Curvature \(h\)-principles (Q1906004)

This paper derives some properties of the spaces of all metrics on a differentiable manifold \(M\) which satisfy curvature bounds. In particular, the spaces \(\text{Ric}^{<\alpha}(M)\) and \(S^{<\alpha}(M)\) of metrics on \(M\) with, respectively, Ricci curvature less than \(\alpha\) and scalar curvature less than \(\alpha\) for \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\) are investigated. Theorem A says that these spaces are contractible, while Theorem B is an approximation result that these spaces are dense in the space of all metrics in the \(C^0\) and the Hausdorff topologies. Thus, any metric is \(C^0\) close to a metric of arbitrarily negative Ricci curvature. Theorems C and D are local versions of these results.