Recognizing the flat torus among \(\mathsf{RCD}^*(0,N)\) spaces via the study of the first cohomology group (Q1656494)

Let \(M\) be a compact, smooth and connected Riemannian manifold. A classical theorem of Bochner asserts that if \(M\) has non-negative Ricci curvature, then the dimension of the first cohomology group of \(M\) is bounded above by the dimension of the manifold and, if these two dimensions coincide, then \(M\) is a flat torus. In the article under review, the authors generalize this result to the non-smooth setting of \(\mathsf{RCD}^*(0, N)\) metric measure spaces. The departure point is the first author's work on differential calculus for such spaces, which allows one to speak of vector fields, \(k\)-forms, covariant derivative, Hodge Laplacian and cohomology groups \(H^*_{\mathrm{dR}}\). Using this machinery, the authors show that if \((X,d,m)\) is an \(\mathsf{RCD}^*(0,N)\) space, then \(\dim(H^1_{\mathrm{dR}}(X))\leq N\) and, if equality holds, then \((X,d,M)\) is isomorphic to a flat \(N\)-dimensional torus. Here, ``isomorphic'' means that there exists a measure-preserving isometry between \((X,d,m)\) and the flat torus with its Riemannian distance and a constant multiple of the induced volume measure. The strategy the proof does not rely on manifold properties (such as the existence of a universal cover) and follows a different path than the one in the Riemannian setting. This important result provides the first instance where the study of cohomology groups for metric measure spaces with synthetic lower Ricci curvature bounds leads to geometric consequences.