The evolution of positively curved invariant Riemannian metrics on the Wallach spaces under the Ricci flow (Q303660)

A natural type of problems is whether or not the positiveness of the sectional curvature or positiveness of the Ricci curvature is preserved under the Ricci flow. The object of the present paper is a detailed analysis of evolution of positively curved metrics under the normalized Ricci flow \(\frac{\partial}{\partial t}g(t)=-2\mathrm{Ric}_g+2g(t)\frac{S_g}{n}\) on a certain Riemannian homogeneous spaces with positive sectional curvature. The homogeneous spaces which admit homogeneous metrics with positive sectional curvature have been classified in classical works of B. Bergery, \textit{M. Berger} [Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, Sci. Fis. Mat., III. Ser. 15, 179--246 (1961; Zbl 0101.14201)], and \textit{N. R. Wallach} [Ann. Math. (2) 96, 277--295 (1972; Zbl 0261.53033)]. A gap in this classification was recently filled by \textit{M. Xu} and \textit{J. A. Wolf} [Differ. Geom. Appl. 42, 115--124 (2015; Zbl 1326.53066)]. The main object of this paper are the Wallach spaces \( W_6 = \mathrm{SU}(3)/T_{\max}\), \(W_{12}=\mathrm{Sp}(3)/\mathrm{Sp}(1)\times \mathrm{Sp}(1)\times \mathrm{Sp}(1)\) and \(W_{24}=F_4/\mathrm{Spin}(8)\). The space of invariant metrics on these spaces depends on three parameters \(x_1\), \(x_2\), \(x_3\). The subspace of invariant metrics satisfying \(x_i=x_j\) for some \(i\neq j\) are related to natural submersions \(\mathbb S^2\to W_6\to \mathbb C\mathbb P^2\), \(\mathbb S^4\to W_{12}\to \mathbb H\mathbb P^2\) and \(\mathbb S^8\to W_{24}\to \mathrm{Ca}\mathbb P^2\), and are called \textit{submersion} metrics. All other metrics are called \textit{generic}. The main results of the paper are the following. Theorem 1. On the Wallach spaces \(W_6\), \(W_{12}\), and \(W_{24}\) the normalized Ricci flow evolves all generic metrics with positive sectional curvature into metrics with mixed sectional curvature. Theorem 2. On the Wallach spaces \(W_{12}\) and \(W_{24}\) the normalized Ricci flow evolves all generic metrics with positive Ricci curvature into metrics with mixed Ricci curvature. Theorem 2 fails for the Wallach space \(W_{12}\). Theorem 2 can be extended to certain generalized Wallach spaces. These are compact homogeneous spaces whose isotopy representation decomposes into a direct sum of three irreducible modules satisfying certain simple Lie bracket conditions, and these spaces can be determined by some special constants \(a_1\), \(a_2\), and \(a_3\). Invariant metrics depend on three positive real parameters \(x_1\), \(x_2\), \(x_3\). The classification of generalized Wallach spaces was recently accomplished independently by \textit{Yu. G. Nikonorov} [Geom. Dedicata 181, 193--212 (2016; Zbl 1341.53079)] and \textit{Z. Chen} et al. [``Invariant Einstein metrics on three-locally-symmetric spaces'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1411.2694}]. Also, the following theorems are proved in the paper: Theorem 3. Let \(G/H\) be a generalized Wallach space with \(a_1=a_2=a_3\equiv a\), where \(a\in (0,1/4)\cup (1/4, 1/2)\). If \(a<1/6\) then the normalized Ricci flow evolves all generic metrics with positive Ricci curvature into metrics with mixed Ricci curvature. If \(a\in (1/6, 1/4)\cup (1/4, 1/2)\) then the normalized Ricci flow evolves all generic metrics into metrics with positive Ricci curvature. Theorem 4. Let \(G/H\) be a generalized Wallach space with \(a_1=a_2=a_3=1/6\). Suppose that the invariant metric satisfies \(x_k<x_i+x_j\) for all indices with \(\{i,j,k\}=\{1,2,3\}\). Then the normalized Ricci flow on \(G/H\) with this metric as the initial point, preserves the positivity of the Ricci curvature.