Finite topological type and volume growth (Q1426969)

Let us recall that a manifold is of finite topological type whenever there exists a compact domain \(D\subset M\) such that \(M\setminus D = \partial D\times [1, \infty )\). The main result of the paper is contained in the following theorem 1.1. Given a positive number \(c\) and an integer \(n\geq 2\), there exists \(\epsilon > 0\) such that any complete \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold \(M\) with Ricci curvature Ric\(_M\geq -(n-1)\) and conjugate radius conj\(_M\geq c\) is of finite topological type whenever the growth of volumes of balls \(B(p, r)\subset M\) is \(\epsilon\)-uniformly close to the growth of the corresponding balls in the hyperbolic \(n\)-dimensional space form. (The precise condition on growth is provided in the paper.) Theorem 1.2 establishes finiteness of the topological type under similar conditions with standard Ricci curvature being replaced by \(k\)-Ricci curvature, the latter being defined by \(\text{Ric}^{(k)}_M (e\wedge e_1\wedge\dots\wedge e_k) = \sum_{i=1}^k K_M(e\wedge e_i)\), where \(K_M\) denotes the sectional curvature.