Gromov showed that there is an upper bound on the Betti numbers of all closed Riemannian n-manifolds of nonnegative sectional curvature. Grove asked whether such manifolds (if simply connected) fall into only finitely many rational homotopy types. We give a negative answer, in fact in dimension 6, which is the smallest possible. We also give counterexamples to some related questions in dimensions 7 and 9, improving the original counterexamples by Fang and Rong which were in dimensions at least 22.
Let G, a subset of O(4), act isometrically on the 3-sphere. In this article we calculate a lower bound for the diameter of the quotient spaces $S^3/G$. We find it to be ${1/2}\arccos(\frac{\tan(\frac{3 π}{10})}{\sqrt3})$, which is exactly the value of the lower bound for diameters of the spherical space forms. In the process, we are also able to find a lower bound for diameters for the spherical Aleksandrov spaces, $S^n/G$, of cohomogeneities 1 and 2, as well as for cohomogeneity 3 (with some restrictions on the group type). This leads us to conjecture that the diameter of $S^n/G$ is increasin…
We prove that for any isometric action of a group on a unit sphere of dimension larger than one, the quotient space has diameter zero or larger than a universal dimension-independent positive constant.
We prove estimates for the sectional curvature of hyperkaehler quotients and give applications to moduli spaces of solutions to Nahm's equations and Hitchin's equations.
In this paper, we consider a family of closed hypersurfaces which shrink self-similarly with speed of quotient curvatures. We show that the only such hypersurfaces are shrinking spheres.
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.
We prove that the quotient space of a variationally complete group action is a good Riemannian orbifold. The result is generalized to singular Riemannian foliations without horizontal conjugate points.
We prove that a Kahler manifold with positive bisectional curvature and maximal diameter is isometric to the complex projective space with the Fubini-Study metric.
In this paper, we study rigidity problems for hypersurfaces with constant curvature quotients $\frac{\mathcal{H}_{2k+1}}{\mathcal{H}_{2k}}$ in the warped product manifolds. Here $\mathcal{H}_{2k}$ is the $k$-th Gauss-Bonnet curvature and $\mathcal{H}_{2k+1}$ arises from the first variation of the total integration of $\mathcal{H}_{2k}$. Hence the quotients considered here are in general different from $\frac{σ_{2k+1}}{σ_{2k}}$, where $σ_k$ are the usual mean curvatures. We prove several rigidity and Bernstein type results for compact or non-compact hypersurfaces corresponding to such quotients…
We generalize the maximal diameter sphere theorem due to Toponogov by means of the radial curvature. As a corollary to our main theorem, we prove that for a complete connected Riemannian $n$-manifold $M$ having radial sectional curvature at a point bounded from below by the radial curvature function of an ellipsoid of prolate type, the diameter of $M$ does not exceed the diameter of the ellipsoid, and if the diameter of $M$ equals that of the ellipsoid, then $M$ is isometric to the $n$-dimensional ellipsoid of revolution.
In a previous work, the authors have introduced a Lin-Lu-Yau type Ricci curvature for directed graphs, and obtained a diameter comparison of Bonnet-Myers type. In this paper, we investigate rigidity properties for the equality case, and conclude a maximal diameter theorem of Cheng type.
We prove that for the mean curvature flow of two-convex hypersurfaces the intrinsic diameter stays uniformly controlled as one approaches the first singular time. We also derive sharp $L^{n-1}$-estimates for the regularity scale of the level set flow with two-convex initial data. Our proof relies on a detailed analysis of cylindrical regions ($\varepsilon$-tubes) under mean curvature flow. The results are new even in the most classical case of mean convex surfaces evolving by mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
We study some cases when the sectional curvature remains positive under the taking of quotients by certain nonfree isometric actions of Lie groups. We consider the actions of the groups $S^1$ and $S^3$ such that the quotient space can be endowed with a smooth structure using the fibrations $S^3/S^1{\simeq}S^2$ and $S^7/S^3\simeq S^4$. We prove that the quotient space carries a metric of positive sectional curvature, provided that the original metric has positive sectional curvature on all 2-planes orthogonal to the orbits of the action.
We define the orthogonal Bakry-Émery tensor as a generalization of the orthogonal Ricci curvature, and then study diameter theorems on Kähler and quaternionic Kähler manifolds under positivity assumption on the orthogonal Bakry-Émery tensor. Moreover, under such assumptions on the orthogonal Bakry-Émery tensor and the holomorphic or quaternionic sectional curvature on a Kähler manifold or a quaternionic Kähler manifold respectively, the Bonnet-Myers type diameter bounds are sharper than in the Riemannian case.
We prove diameter bounds for graphs having positive Ricci-curvature bound in Bakry-Emery sense. One result using only curvature and maximal vertex degree is sharp in case of hypercubes. The other result depends on an additional dimension bound, but is independent of the vertex degree. In particular, the second result is the first Bonnet-Myers type theorem for unbounded graph Laplacians. Moreover, our results improve diameter bounds from [6] and [10].
We show that any closed biquotient with finite fundamental group admits metrics of positive Ricci curvature. Also, let M be a closed manifold on which a compact Lie group G acts with cohomogeneity one, and let L be a closed subgroup of G which acts freely on M. We show that the quotient N := M/L carries metrics of nonnegative Ricci and almost nonnegative sectional curvature. Moreover, if N has finite fundamental group, then N admits also metrics of positive Ricci curvature. Particular examples include infinite families of simply connected manifolds with the rational cohomology rings and integr…
We first partially extend a theorem of Topping, on the relation between mean curvature and intrinsic diameter, from immersed submanifolds of $\mathbb{R} ^{n} $ to almost everywhere immersed, closed submanifolds of a compact Riemannian manifold. We use this to prove quantization of energy for pseudo-holomorphic closed curves, of all genus, in a compact locally conformally symplectic manifold.
In this note we discuss the fundamental groups and diameters of positively Ricci curved $n$-manifolds. We use a method combining the results about equivarient Hausdorff convergence developed by Fukaya and Yamaguchi with the Ricci version of splitting theorem by Cheeger and Colding to give new information on the topology of compact manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. Moreover, we also obtain a weak Margulis's lemma for manifolds under a lower Ricci curvature bound.
For Riemannian manifolds with a smooth measure $(M, g, e^{-f}dv_{g})$, we prove a generalized Myers compactness theorem when Bakry--Emery Ricci tensor is bounded from below and $f$ is bounded.
We prove that for the mean curvature flow of closed embedded hypersurfaces, the intrinsic diameter stays uniformly bounded as the flow approaches the first singular time, provided all singularities are of neck or conical type. In particular, assuming Ilmanen's multiplicity one conjecture and no cylinder conjecture, we conclude that in the two-dimensional case, the diameter always stays bounded. We also obtain sharp $L^{n-1}$ bound for the curvature. The key ingredients for our proof are the Lojasiewicz inequalities by Colding-Minicozzi and Chodosh-Schulze, and the solution of the mean-convex n…
We show that the moduli space of positive Ricci curvature metrics on all the total spaces of $S^7$-bundles over $S^8$ which are rational homology spheres has infinitely many path components. Furthermore, we carry out the diffeomorphism classification of quotients of Milnor spheres by a certain involution and show that the moduli space of metrics of non-negative sectional on them has infinitely many path components. Finally, a diffeomorphism finiteness result is obtained on quotients of Shimada spheres by the same type of involution and we show that for the types that can be expressed by an inf…
We characterize Riemannian orbifolds with an upper curvature bound in the Alexandrov sense as reflectofolds, i.e. Riemannian orbifolds all of whose local groups are generated by reflections, with the same upper bound on the sectional curvature. Combined with a result by Lytchak--Thorbergsson this implies that a quotient of a Riemannian manifold by a closed group of isometries has locally bounded curvature (from above) in the Alexandrov sense if and only if it is a reflectofold.
In this paper, we shall give a new upper diameter estimate for complete Riemannian manifolds in the case that the Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature has a positive lower bound and the norm of the potential function has an upper bound. Our diameter estimate improves previous ones obtained by Wei and Wylie (J. Differential Geom. 83, 377--405, 2009) and Limoncu (Math. Z. 271, 715--722, 2012). As an application, we shall give an upper diameter bound for compact Ricci solitons in terms of the maximum value of the scalar curvature. By using such a diameter bound, we shall provide some new sufficient condit…
Let $M^n$ be a compact Kähler manifold with bisectional curvature bounded from below by $1$. If $diam(M) = π/ \sqrt{2}$ and $vol(M)> vol(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^n)/ 2^n$, we prove that $M$ is biholomorphically isometric to $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^n$ with the standard Fubini-Study metric.
Given an $m$-dimensional closed connected Riemannian manifold $M$ smoothly isometrically immersed in an $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold $N$, we estimate the diameter of $M$ in terms of its mean curvature field integral under some geometric restrictions, and therefore generalize a recent work of Topping in the Euclidean case (Comment. Math. Helv., 83 (2008), 539--546).
Discrete time random walks on a finite set naturally translate via a one-to-one correspondence to discrete Laplace operators. Typically, Ollivier curvature has been investigated via random walks. We first extend the definition of Ollivier curvature to general weighted graphs and then give a strikingly simple representation of Ollivier curvature using the graph Laplacian. Using the Laplacian as a generator of a continuous time Markov chain, we connect Ollivier curvature with the heat equation which is strongly related to continuous time random walks. In particular, we prove that a lower bound o…
We give a discrete Bonnet Myers type theorem for the effective diameter assuming positive Ollivier curvature. We prove that this diameter bound is attained if and only if the graph is a cocktail party graph, a Johnson graph, a halved cube, a Schläfli graph, a Gosset graph, or a cartesian product of the mentioned graphs with same Ollivier curvature. As a key step in the proof, we introduce the notion of reflective graphs as graphs such that for any two neighbors there exists a certain self-inverse automorphism mapping one neighbor to another. We classify these graphs as arbitrary cartesian prod…
By Hall's marriage theorem, we study lower bounds of the Lin-Lu-Yau curvature of amply regular graphs with girth $3$ or $4$ under different parameter restrictions. As a consequence, we show that each conference graph has positive Lin-Lu-Yau curvature. Our approach also provides a geometric proof of a classical diameter estimate for amply regular graphs in the case of girth $4$ and some special cases of girth $3$.
In this article, we extend the compactness theorems proved by Sprouse and Hwang-Lee to a weighted manifold under the assumption that the weighted Ricci curvature is bounded below in terms of its weight function. With the help of the $\varepsilon$-range, we treat the case that the effective dimension is at most $1$ in addition to the case that the effective dimension is at least the dimension of the manifold. To show these theorems, we extend the segment inequality of Cheeger-Colding to a weighted manifold.
In 1968, Milnor conjectured that a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has a finitely generated fundamental group. The author applies the Excess Theorem of Abresch and Gromoll (1990), to prove two theorems. The first states that if such a manifold has small linear diameter growth then its fundamental group is finitely generated. The second states that if such a manifold has an infinitely generated fundamental group then it has a tangent cone at infinity which is not polar. A corollary of either theorem is the fact that if such a manifold has linear volume growth, then…
We prove that if a complete connected $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold $M$ has radial sectional curvature at a base point $p\in M$ bounded from below by the radial curvature function of a two-sphere of revolution $\widetilde M$ belonging to a certain class, then the diameter of $M$ does not exceed that of $\widetilde M.$ Moreover, we prove that if the diameter of $M$ equals that of $\widetilde M,$ then $M$ is isometric to the $n$-model of $\widetilde M.$ The class of a two-sphere of revolution employed in our main theorem is very wide. For example, this class contains both ellipsoids of pro…
In this paper we develop the theory of properly immersed minimal surfaces in the quotient space $\mathbb H^2\times\mathbb R/G,$ where $G$ is a subgroup of isometries generated by a vertical translation and a horizontal isometry in $\mathbb H^2$ without fixed points. The horizontal isometry can be either a parabolic translation along horocycles in $\mathbb H^2$ or a hyperbolic translation along a geodesic in $\mathbb H^2.$ In fact, we prove that if a properly immersed minimal surface in $\mathbb H^2\times\mathbb R/G$ has finite total curvature then its total curvature is a multiple of $2π,$ and…
An equivalent definition of entropic Ricci curvature on discrete spaces was given in terms of the global gradient estimate. With a particular choice of the density function $ρ$, we obtain a localized gradient estimate, which in turns allow us to derive a Bonnet-Myers type diameter bound for graphs with positive entropic Ricci curvature. However, the case of the hypercubes indicates that the bound may be not optimal (where $θ$ is chosen to be logarithmic mean by default). If $θ$ is arithmetic mean, the Bakry-Émery criterion can be recovered and the diameter bound is optimal as it can be attaine…
We show that a four-dimensional complete gradient shrinking Ricci soliton with positive isotropic curvature is either a quotient of S^4 or a quotient of S^3 cross R. This gives a clean classification result removing the earlier additional assumptions in [13] by Wallach and the second author.
Let $(M,g)$ be a smooth Riemannian manifold and $\mathsf{G}$ a compact Lie group acting on $M$ effectively and by isometries. It is well known that a lower bound of the sectional curvature of $(M,g)$ is again a bound for the curvature of the quotient space, which is an Alexandrov space of curvature bounded below. Moreover, the analogous stability property holds for metric foliations and submersions. The goal of the paper is to prove the corresponding stability properties for synthetic Ricci curvature lower bounds. Specifically, we show that such stability holds for quotients of $\mathsf{RCD}^{…
In this paper we study minimal and constant mean curvature (cmc) periodic surfaces in H^2 x R. More precisely, we consider quotients of H^2 x R by discrete groups of isometries generated by horizontal hyperbolic translations f and/or a vertical translation T. In the quotient by the Z^2 subgroup of the isometry group generated by any f and T, we prove an Alexandrov-type theorem for cmc surfaces, i.e., an analysis of compact embedded cmc surfaces in such a quotient. The remainder of the paper is devoted to construct examples of periodic minimal surfaces in H^2 x R.
In this note, we prove that positive scalar curvature can pass to three dimensional Ricci limit spaces of non-negative Ricci curvature when it splits off a line. As a corollary, we obtain an optimal Bonnet-Myers type upper bound. Moreover, we obtain a similar statement in all dimensions for Alexandrov spaces of non-negative curvature.
It is well known that the Kähler-Ricci flow on a Kähler manifold $X$ admits a long-time solution if and only if $X$ is a minimal model, i.e., the canonical line bundle $K_X$ is nef. The abundance conjecture in algebraic geometry predicts that $K_X$ must be semi-ample when $X$ is a projective minimal model. We prove that if $K_X$ is semi-ample, then the diameter is uniformly bounded for long-time solutions of the normalized Kähler-Ricci flow. Our diameter estimate combined with the scalar curvature estimate in [34] for long-time solutions of the Kähler-Ricci flow are natural extensions of Perel…
In this article, we prove that a quotient of a K3 surface by a free Z_2+Z_2 action does not admit any metric of positive scalar curvature. This shows that the scalar flat anti self-dual metrics (SF-ASD) on this manifold can not be obtained from a family of metrics for which the scalar curvature changes sign, contrary to the previously known constructions of this kind of metrics on manifolds of b+=0.
We show that in dimensions $n \geq 12$, a non-flat complete gradient shrinking solitons with uniformly positive isotropic curvature (PIC) must be a quotient of either the round sphere $S^n$ or the cylinder $S^{n-1} \times \mathbb{R}$. We also observe that in dimensions $n \geq 5$, a complete gradient shrinking soliton that is strictly PIC and weakly PIC2 must be a quotient of either the round sphere $S^n$ or the cylinder $S^{n-1} \times \mathbb{R}$.
We obtain new sharp isoperimetric inequalities on a Riemannian manifold equipped with a probability measure, whose generalized Ricci curvature is bounded from below (possibly negatively), and generalized dimension and diameter of the convex support are bounded from above (possibly infinitely). Our inequalities are sharp for sets of any given measure and with respect to all parameters (curvature, dimension and diameter). Moreover, for each choice of parameters, we identify the model spaces which are extremal for the isoperimetric problem. In particular, we recover the Gromov--Lévy and Bakry--Le…
