As the first step in the direction of the Hopf conjecture on the non-existence of metrics with positive sectional curvature on $S^2 \times S^2$ D.Gromoll and K.Tapp in [GT] suggested the following (Weak Hopf) conjecture (on the rigidity of non-negatively curved metrics on $S^2 \times R^3$): "The boundary $S^2\times S^2$ of the $S^2 \times B^3\subset S^2 \times R^3$ with an arbitrary complete metric of non-negative sectional curvature contains a point where a curvature of $S^2 \times S^2$ vanish". In this note we verify this.
We prove some rigidity results on geodesic orbit Finsler spaces with non-positive curvature. In particular, we show that a geodesic Finsler space with strictly negative flag curvature must be a non-compact Riemannian symmetric space of rank one.
This paper generalizes D. Burago and S. Ivanov's work on filling volume minimality and boundary rigidity of almost real hyperbolic metrics. We show that regions with metrics close to a negatively curved symmetric metric are strict minimal fillings and hence boundary rigid. This includes perturbations of complex, quaternionic and Cayley hyperbolic metrics.
We compute the $L^p$-cohomology spaces of some negatively curved manifolds. We deal with two cases: manifolds with finite volume and sufficiently pinched negative curvature, and conformally compact manifolds.
The paper sketches a recent progress and formulates several open problems in studying equivariant quasiconformal and quasisymmetric homeomorphisms in negatively curved spaces as well as geometry and topology of noncompact geometrically finite negatively curved manifolds and their boundaries at infinity having Carnot--Carathéodory structures. Especially, the most interesting are complex hyperbolic manifolds with Cauchy--Riemannian structure at infinity, which occupy a distinguished niche and whose properties make them surprisingly different from real hyperbolic ones.
We prove that the existence of one flat horosphere in the universal cover of a closed, strictly quarter pinched, negatively curved Riemannian manifold of dimension n with n greater than or equal to 3, implies that the manifold is homothetic to a real hyperbolic manifold.
We construct radial fundamental solutions for the differential form Laplacian on negatively curved symmetric spaces. At least one of these Green's functions also yields a Biot-Savart Opearator, i.e. a right inverse of the exterior differential on closed forms with image in the kernel of the codifferential. Any Biot-Savart operator gives rise to a Gauss linking integral.
We prove the following entropy-rigidity result in finite volume: if $X$ is a negatively curved manifold with curvature $-b^2\leq K_X \leq -1$, then $Ent_{top}(X) = n-1$ if and only if $X$ is hyperbolic. In particular, if $X$ has the same length spectrum of a hyperbolic manifold $X_0$, the it is isometric to $X_0$ (we also give a direct, entropy-free proof of this fact). We compare with the classical theorems holding in the compact case, pointing out the main difficulties to extend them to finite volume manifolds.
We prove that a quasi-isometric map, and more generally a coarse embedding, between pinched Hadamard manifolds is within bounded distance from a unique harmonic map.
This paper was withdrawn by the author due to an error in the proof of the main result; essentially the parameter R used in the proof may depend on the manifold (M, g), not just on dimension and pinching constant.
We show that a closed, simply-connected, non-negatively curved 5-manifold admitting an effective, isometric $T^2$ action is diffeomorphic to one of $S^5$, $S^3\times S^2$, $S^3\tilde{\times} S^2$ (the non-trivial $S^3$-bundle over $S^2$) or the Wu manifold $SU(3)/SO(3)$.
In a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold X of pinched negative curvature, we give a sharp criterion for a subset C to be the epsilon-neighbourhood of some convex subset of X, in terms of the extrinsic curvatures of the boundary of C.
We prove that if a closed, smooth, simply-connected 4-manifold with a circle action admits an almost non-negatively curved sequence of invariant Riemannian metrics, then it also admits a non-negatively curved Riemannian metric invariant with respect to the same action. The same is shown for torus actions of higher rank, giving a classification of closed, smooth, simply-connected 4-manifolds of almost non-negative curvature under the assumption of torus symmetry.
In this short note, by using a general three circle theorem, we show the rigidity of the sharp Bezout estimate first found by Gang Liu on nonnegatively curved Riemann surface.
We state and prove a Chern-Osserman-type inequality in terms of the volume growth for complete surfaces with controlled mean curvature properly immersed in a Cartan-Hadamard manifold $N$ with sectional curvatures bounded from above by a negative quantity $K_{N}\leq b<0$
Motivated by a recent groundbreaking work of Ontaneda, we describe a sizable class of closed manifolds such that the product of each manifold in the class with the real line admits a complete metric of bounded negative sectional curvature which is an exponentially warped near one end and has finite volume near the other end.
Let $(X, g_0)$ be a simply connected, complete, negatively curved Riemannian manifold. We prove local and infinitesimal rigidity results for compactly supported deformations of the metric $g_0$. For any negatively curved metric $g$ equal to $g_0$ outside a compact, the identity map of $X$ induces a natural boundary map between the boundaries at infinity of $X$ with respect to $g_0$ and $g$. We show that if $(g_t)$ is a smooth 1-parameter family of negatively curved metrics all equal to $g_0$ outside a fixed compact then if all the boundary maps (between the boundaries of $X$ with respect to $g…
Let $X, Y$ be complete, simply connected Riemannian surfaces with pinched negative curvature $-b^2 \leq K \leq -1$. We show that if $f : \partial X \to \partial Y$ is a Moebius homeomorphism between the boundaries at infinity of $X, Y$, then $f$ extends to an isometry $F : X \to Y$. This can be viewed as a generalization of Otal's marked length spectrum rigidity theorem for closed, negatively curved surfaces, in the sense that Otal's theorem asserts that if $X, Y$ admit properly discontinuous, cocompact, free actions by groups of isometries and the boundary map $f$ is Moebius and equivariant w…
Let $M^n$, $n \in \{4,5,6\}$, be a compact, simply connected $n$-manifold which admits some Riemannian metric with non-negative curvature and an isometry group of maximal possible rank. Then any smooth, effective action on $M^n$ by a torus $T^{n-2}$ is equivariantly diffeomorphic to an isometric action on a normal biquotient. Furthermore, it follows that any effective, isometric circle action on a compact, simply connected, non-negatively curved four-dimensional manifold is equivariantly diffeomorphic to an effective, isometric action on a normal biquotient.
We prove that a reversible Berwaldian Finsler structure $\left(M,F\right)$ with base-independent non-negative radial flag curvature and large volume growth does not have any closed geodesics.
Motivated by the study of Killing forms on compact Riemannian manifolds of negative sectional curvature, we introduce the notion of generalized vector cross products on $\mathbb{R}^n$ and give their classification. Using previous results about Killing tensors on negatively curved manifolds and a new characterization of $\mathrm{SU}(3)$-structures in dimension $6$ whose associated $3$-form is Killing, we then show that every Killing $3$-form on a compact $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature vanishes if $n\ge 4$.
We study the Teichmüller space of negatively curved metrics on a high dimensional manifold, with applications to bundles with negatively curved fibers.
Let $(X, D)$ be a log smooth log canonical pair such that $K_X+D$ is ample. Extending a theorem of Guenancia and building on his techniques, we show that negatively curved Kähler-Einstein crossing edge metrics converge to Kähler-Einstein mixed cusp and edge metrics smoothly away from the divisor when some of the cone angles converge to $0$. We further show that near the divisor such normalized Kähler-Einstein crossing edge metrics converge to a mixed cylinder and edge metric in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff sense when some of the cone angles converge to $0$ at (possibly) different speeds.
Let $M$ be a complete Riemannian metric of sectional curvature within $[-a^2,-1]$ whose fundamental group contains a $k$-step nilpotent subgroup of finite index. We prove that $a\ge k$ answering a question of M. Gromov. Furthermore, we show that for any $ε>0$, the manifold $M$ admits a complete Riemannian metric of sectional curvature within $[-(k+ε)^2,-1]$.
We address the question: how large is the family of complete metrics with nonnegative sectional curvature on S^2xR^3? We classify the connection metrics, and give several examples of non-connection metrics. We provide evidence that the family is small by proving some rigidity results for metrics more general than connection metrics.
Inspired by a recent work of Grove-Petersen in [GP18], where the authors studied Alexandrov spaces with largest possible boundary. We study Alexandrov spaces with lower curvature bound 1 and with small boundary. When the radius of X is π/2, and the boundary has diameter π/2, we classify the total space X.
In this paper, we show that any compact K$ä$hler manifold homotopic to a compact Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature admits a K$ä$hler-Einstein metric of general type. Moreover, we prove that, on a compact symplectic manifold $X$ homotopic to a compact Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature, for any almost complex structure $J$ compatible with the symplectic form, there is no non-constant $J$-holomorphic entire curve $f:C \rightarrow X$.
In this paper we study the rigidity of infinite volume 3-manifolds with sectional curvature $-b^2\le K\le -1$ and finitely generated fundamental group. In-particular, we generalize the Sullivan's quasi-conformal rigidity for finitely generated fundamental group with empty dissipative set to negative variable curvature 3-manifolds. We also generalize the rigidity of Hamenstädt or more recently Besson-Courtois-Gallot, to 3-manifolds with infinite volume and geometrically infinite fundamental group.
We classify four-dimensional shrinking Ricci solitons satisfying $Sec \geq \frac{1}{24} R$, where $Sec$ and $R$ denote the sectional and the scalar curvature, respectively. They are isometric to either $\mathbb{R}^{4}$ (and quotients), $\mathbb{S}^{4}$, $\mathbb{RP}^{4}$ or $\mathbb{CP}^{2}$ with their standard metrics.
In this paper we announce the following result: ``Every manifold of dimension $\ge3$ admits a complete negatively Ricci curved metric.'' Furthermore we describe some sharper results and sketch proofs.
In this note, we study the radius of positively curved or non-negatively curved Alexandrov space with strictly convex boundary, with convexity measured by the Base-Angle defined by Alexander and Bishop. We also estimate the volume of the boundary of non-negatively curved spaces as well as the rigidity case, which can be thought as a non-negatively curved version of a recent result of Grove-Petersen.
We classify closed, simply-connected non-negatively curved 5-manifolds admitting an (almost) effective, isometric $T^3$ or $T^2$ action. As a direct consequence, we show that for any manifold, of dimensions up to and including 9 under the same hypotheses, the maximal symmetry rank is equal to $[2n/3]$ and the free rank is less than or equal to one half that value.
This paper extends, in a sharp way, the famous Efimov's Theorem to immersed ends in $\real^3$. More precisely, let $M$ be a non-compact connected surface with compact boundary. Then there is no complete isometric immersion of $M$ into $\Bbb R^3$ satisfying that $\int_M |K|=+\infty$ and $K\le-κ<0$, where $κ$ is a positive constant and $K$ is the Gaussian curvature of $M$. In particular Efimov's Theorem holds for complete Hadamard immersed surfaces, whose Gaussian curvature $K$ is bounded away from zero outside a compact set.
We prove by an algebraic method that the embedding of the Teichmuller space in the space of geodesic currents is totally linearly independent. We prove a similar result for all negatively curved surfaces using an ergodic argument.
In this note it is shown that Berwald spaces admitting the same norm-preserving torsion-free affine connection have the same (weighted) Ricci curvatures. Combing this with Szabó's Berwald metrization theorem one can apply the Cheeger-Gromoll splitting theorem in order to get a full structure theorem for Berwald spaces of non-negative Ricci curvature. Furthermore, if none of the factor is a symmetric space one obtains an explicit expression of Finsler norm of the resulting product. By the general structure theorem one can apply the soul theorem to the factor in case of non-negative flag curvatu…
In this short note we survey some results about the fundamental group of a compact negatively curved manifold. In particular, we review a theorem of Gusevskij, it states that the fundamental group of a compact negatively curved manifold does not belong to $\mathcal{C},$ where $\mathcal{C}$ is the smallest class of groups that contains all amenable groups and is closed under free products and finite extensions.
We show that a noncompact manifold with bounded sectional curvature, whose ends are sufficiently Gromov-Hausdorff close to rays, has a finite dimensional space of square-integrable harmonic forms. In the special case of a finite-volume manifold with pinched negative sectional curvature, we show that the essential spectrum of the p-form Laplacian is the union of the essential spectra of a collection of ordinary differential operators associated to the ends. We give examples of such manifolds with curvature pinched arbitrarily close to -1 and with an infinite number of gaps in the spectrum of th…
We constructed physically stable sp2 negatively curved cubic carbon structures which reticulate a Schwarz P-like surface. The method for constructing such crystal structures is based on the notion of the standard realization of abstract crystal lattices. In this paper, we expound on the mathematical method to construct such crystal structures.
We examine several classes of manifolds which have the same cohomology ring as an Eschenburg space (a family of biquotients which is a main source of manifolds with positive curvature). One family are the 3-sphere bundles over CP^2. Another are the circle bundles over a base, which itself is one of the family of CP^1 bundles over CP^2. We classify such manifolds up to diffeomorphism using the Kreck-Stolz invariants. Comparisons of the invariants is then used to find many diffeomorphism of the total space of these bundles with positively curved Eschenburg spaces. The total space of each bundle …
We prove that the space of complete, finite volume, pinched negatively curved Riemannian metrics on a smooth high-dimensional manifold is either empty or it is highly non-connected, provided their behavior at infinity is similar.
Answering a question by Margulis we prove that the conclusion of Selberg's Lemma fails for discrete isometry groups of negatively curved Hadamard manifolds.
We study noncompact, complete, finite volume, negatively curved manifolds $M$. We construct $M$ with infinitely generated fundamental groups in all dimensions $n \geq 2$. We construct $M$ whose cusp cross sections are compact hyperbolic manifolds in all dimension $n\geq 3$. In contrast we show that if sectional curvature $-1<K(M)<0$, then cusp cross sections have zero simplicial volume. We construct negatively curved lattices that do not contain any parabolic isometries. We show that there are $M$ such that $\widetilde{M}$ does not satisfy the visibility axiom. We give a condition on the curva…
Let $(X, g_0)$ be a complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold with sectional curvatures $K_{g_0}$ satisfying $-b^2 \leq K_{g_0} \leq -1$ for some $b \geq 1$. Let $g_1$ be a Riemannian metric on $X$ such that $g_1 = g_0$ outside a compact in $X$, and with sectional curvatures $K_{g_1}$ satisfying $K_{g_1} \leq -1$. The identity map $id : (X, g_0) \to (X, g_1)$ is bi-Lipschitz, and hence induces a homeomorphism between the boundaries at infinity of $(X, g_0)$ and $(X, g_1)$, which we denote by $\hat{id}_{g_0, g_1} : \partial_{g_0} X \to \partial_{g_1} X$. We show that if the boundary map $\…
In this paper we study non-negatively curved and rationally elliptic GKM$_4$ manifolds and orbifolds. We show that their rational cohomology rings are isomorphic to the rational cohomology of certain model orbifolds. These models are quotients of isometric actions of finite groups on non-negatively curved torus orbifolds. Moreover, we give a simplified proof of a characterisation of products of simplices among orbit spaces of locally standard torus manifolds. This characterisation was originally proved in [Wiemeler, Torus manifolds and non-negative curvature, arXiv:1401.0403] and was used ther…
We give conceptual proofs of some well known results concerning compact non-positively curved locally symmetric spaces. We discuss vanishing and non-vanishing of Pontrjagin numbers and Euler characteristics for these locally symmetric spaces. We also establish vanishing results for Stiefel-Whitney numbers of (finite covers of) the Gromov-Thurston examples of negatively curved manifolds. We mention some geometric corollaries: the MinVol question, a lower bound for degrees of covers having tangential maps to the non-negatively curved duals, and estimates for the complexity of some representation…
In the spirit of Otal and Croke, we prove that a negatively-curved asymptotically hyperbolic surface is boundary distance rigid, where the distance between two points on the boundary at infinity is defined by a renormalized quantity.
In this paper, we prove a global rigidity theorem for negatively curved Finsler metrics on a compact manifold of dimension n>2. We show that for such a Finsler manifold, if the flag curvature is a scalar function on the tangent bundle, then the Finsler metric is of Randers type. We also study the case when the Finsler metric is locally projectively flat.
