On quotients of spaces with Ricci curvature bounded below (Q1652728)

Let \((M, g)\) be a smooth Riemannian manifold and \(G\) a compact Lie group acting on \(M\) effectively and by isometries. A lower bound of the sectional curvature of \((M, g)\) is also a bound for the curvature of the quotient space. The authors of the paper prove some stability properties for synthetic Ricci curvature lower bounds. Precisely, they show that such stability holds for quotients of \(RCD^*(K, N)\)-spaces, under isomorphic compact group actions and more generally under metric-measure foliations and submetries. They approach the same problem for the \(CD/CD^*\) and \(MCP\) curvature-dimension conditions. They provide geometric applications which include: a generalization of Kobayashi's Classification Theorem of homogeneous manifolds to \(RCD^*(K, N)\)-spaces with essential minimal dimension \(n\leq N\); a structure theorem for \(RCD^*(K, N)\)-spaces admitting actions by large (compact) groups; and geometric rigidity results for orbifolds such as Cheng's maximal diameter and maximal volume rigidity theorems. They apply the methods of the paper to study quotients by isometric group actions of discrete spaces and of (super-)Ricci flows.