The asymptotic behavior of the set of rays (Q1379585)

In 1972, \textit{J. Cheeger} and \textit{D. Gromoll} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 96, 413-443 (1972; Zbl 0246.53049)] proved the soul theorem: any open complete Riemannian manifold \(M ^n\) with nonnegative curvature admits a soul \(S\) which is a compact, totally geodesic, totally convex submanifold of \(M ^n\) such that the manifold \(M ^n\) itself is diffeomorphic to the total space of the normal bundle of \(S\) in \(M ^n\). The article under review uses a splitting theorem by \textit{J. Yim} [Ann. Global Anal. Geom. 6, 191-206 (1988; Zbl 0668.53025)] to generalize the soul theorem for the radius of the ideal boundary of an open manifold \(M ^n\). He defines new invariants, the critical function and the radial function which, in the author's words, ``are more fruitful for dimensions higher than two.'' Through these invariants he gives a proof of Shioya's conjecture, independent of that given by \textit{G. Perelman} [`Collapsing with no proper extremal subsets', preprint].