Metrics of positive Ricci curvature on vector bundles over nilmanifolds (Q1601041)

Let \(N\) be a torus or, more generally, a nilmanifold (a quotient of a simply-connected nilpotent Lie group \(G\) by a discrete subgroup). The authors show that, for sufficiently large \(k\), there are complex vector bundles on \(N\) of rank \(k\) that admit complete Riemannian metrics of positive Ricci curvature. The proof is explicit from metrics written down on \(G\times\mathbb{C}^k\) using vector fields on \(G\) derived from the ascending central series of its Lie algebra. These metrics are very interesting in that they illustrate the difference between Ricci and sectional curvature. When \(N\) is a torus, they give the first examples of manifolds that, on the one hand, admit a complete metric of positive Ricci curvature but, on the other hand, are not even homeomorphic to a smooth manifold admitting a complete metric of non-negative sectional curvature.