Warped products of Hadamard spaces

In the Riemannian case, our approach to warped products illuminates curvature formulas that previously seemed formal and somewhat mysterious. Moreover, the geometric approach allows us to study warped products in a much more general class of spaces. For complete metric spaces, it is known that nonpositive curvature in the Alexandrov sense is preserved by gluing on isometric closed convex subsets and by Gromov–Hausdorff limits with strictly positive convexity radius; we show it is also preserved by warped products with convex warping functions. Received: 9 January 1998/ Revised version: 12 March 1998     

The structure of singular spaces of dimension 2

In this paper, we study the structure of locally compact metric spaces of Hausdorff dimension 2. If such a space has non-positive curvautre and a local cone structure, then every simple closed curve bounds a conformal disk. On a surface (a topological manifold of dimension 2), a distance function with non-positive curvature and whose metric topology is equivalent to the surface topology gives a structure of a Riemann surface. The construction of conformal disks in these spaces uses minimal surface theory; in particular, the solution of the Plateau Problem in metric spaces of non-positive curvature. Received: 18 November 1997/ Revised versions: 15 January and 7 June 1999     

Invariant metrics of positive Ricci curvature on principal bundles

Let be a compact connected Riemannian manifold with a metric of positive Ricci curvature. Let be a principal bundle over with compact connected structure group . If the fundamental group of is finite, we show that admits a invariant metric with positive Ricci curvature so that is a Riemannian submersion. Received 14 January 1997     

Eigenvalue estimates for submanifolds with bounded mean curvature in the hyperbolic space

Let M be an n-dimensional complete non-compact submanifold in a hyperbolic space with the norm of its mean curvature vector bounded by a constant . We prove in this paper that . In particular when M is minimal we have and this is sharp because equality holds when M is totally geodesic. Received September 14, 1999; in final form November 12, 1999 / Published online December 8, 2000     

On eigenvalue pinching in positive Ricci curvature

We shall show that for manifolds with Ric≥n−1 the radius is close to π iff the (n+1)st eigenvalue is close to n. This extends results of Cheng and Croke which show that the diameter is close to π iff the first eigenvalue is close to n. We shall also give a new proof of an important theorem of Colding to the effect that if the radius is close to π, then the volume is close to that of the sphere and the manifold is Gromov-Hausdorff close to the sphere. From work of Cheeger and Colding these conditions imply that the manifold is diffeomorphic to a sphere. Oblatum 29-V-1998 & 4-II-1999 / Published online: 21 May 1999     

Integral pinching theorems

Using Hamilton's Ricci flow we shall prove several pinching results for integral curvature. In particular, we show that if p>n/2$ and the L ^p norm of the curvature tensor is small and the diameter is bounded, then the manifold is an infra-nilmanifold. We also obtain a result on deforming metrics to positive sectional curvature. Received: 17 February 1999     

Topological obstructions to nonnegative curvature

We find new obstructions to the existence of complete Riemannian metric of nonnegative sectional curvature on manifolds with infinite fundamental groups. In particular, we construct many examples of vector bundles whose total spaces admit no nonnegatively curved metrics. Received February 11, 2000 / Published online February 5, 2001     

Harmonic maps with singular boundary value from complex hyperbolic spaces into rank one symmetric spaces

In this paper we consider the Dirichlet problem at infinity of proper harmonic maps from noncompact complex hyperbolic space to a rank one symmetric space N of noncompact type with singular boundary data . Under some conditions on f, we show that the Dirichlet problem at infinity admits a harmonic map which assumes the boundary data f continuously. Received: March 11, 1999 / Accepted April 23, 1999     

Ricci curvature and the topology of open manifolds

In this paper, we prove that an open Riemannian n-manifold with Ricci curvature and for some is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean n-space if the volume growth of geodesic balls around p is not too far from that of the balls in . We also prove that a complete n-manifold M with is diffeomorphic to if , where is the volume of unit ball in . Received 5 May, 1997     

Sharp estimates and the Dirac operator

This paper establishes and extends a conjecture posed by M. Gromov which states that every riemannian metric on that strictly dominates the standard metric must have somewhere scalar curvature strictly less than that of . More generally, if is any compact spin manifold of dimension which admits a distance decreasing map of non-zero degree, then either there is a point with normalized scalar curvature , or is isometric to . The distance decreasing hypothesis can be replaced by the weaker assumption is contracting on -forms. In both cases, the results are sharp. An explicit counterexample is given to show that the result is no longer valid if one replaces 2-forms by -forms with . Received: 16 May 1996     

Moduli spaces of stable sheaves on abelian surfaces

In this paper, we consider basic problems on moduli spaces of stable sheaves on abelian surfaces. Our main assumption is the primitivity of the associated Mukai vector. We determine the deformation types, albanese maps, Bogomolov factors and their weight 2 Hodge structures. We also discuss the deformation types of moduli spaces of stable sheaves on K3 surfaces. Received: 28 February 2000 / Revised version: 15 September 2000 / Published online: 24 September 2001     

Large volume growth and the topology of open manifolds

In this paper, we study complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature and large volume growth. We find some reasonable conditions to insure that this kind of manifolds are diffeomorphic to a Euclidean space or have finite topological type. Received: January 4, 2000; in final form: October 31, 2000 / Published online: 19 October 2001     

Optimal pinching constants of odd dimensional homogeneous spaces

In this article we compute the pinching constants of all invariant Riemannian metrics on the Berger space B ¹³=SU(5)/(Sp(2)×_ℤ2S¹) and of all invariant U(2)-biinvariant Riemannian metrics on the Aloff–Wallach space W ⁷ _1,1=SU(3)/S¹ _1,1. We prove that the optimal pinching constants are precisely in both cases. So far B ¹³ and W ⁷ _1,1 were only known to admit Riemannian metrics with pinching constants .?We also investigate the optimal pinching constants for the invariant metrics on the other Aloff–Wallach spaces W ⁷ _k,l =SU(3)/S¹ _k,l . Our computations cover the cone of invariant T²-biinvariant Riemannian metrics. This cone contains all invariant Riemannian metrics unless k/l=1. It turns out that the optimal pinching constants are given by a strictly increasing function in k/l∈[0,1]. Thus all the optimal pinching constants are ≤.?In order to determine the extremal values of the sectional curvature of an invariant Riemannian metric on W ⁷ _k,l we employ a systematic technique, which can be applied to other spaces as well. The computation of the pinching constants for B ¹³ is reduced to the curvature computation for two proper totally geodesic submanifolds. One of them is diffeomorphic to ℂℙ³/ℤ₂ and inherits an Sp(2)-invariant Riemannian metric, and the other is W ⁷ _1,1 embedded as recently found by Taimanov. This approach explains in particular the coincidence of the optimal pinching constants for W ⁷ _1,1 and the Berger space B ¹³. Oblatum 9-XI-1998 & 3-VI-1999 / Published online: 20 August 1999     

Cyclic regulating balanced Butler groups

A necessary and sufficient condition is derived for an arbitrary cyclic regulating almost completely decomposable group to belong to a K(n)-class, n≥ 0. This allows one to formulate a Structure Theorem for clipped p-primary cyclic regulating groups in each K(n)-class. Using the Indecomposability Criterion we construct an example of an indecomposable balanced Butler group which does not have a unique regulating subgroup. Received: 3 November 1998     

Spacelike hypersurfaces with constant scalar curvature

In this paper, we shall give an integral equality by applying the operator □ introduced by S.Y. Cheng and S.T. Yau [7] to compact spacelike hypersurfaces which are immersed in de Sitter space S ^{n +1} ₁(c) and have constant scalar curvature. By making use of this integral equality, we show that such a hypersurface with constant scalar curvature n(n-1)r is isometric to a sphere if r << c. Received: 18 December 1996 / Revised version: 26 November 1997     

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     

A characterization of endotrivial modules over p-groups

Let P be a finite p-group, and let k a field of characteristic p>0. We prove that a finietly generated kG-module M is endotrivial if and only if