More Like this

1. Almost non-negatively curved 4-manifolds with torus symmetry

   https://doi.org/10.1090/proc/15093  

   Harvey, John; Searle, Catherine (January 2020, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society)

   Wei, Guofang (Ed.)

   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. 

   more » « less
2. The Novikov conjecture, the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms and Hilbert-Hadamard spaces

   Gong, Sherry; Wu, Jianchao; Yu, Guoliang (August 2024, Geometric and functional analysis)

   We prove that the Novikov conjecture holds for any discrete group admitting an isometric and metrically proper action on an admissible Hilbert-Hadamard space. Admissible Hilbert-Hadamard spaces are a class of (possibly infinite-dimensional) non-positively curved metric spaces that contain dense sequences of closed convex subsets isometric to Riemannian manifolds. Examples of admissible Hilbert-Hadamard spaces include Hilbert spaces, certain simply connected and non-positively curved Riemannian-Hilbertian manifolds and infinite-dimensional symmetric spaces. Thus our main theorem can be considered as an infinite-dimensional analogue of Kasparov’s theorem on the Novikov conjecture for groups acting properly and isometrically on complete, simply connected and non-positively curved manifolds. As a consequence, we show that the Novikov conjecture holds for geometrically discrete subgroups of the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms of a closed smooth manifold. This result is inspired by Connes’ theorem that the Novikov conjecture holds for higher signatures associated to the Gelfand-Fuchs classes of groups of diffeormorphisms. 

   more » « less
3. Positively curved Riemannian metrics with logarithmic symmetry rank bounds

   https://doi.org/10.4171/CMH/340  

   Kennard, Lee (November 2014, Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici)

   We prove an obstruction at the level of rational cohomology to the existence of positively curved metrics with large symmetry rank. The symmetry rank bound is logarithmic in the dimension of the manifold. As one application, we provide evidence for a generalized conjecture of H. Hopf, which states that no symmetric space of rank at least two admits a metric with positive curvature. Other applications concern product manifolds, connected sums, and manifolds with nontrivial fundamental group. 

   more » « less
4. Almost isotropic Kähler manifolds

   https://doi.org/10.1515/crelle-2019-0030  

   Schmidt, Benjamin; Shankar, Krishnan; Spatzier, Ralf (October 2020, Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (Crelles Journal))

   Abstract Let M be a complete Riemannian manifold and suppose {p\in M} . For each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} , the Jacobi operator , {\mathcal{J}_{v}:v^{\perp}\rightarrow v^{\perp}} is the symmetric endomorphism, {\mathcal{J}_{v}(w)=R(w,v)v} . Then p is an isotropic point if there exists a constant {\kappa_{p}\in{\mathbb{R}}} such that {\mathcal{J}_{v}=\kappa_{p}\operatorname{Id}_{v^{\perp}}} for each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} . If all points are isotropic, then M is said to be isotropic; it is a classical result of Schur that isotropic manifolds of dimension at least 3 have constant sectional curvatures. In this paper we consider almost isotropic manifolds , i.e. manifolds having the property that for each {p\in M} , there exists a constant {\kappa_{p}\in\mathbb{R}} such that the Jacobi operators {\mathcal{J}_{v}} satisfy {\operatorname{rank}({\mathcal{J}_{v}-\kappa_{p}\operatorname{Id}_{v^{\perp}}}% )\leq 1} for each unit vector {v\in T_{p}M} . Our main theorem classifies the almost isotropic simply connected Kähler manifolds, proving that those of dimension {d=2n\geqslant 4} are either isometric to complex projective space or complex hyperbolic space or are totally geodesically foliated by leaves isometric to {{\mathbb{C}}^{n-1}} . 

   more » « less
5. Positive curvature and symmetry in small dimensions

   https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219199719500536  

   Amann, Manuel; Kennard, Lee (July 2019, Communications in Contemporary Mathematics)

   Extending existing work in small dimensions, Dessai computed the Euler characteristic, signature, and elliptic genus for [Formula: see text]-manifolds of positive sectional curvature in the presence of torus symmetry. He also computes the diffeomorphism type by restricting his results to classes of manifolds known to admit non-negative curvature, such as biquotients. The first part of this paper extends Dessai’s calculations to even dimensions up to [Formula: see text]. In particular, we obtain a first characterization of the Cayley plane in such a setting. The second part studies a closely related family of manifolds called positively elliptic manifolds, and we prove a conjecture of Halperin in this context for dimensions up to [Formula: see text] or Euler characteristics up to [Formula: see text]. 

   more » « less