Nonnegative curvature on disk bundles
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Date
2010-03-02T13:23:27Z
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Abstract
The search for manifolds of nonnegative curvature1 is one of the classical problems in Riemannian
geometry. While general obstructions are scarce, there are relatively few general
classes of examples and construction methods. Hence, it is unclear how large one should
expect the class of closed manifolds admitting a nonnegatively curved metric to be. For a
survey of known examples, see e.g. [Z].
Apart from taking products, there are only two general methods to construct new nonnegatively
curved metrics out of given spaces. One is the use of Riemannian submersions
which non-decrease curvature by O’Neill’s formula. The other is the glueing of two manifolds
(which we call halves) along their common boundary. Typically, the boundary of each half
is assumed to be totally geodesic or, slightly more restrictive, a collar metric. This in turn
implies by the Soul theorem ([CG]) that each half is the total space of a disk bundle over
a totally geodesic closed submanifold. In addition, the glueing map of the two boundaries
must be an isometry.
While many examples can be constructed by such a glueing, its application is still limited.
On the one hand, there is not too much known on the question which disk bundles over a
nonnegatively curved compact manifold admit collar metrics of nonnegative curvature, and
on the other hand, even if such metrics exist, the metric on the boundary is not arbitrary.
Thus, glueing together two such disk bundles to a nonnegatively curved closed manifold is
possible in special situations only.
For instance, if the disk bundle is homogeneous, then there always exist invariant nonnegatively
curved collar metrics. However, the metric on the boundary of such a collar metric is
restricted due to the existence of certain parallel Killing fields by a result of Perelman ([P]).
In this article, we will give a survey of known examples and describe some recent results
which illustrate the difficulty in finding metrics on disk bundles which are suitable for this
glueing construction.