The pressure of Ricci curvature (Q1412315)

If \(f\: SM \to \mathbb R\) is a continuous function on the sphere bundle of a closed Riemannian manifold \((M^n,g)\), the \textit{topological pressure} \(P(f)\) is defined by \(P(f) = \sup_{\mu \in M(\Phi)} \left(h_\mu + \int_{SM} f\, d\mu\right)\), where \(M(\Phi)\) is the set of all \(\Phi\)-invariant Borel probability measures (\(\Phi\) being the geodesic flow associated to the metric \(g\)) and \(h_\mu\) is the entropy of the measure \(\mu\). The \textit{topological entropy} \(h_{top}\) of \(\Phi\) is then defined to be \(P(0)\) [see \textit{G. P. Paternain}, Ann. Sci. École Norm. Supér. (4) 33, No. 1, 121--138 (2000; Zbl 0962.37026)]. The first author has previously shown results relating the vanishing of the topological entropy of the geodesic flow to the homotopical structure of manifolds (see, for instance, \textit{G. P. Paternain} [J. Geom. Phys. 13, No. 3, 289--298 (1994; Zbl 0801.58037)]). Here, the authors show that \(P(E_g) \leq 0\), where \(E_g\: SM \to \mathbb R\) is defined by \(E_g(v)=-\frac12\,\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} | 1-\lambda_i(v)| \) and the \(\lambda_i(v)\) are the eigenvalues of the curvature tensor at \(v\). Further, if \(g\) has constant curvature \(\pm 1\), then \(P(E_g)=0\). The authors also show that the pressure of Ricci curvature \(r_g\) obeys, \(P(r_g/(2\sqrt{\kappa_0})) \leq ((n-1)/2)\sqrt{\kappa_0}\), where \(\kappa_0\) is any positive upper bound for sectional curvature. A similar upper bound is given for \(h_{top}\). Various applications of these ideas are given including a verification of a conjecture of Katok for a large class of metrics in a hyperbolic manifold.