Tits topology and fundamental groups of compact Riemannian manifolds

Let M be a compact Riemannian manifold without conjugate points. We generalize the Tits topology on the ideal boundary of the universal covering space of M. Then we show that if π₁(M) is amenable and is compact with respect to the Tits topology, then M is flat. This work was supported by Grant No.R01-2006-000-10047-0(2006) from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation.     

On Gromov's large Riemannian manifolds

Gromov introduced several notions of largeness of Riemannian manifolds and proved that they are all equivalent for manifolds of nonnegative sectional curvature. In this paper, we study the equivalence of these notions in the case of nonnegative Ricci curvature and in particular we give an affirmative answer to one of Gromov's open questions.     

On some hereditary properties of Riemannian g-natural metrics on tangent bundles of Riemannian manifolds

It is well known that if the tangent bundle TM of a Riemannian manifold (M,g) is endowed with the Sasaki metric gs, then the flatness property on TM is inherited by the base manifold [Kowalski, J. Reine Angew. Math. 250 (1971) 124-129]. This motivates us to the general question if the flatness and also other simple geometrical properties remain “hereditary” if we replace gs by the most general Riemannian “g-natural metric” on TM (see [Kowalski and Sekizawa, Bull. Tokyo Gakugei Univ. (4) 40 (1988) 1-29; Abbassi and Sarih, Arch. Math. (Brno), submitted for publication]). In this direction, we prove that if (TM,G) is flat, or locally symmetric, or of constant sectional curvature, or of constant scalar curvature, or an Einstein manifold, respectively, then (M,g) possesses the same property, respectively. We also give explicit examples of g-natural metrics of arbitrary constant scalar curvature on TM.     

Locally homogeneous Riemannian manifolds and Cartan triples

Ann-dimensional Cartan triple is a triple (g, , ) consisting of a Lie subalgebra g of so(n) (endowed with the Killing form), a linear map : ⁿ g and a bilinear antisymmetric map ²( ⁿ , g), which together satisfy (1.25)–(1.28) of Section 1. LetM _n be the set ofmaximal n-dimensional Cartan triples, and letA _n be thenatural action of the orthogonal group O(n) onM _n (Section 3). One shows that there is a bijective mapping from the set of local isometry classes ofn-dimensional locally homogeneous Riemannian manifolds to the set of orbits ofA _n (Theorem 3.1(a)). Under this bijection, the classes of homogeneous Riemannian manifolds correspond to orbits ofclosed Cartan triples.     

Schouten curvature functions on locally conformally flat Riemannian manifolds

Consider a compact Riemannian manifold (M, g) with metric g and dimension n ≥ 3. The Schouten tensor A _g associated with g is a symmetric (0, 2)-tensor field describing the non-conformally-invariant part of the curvature tensor of g. In this paper, we consider the elementary symmetric functions {σ _k (A _g ), 1 ≤ k ≤ n} of the eigenvalues of A _g with respect to g; we call σ _k (A _g ) the k-th Schouten curvature function. We give an isometric classification for compact locally conformally flat manifolds which satisfy the conditions: A _g is semi-positive definite and σ _k (A _g ) is a nonzero constant for some k ∈ {2, ... , n}. If k = 2, we obtain a classification result under the weaker conditions that σ₂(A _g ) is a non-negative constant and (M ⁿ , g) has nonnegative Ricci curvature. The corresponding result for the case k = 1 is well known. We also give an isometric classification for complete locally conformally flat manifolds with constant scalar curvature and non-negative Ricci curvature. Udo Simon: Partially supported by Chinese-German cooperation projects, DFG PI 158/4-4 and PI 158/4-5, and NSFC.     

Symmetry inheritance in Riemannian manifolds with physical applications

We study Riemannian manifolds, subject to a prescribed symmetry inheritance, defined by L=2, where , ga, and L are geometric/physical object, function, and Lie derivative operator with respect to a vector field . In this paper, we set =Riemann curvature tensor or Ricci tensor and obtain several new results relevant to physically significant material curves, proper conformai and proper nonconformal symmetries. In particular, we concentrate on a time-like Ricci inheritance vector parallel to the velocity vector of a perfect fluid spaced me. We claim new and physically relevant equations of state. All key results are supported by physical examples, including the Friedman-Robertson-Walker universe models. In general, this paper opens a new area of research on symmetry inheritance with a potential for further applications in mathematical physics.     

Classification of generalized normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds of positive Euler characteristic

The authors give a short survey of previous results on generalized normal homogeneous (δ-homogeneous, in other terms) Riemannian manifolds, forming a new proper subclass of geodesic orbit spaces with nonnegative sectional curvature, which properly includes the class of all normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds. As a continuation and an application of these results, they prove that the family of all compact simply connected indecomposable generalized normal homogeneous Riemannian manifolds with positive Euler characteristic, which are not normal homogeneous, consists exactly of all generalized flag manifolds Sp(l)/U(1)⋅Sp(l−1)=CP2l−1, l?2, supplied with invariant Riemannian metrics of positive sectional curvature with the pinching constants (the ratio of the minimal sectional curvature to the maximal one) in the open interval (1/16,1/4). This implies very unusual geometric properties of the adjoint representation of Sp(l), l?2. Some unsolved questions are suggested.     

The global geometry of Riemannian manifolds with commuting curvature operators

We give manifolds whose Riemann curvature operators commute, i.e. which satisfy for all tangent vectors x_i in both the Riemannian and the higher signature settings. These manifolds have global geometric phenomena which are quite different for higher signature manifolds than they are for Riemannian manifolds. Our focus is on global properties; questions of geodesic completeness and the behaviour of the exponential map are investigated. Dedicated to the memory of Jean Leray     

Classification of Riemannian manifolds in nonlinear potential theory

The classification theory of Riemann surfaces is generalized to Riemanniann-manifolds in the conformally invariant case. This leads to the study of the existence ofA-harmonic functions of typen with various properties and to an extension of the definition of the classical notions with inclusionsO _G O _HP O _HB O _HD . In the classical case the properness of the inclusions were proved rather late, in the 50's by Ahlfors and Tôki. Our main objective is to show that such inclusions are proper also in the generalized case.This research was supported in part by grants from the Academy of Finland and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF DMS 9003438).     

Harmonic maps from closed Riemannian manifolds with positive scalar curvature

It is well known there is no non-constant harmonic map from a closed Riemannian manifold of positive Ricci curvature to a complete Riemannian manifold with non-positive sectional curvature. By reducing the assumption on the Ricci curvature to one on the scalar curvature, such vanishing theorem cannot hold in general. This raises the question: “What information can we obtain from the existence of non-constant harmonic map?” This paper gives answer to this problem; the results obtained are optimal.     

Bounds for the first Dirichlet eigenvalue attained at an infinite family of Riemannian manifolds

LetM be a compact Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary M. We get bounds for the first eigenvalue of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem onM in terms of bounds of the sectional curvature ofM and the normal curvatures of M. We discuss the equality, which is attained precisely on certain model spaces defined by J. H. Eschenburg. We also get analog results for Kähler manifolds. We show how the same technique gives comparison theorems for the quotient volume(P)/volume(M),M being a compact Riemannian or Kähler manifold andP being a compact real hypersurface ofM.Work partially supported by a DGICYT Grant No. PB94-0972 and by the E.C. Contract CHRX-CT92-0050 GADGET II.     

Immersions of cohomogeneity one Riemannian manifolds

This work deals with positively curved compact Riemannian manifolds which are acted on by a closed Lie group of isometries whose principal orbits have codimension one and are isotropy irreducible homogeneous spaces. For such manifolds we can show that their universal covering manifold may be isometrically immersed as a hypersurface of revolution in an euclidean space.     

A class of Riemannian manifolds that pinch when evolved by Ricci flow

The purpose of this paper is to construct a set of Riemannian metrics on a manifold X with the property that will develop a pinching singularity in finite time when evolved by Ricci flow. More specifically, let , where N ⁿ is an arbitrary closed manifold of dimension n≥ 2 which admits an Einstein metric of positive curvature. We construct a (non-empty) set of warped product metrics on the non-compact manifold X such that if , then a smooth solution , t∈[0,T) to the Ricci flow equation exists for some maximal constant T, 0<T<∞, with initial value , and

On weakly harmonic maps from Finsler to Riemannian manifolds

We prove global C0,α$C^{0,\alpha }$-estimates for harmonic maps from Finsler manifolds into regular balls of Riemannian target manifolds generalizing results of Giaquinta, Hildebrandt, and Hildebrandt, Jost and Widman from Riemannian to Finsler domains. As consequences we obtain a Liouville theorem for entire harmonic maps on simple Finsler manifolds, and an existence theorem for harmonic maps from Finsler manifolds into regular balls of a Riemannian target.     

Eta-Einstein condition on twistor spaces of odd-dimensional Riemannian manifolds

In this note, we find the conditions on an odd-dimensional Riemannian manifolds under which its twistor space is eta-Einstein. This can be used to yield an Einstein metric on the tangent sphere bundle of any 3-dimensional manifold of positive constant curvature.     

Naturally reductive Riemannian homogeneous structures on some classes of generic submanifolds in complex space forms

We prove that the universal covering spaces of the generic submanifolds of C P _n and of C H _n are naturally reductive homogeneous spaces by determining explicitly tensor fields defining naturally reductive homogeneous structures on them.     

Rough isometry and Dirichlet finite harmonic functions on Riemannian manifolds

We prove that the dimension of harmonic functions with finite Dirichlet integral is invariant under rough isometries between Riemannian manifolds satisfying the local conditions, expounded below. This result directly generalizes those of Kanai, of Grigor'yan, and of Holopainen. We also prove that the dimension of harmonic functions with finite Dirichlet integral is preserved under rough isometries between a Riemannian manifold satisfying the same local conditions and a graph of bounded degree; and between graphs of bounded degree. These results generalize those of Holopainen and Soardi, and of Soardi, respectively. Received: 23 July 1998 / Revised version: 10 February 1999