Homogeneous Riemannian manifolds of positive Ricci curvature

We prove that a homogeneous effective spaceM=G/H, whereG is a connected Lie group andH⊂G is a compact subgroup, admits aG-invariant Riemannian metric of positive Ricci curvature if and only if the spaceM is compact and its fundamental group π₁(M) is finite (in this case any normal metric onG/H is suitable). This is equivalent to the following conditions: the groupG is compact and the largest semisimple subgroupLG⊂G is transitive onG/H. Furthermore, ifG is nonsemisimple, then there exists aG-invariant fibration ofM over an effective homogeneous space of a compact semisimple Lie group with the torus as the fiber. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 334–340, September, 1995.     

On the fundamental group of Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature

In 1968 Milnor conjectured that the fundamental group of any complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature is finitely generated. In this paper we obtain two results concerning Milnor’s conjecture. We first prove that the generators of fundamental group can be chosen so that it has at most logarithmic growth. Secondly we prove that the conjecture is true if additional the volume growth satisfies certain condition.     

A parametrized compactness theorem under bounded Ricci curvature

We prove a parametrized compactness theorem on manifolds of bounded Ricci curvature, upper bounded diameter, and lower bounded injectivity radius.     

Line integration of Ricci curvature and conjugate points in Lorentzian and Riemannian manifolds

Generalizing results of Cohn-Vossen and Gromoll, Meyer for Riemannian manifolds and Hawking and Penrose for Lorentzian manifolds, we use Morse index theory techniques to show that if the integral of the Ricci curvature of the tangent vector field of a complete geodesic in a Riemannian manifold or of a complete nonspacelike geodesic in a Lorentzian manifold is positive, then the geodesic contains a pair of conjugate points. Applications are given to geodesic incompleteness theorems for Lorentzian manifolds, the end structure of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds, and the geodesic flow of compact Riemannian manifolds.Partially supported by NSF grant MCS77-18723(02).     

A splitting theorem for manifolds of almost nonnegative Ricci curvature

Cheeger and Gromoll proved that a closed Riemannian manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature is, up to a finite cover, diffeomorphic to a direct product of a simply connected manifold and a torus. In this paper, we extend this theorem to manifolds of almost nonnegative Ricci curvature.     

Noncompact manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature

Let (M, d) be a metric space. For 0 < r < R, let G(p, r, R) be the group obtained by considering all loops based at a point p ∈ M whose image is contained in the closed ball of radius r and identifying two loops if there is a homotopy between them that is contained in the open ball of radius R. In this article 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 nonnegative Ricci curvature and small linear diameter growth is its own universal cover.     

Smoothing Riemannian metrics with Ricci curvature bounds

We prove that Riemannian metrics with an absolute Ricci curvature bound and a conjugate radius bound can be smoothed to having a sectional curvature bound. Using this we derive a number of results about structures of manifolds with Ricci curvature bounds. The authors were supported in part by NSF Grant. The first author was also supported in part by Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship This article was processed by the author using the LATEX style filecljourl from Springer-Verlag.     

Cohomogeneity one Riemannian manifolds of non-positive curvature

We study a G-manifold M which admits a G-invariant Riemannian metric g of non-positive curvature. We describe all such Riemannian G-manifolds (M,g) of non-positive curvature with a semisimple Lie group G which acts on M regularly and classify cohomogeneity one G-manifolds M of a semisimple Lie group G which admit an invariant metric of non-positive curvature. Some results on non-existence of invariant metric of negative curvature on cohomogeneity one G-manifolds of a semisimple Lie group G are given.     

On the moment-angle manifolds of positive Ricci curvature

We construct Riemannian metrics of positive Ricci curvature on some moment-angle manifolds. In particular, we construct a nonformal moment-angle Riemannian manifold of positive Ricci curvature.     

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     

Constant mean curvature spheres in Riemannian manifolds

We prove the existence of embedded spheres with large constant mean curvature in any compact Riemannian manifold (M, g). This result partially generalizes a result of R. Ye which handles the case where the scalar curvature function of the ambient manifold (M, g) has non-degenerate critical points.