Metric transformations under collapsing of Riemannian manifolds (Q1429378)

Gromov's precompactness theorem assures that a sequence of Riemannian manifolds of dimension \(n\) with Ricci curvature bounded below converges in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff topology to a length space [\textit{M. Gromov}, Metric structures for Riemannian and non-Riemannian spaces. (Prog. Math. 152) Boston: Birkhäuser (1999; Zbl 0953.53002)]. If the sequence has bounded sectional curvature, then the limit is an Alexandrov space [\textit{Yu. Burago, M. Gromov} and \textit{G. Perel'man}, Russ. Math. Surv. 47, 1--58 (1992; Zbl 0802.53018)]. A sequence is called {collapsing} if its Gromov-Hausdorff limit has a lower Hausdorff dimension. It is well known that interesting phenomena occur when a sequence of Riemannian manifolds collaps [\textit{J. Cheeger} and \textit{M. Gromov}, J. Differ. Geom. 23, 309--346 (1986; Zbl 0606.53028) and ibid. 32, 269--298 (1990; Zbl 0727.53043)]. In this paper, the authors combine the ideas of isometric group actions and collapsing of Riemannian manifolds to explore metric transformations. For several Riemannian manifolds \((M,g)\) with isometric group action \(G\), the authors construct a sequence of Riemannian manifolds of higer dimension which collapse to \(M\) with a new metric \(h\). \(G\) is acting also on \((M,h)\) as an isometry group. The map from \(g\) to \(h\) is called a {metric transformation}. It is remarked that when \(g\) is the hyperbolic metric on \({\mathbb H}^{2}\) and \(G=S^{1}\), the transformed metric \(h\) is Hamiltonian cigar soliton metric studied in Ricci flow. Moreover, when \(g\) is the exploding soliton, the transformation metric \(h\) is the 2-sphere. The authors also remark that when \(g\) is the standard metric on \(S^{3}\) and \(G=S^{1}\) the transformed metrics \(h\) are the Berger metrics on \(S^{3}\). In section 2 some examples of sequences \((M_{i},g_{i})\) are constructed for which the collapsing limit \((M,h)\) is a quotient of a Riemannian manifold by a Lie group. The transformed metrics \(h\) for these examples are determined in section 3. In the last section the authors give some special cases of the metric transformations introduced in [\textit{J. Cheeger}, J. Differ. Geom. 8, 623--628 (1973; Zbl 0281.53040)]. The paper is finished with an appendix dealing with the cigar and exploding solitons.