Comparison theorems on H-type sub-Riemannian manifolds

DOI10.1007/S00526-025-02992-WMaRDI QIDQ6984657zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Fabrice Baudoin, Erlend Grong, L. Rizzi, Gianmarco Molino

Publication date 14 May 2025

Published in Calculus of Variations and Partial Differential Equations (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/S00526-025-02992-W

zbMATH Keywords

H-typehorizontal Laplaciansub-Laplacian comparison theoremssub-Riemannian manifolds

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Sub-Riemannian geometry (53C17)

Review text

This paper develops a unified framework of comparison theorems for sub-Riemannian geometries of H-type. The authors establish uniform sub-Hessian and sub-Laplacian comparison theorems that hold across a family of Riemannian metrics converging to a sub-Riemannian limit. This approach resolves a key difficulty in geometric analysis -- namely, that curvature quantities tend to diverge under the canonical variation of Riemannian metrics approximating a sub-Riemannian structure. A central novelty lies in proving uniform comparison estimates for the horizontal Laplacian of the distance function, which remain valid for all parameters \(\epsilon>0\) and converge smoothly to sharp sub-Riemannian inequalities as \(\epsilon\to 0\). By introducing an intrinsic geometric splitting of the tangent bundle and using the Hladky (Bott) connection, the authors derive \(\varepsilon\)-independent curvature bounds that make it possible to transition rigorously from the Riemannian to the sub-Riemannian regime. Furthermore, the paper establishes a sharp sub-Riemannian Bonnet-Myers theorem for general H-type manifolds, extending previous results known only for special cases such as Sasakian, 3-Sasakian, and quaternionic contact structures. The paper also provides a new proof of the smooth convergence of the approximating Riemannian distances to the sub-Riemannian one outside the cut locus, a result of independent interest. Overall, the paper significantly broadens the scope of classical Riemannian comparison geometry by providing a systematic and uniform method for extending its theorems to the rich and complex setting of H-type sub-Riemannian manifolds.

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Cited in

(3)

• Unified synthetic Ricci curvature lower bounds for Riemannian and sub-Riemannian structures
• Topology and bottom spectrum of transversally negatively curved foliations
• Sub-Laplacian comparison theorems on Riemannian foliations with minimal leaves and applications

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