponding theorem on manifolds. As an application, we can use Kähler Ricci flow to find new Kähler Einstein metrics on some orbifold Fano surfaces. For example, if $Y$ is a cubic surface with only one ordinary double point or $Y$ is an orbifold Fano surface with deg…
In this note we obtain local derivative estimates of Shi-type for the heat equation coupled to the Ricci flow. As applications, in part combining with Kuang's work, we extend some results of Zhang and Bamler-Zhang including distance distortion estimates and a backward pseudolocality theorem for Ricci flow on compact manifolds to the noncompact case.
We derive a family of weighted scalar curvature monotonicity formulas for generalized Ricci flow, involving an auxiliary dilaton field evolving by a certain reaction-diffusion equation motivated by renormalization group flow. These scalar curvature monotonicities are dual to a new family of Perelman-type energy and entropy monotonicity formulas by coupling to a solution of the associated weighted conjugate heat equation. In the setting of Ricci flow, we further obtain a new family of convex Nash entropies and pseudolocality principles.
In this paper we will prove a maximum principle for the solutions of linear parabolic equation on complete non-compact manifolds with a time varying metric. We will prove the convergence of the Neumann Green function of the conjugate heat equation for the Ricci flow in $B_k\times (0,T)$ to the minimal fundamental solution of the conjugate heat equation as $k\to\infty$. We will prove the uniqueness of the fundamental solution under some exponential decay assumption on the fundamental solution. We will also give a detail proof of the convergence of the fundamental solutions of the conjugate heat…
In this paper, we give a delay estimate of scalar curvature for a complete non-compact expanding (or steady) gradient Ricci soliton with nonnegative Ricci curvature. As an application, we prove that any complete non-compact expanding (or steady) gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons with positively pinched Ricci curvature should be Ricci flat. The result answers a question in case of Kähler-Ricci solitons proposed by Chow, Lu and Ni in a book.
Let $M$ be an open Riemannian $n$-manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. We prove that if the first Betti number of $M$ equals $n-1$, then $M$ is flat.
In this paper, we study stable weighted minimal hypersurfaces in manifolds with nonnegative Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature. We will give some geometric and topological applications. In particular, we give some partial classification of complete 3-manifolds with nonnegative Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature assuming that $f$ is bounded.
We give a simple proof of an extension of the existence results of Ricci flow of G.Giesen and P.M.Topping [GiT1],[GiT2], on incomplete surfaces with bounded above Gauss curvature without using the difficult Shi's existence theorem of Ricci flow on complete non-compact surfaces and the pseudolocality theorem of G.Perelman [P1] on Ricci flow. We will also give a simple proof of a special case of the existence theorem of P.M.Topping [T] without using the existence theorem of W.X.Shi [S1].
In this paper, we generalize topological results known for noncompact manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature to spaces with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci curvature. We study the Splitting Theorem and a property called the geodesic loops to infinity property in relation to spaces with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci Curvature. In addition, we show that if $M^n$ is a complete, noncompact Riemannian manifold with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci curvature where $N>n$, then $H_{n-1}(M,\mathbb{Z})$ is $0$.
We derive several vanishing theorems for genera under almost nonnegative Ricci curvature and infinite fundamental group, which includes Todd genus, $\widehat{A}$-genus, elliptic genera and Witten genus. A vanishing theorem of Euler characteristic number for almost nonnegatively curved Alexandrov spaces is also proved.
For a noncompact 3-manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, we prove that either it is diffeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^3$ or the universal cover splits. As a corollary, it confirms a conjecture of Milnor in dimension 3.
In this paper, we study the topology of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with asymptotically nonnegative Ricci curvature and large volume growth. We prove that they have finite topological types under some curvature decay and volume growth conditions. We also generize it to the manifolds with $k$-th asymptotically nonnegative Ricci curvature by using extensions of Abresch-Gromoll's excess function estimate.
In this paper we prove classification results for gradient shrinking Ricci solitons under two invariant conditions, namely nonnegative orthogonal bisectional curvature and weakly PIC1, without any curvature bound. New results on ancient solutions for the Ricci and Kähler-Ricci flow are also obtained. The main new feature is that no curvature upper bound is assumed.
There is a conjecture that a complete Riemannian 3-manifold with bounded sectional curvature, and pointwise pinched nonnegative Ricci curvature, must be flat or compact. We show that this is true when the negative part (if any) of the sectional curvature decays quadratically.
In this paper, we study the topology of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with asymptotically nonnegative Ricci curvature. We show that a complete noncompact manifold with asymptoticaly nonnegative Ricci curvature and sectional curvature decay at most quadratically is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean n-space R^n under some conditions on the density of rays starting from the base point p or on the volume growth of geodesic balls in M.
We show that the moduli space of Riemannian metrics of nonnegative sectional curvature on certain quotients of Brieskorn varieties in dimension 5 has infinitely many path components. The same is true for the corresponding moduli space of positive Ricci curvature.
In a previous paper, we constructed complete manifolds of positive Ricci curvature with quadratically asymptotically nonnegative curvature and infinite topological type but dimension $\ge 6$. The purpose of the present paper is to use a different way to exhibit a family of complete $I$-dimensinal ($I\ge5$) Riemannian manifolds of positive Ricci curvature, quadratically asymptotically nonnegative sectional curvature, and certain infinite Betti number $b_j$ ($2\le j\le I-2$).
Let $M^n$ be a compact K$\ddot{a}$hler manifold with almost nonnegative Ricci curvature and nonzero first Betti number. We show that the holomorphic Euler number of $M^n$ vanishes, which gives a new obstruction for compact complex manifolds admitting K$\ddot{a}$hler metrics with almost nonnegative Ricci curvature. A crucial step in the proof is to show a vanishing theorem of Dolbeault-Morse-Novikov cohomology.
In this paper, we construct a complete n-dim Riemannian manifold with positive Ricci curvature, quadratically nonnegatively curved infinity and infinite topological type. This gives a negative answer to a conjecture by Jiping Sha and Zhongmin Shen in the case of n greater than or equal to 6.
We establish a min-max estimate on the volume width of a closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. More precisely, we show that every closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature admits a PL Morse function whose level set volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold. As a consequence of this sweep-out estimate, there exists an embedded, closed (possibly singular) minimal hypersurface whose volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold.
In this article, we prove Talenti's comparison theorem for Poisson equation on complete noncompact Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. Furthermore, we obtain the Faber-Krahn inequality for the first eigenvalue of Dirichlet Laplacian, $L^1$- and $L^\infty$-moment spectrum, especially Saint-Venant theorem for torsional rigidity and a reverse Hölder inequality for eigenfunctions of Dirichlet Laplacian.
In this paper, we prove that any complete shrinking gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons with positive orthogonal bisectional curvature must be compact. We also obtain a classification of the complete shrinking gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons with nonnegative orthogonal bisectional curvature.
Lower bounds on Ricci curvature limit the volumes of sets and the existence of harmonic functions on Riemannian manifolds. In 1975, Shing Tung Yau proved that a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has no nonconstant harmonic functions of sublinear growth. In the same paper, Yau used this result to prove that a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has at least linear volume growth. In this paper, we prove the following theorem concerning harmonic functions on these manifolds. Theorem: Let M be a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ric…
In this paper we prove that any complete conformal gradient soliton with nonnegative Ricci tensor is either isometric to a direct product $\mathbb{R}\times N^{n-1}$, or globally conformally equivalent to the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ or to the round sphere $\mathbb{S}^{n}$. In particular, we show that any complete, noncompact, gradient Yamabe-type soliton with positive Ricci tensor is rotationally symmetric, whenever the potential function is nonconstant.
We show that complete conformally flat manifolds of dimension n>2 with nonnegative Ricci curvature enjoy nice rigidity properties: they are either flat, or locally isometric to a product of a sphere and a line, or are globally conformally equivalent to flat space or to a spherical spaceform. This extends previous works by Q.-M. Cheng, M.H. Noronha, B.-L. Chen and X.-P. Zhu, and S. Zhu.
Based on properties of n-subharmonic functions we show that a complete, noncompact, properly embedded hypersurface with nonnegative Ricci curvature in hyperbolic space has an asymptotic boundary at infinity of at most two points. Moreover, the presence of two points in the asymptotic boundary is a rigidity condition that forces the hypersurface to be an equidistant hypersurface about a geodesic line in hyperbolic space. This gives an affirmative answer to the question raised by Alexander and Currier in 1990.
We survey all results concerning the topology of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature that have no additional conditions other than restrictions to the dimension, volume growth or diameter growth of the manifold. We will also present relevant examples and list open problems.
We present local estimates for solutions to the Ricci flow, without the assumption that the solution has bounded curvature. These estimates lead to a generalisation of one of the pseudolocality results of G.Perelman in dimension two.
We study the fundamental group of an open $n$-manifold $M$ of nonnegative Ricci curvature. We show that if there is an integer $k$ such that any tangent cone at infinity of the Riemannian universal cover of $M$ is a metric cone, whose maximal Euclidean factor has dimension $k$, then $π_1(M)$ is finitely generated. In particular, this confirms the Milnor conjecture for a manifold whose universal cover has Euclidean volume growth and the unique tangent cone at infinity.
We consider Finsler submanifolds $M^n$ of nonnegative Ricci curvature in a Minkowski space $\mathbb{M}^{n+p}$ which contain a line or whose relative nullity index is positive. For hypersurfaces, submanifolds of codimension two or of dimension two, we prove that the submanifold is a cylinder, under a certain condition on the inertia of the pencil of the second fundamental forms. We give an example of a surface of positive flag curvature in a three-dimensional Minkowski space which is not locally convex.
Let (M,d) be a metric space. For 0<r<R, and p in M let G(p,r,R) be the group obtained by considering all loops based at p whose image is contained in the closed ball of radius r and identifying two loops if there is a homotopy betweeen them that is contained in the open ball of radius R. In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of the G(p,r,R) groups of complete open manifolds of nonnegative Ricci curvature. We also find relationships between the G(p,r,R) groups and tangent cones at infinity of a metric space and show that any tangent cone at infinity of a complete open manifold of nonne…
This note is a study of nonnegativity conditions on curvature which are preserved by the Ricci flow. We focus on specific kinds of curvature conditions which we call noncoercive, these are the conditions for which nonnegative curvature and vanishing scalar curvature doesn't imply flatness. We show that, in dimensions greater than 4, if a Ricci flow invariant condition is weaker than "Einstein with nonnegative scalar curvature", then this condition has to be "nonnegative scalar curvature". As a corollary, we obtain that a Ricci flow invariant curvature condition which is stronger than "nonnegat…
We investigate the structure of a Finsler manifold of nonnegative weighted Ricci curvature including a straight line, and extend the classical Cheeger-Gromoll-Lichnerowicz splitting theorem. Such a space admits a diffeomorphic, measure-preserving splitting in general. As for a special class of Berwald spaces, we can perform the isometric splitting in the sense that there is a one-parameter family of isometries generated from the gradient vector field of the Busemann function. A Betti number estimate is also given for Berwald spaces.
The geometry of a ball within a Riemannian manifold is coarsely controlled if it has a lower bound on its Ricci curvature and a positive lower bound on its volume. We prove that such coarse local geometric control must persist for a definite amount of time under three-dimensional Ricci flow, and leads to local C/t decay of the full curvature tensor, irrespective of what is happening beyond the local region. As a by-product, our results generalise the Pseudolocality theorem of Perelman and Tian-Wang in this dimension by not requiring the Ricci curvature to be almost-positive, and not asking the…
