Smoothing and non-smoothing via a flow tangent to the Ricci flow (Q1689516)

In [Adv. Math. 250, 74--104 (2014; Zbl 1288.53059)], \textit{N. Gigli} and \textit{C. Mantegazza} define a transformation of metric measure spaces using the relation between the Ricci flow, the heat flow, and optimal transport. They begin with a suitable class of metric measure spaces \((X, d)\), and define distances \(d_t\) for \(t > 0\) using the Wasserstein distance based on the heat kernel and \(d\). For a Riemannian manifold \((X,d)\), the distances \(d_t\) are induced by a smooth metric tensor tangent to the Ricci flow at \(t=0\). The authors in the paper under review study the regularization properties of the transformation in the cases of Euclidean cones and the Heisenberg group. In particular, they show that conical singularities can persist. For the two-dimensional Euclidean cone \(C(\pi)\) of angle \(\pi\), they prove that for every positive time, the distance \(d_t\) has a conic singularity of angle \(\sqrt{2}\pi\) at the apex. For the Euclidean cone \(C(\pi/2)\) of angle \(\pi/2\), the distance \(d_t\) has a cusp singularity at the apex. The spaces \(C(\pi/2, d_t)\) are not Alexandrov spaces, although \(C(\pi/2)\) is. In both of these examples, as \(t\) goes to zero, the space converges to the original cone pointwise and in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff topology. Asymptotically in time, \(C(\pi, d_t)\) tends to the Euclidean cone with angle \(\sqrt{2} \pi\), and \(C(\pi/2, d_t)\) to \(\mathbb R^+\) with Euclidean distance, in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff sense. The authors also consider the Heisenberg group equipped with the Carnot-Carathéodory distance \((\mathbb H,d_{cc})\), and show that here the flow regularizes the space into a smooth Riemannian manifold. They prove that the distances \(d_t\) coincide with \(K d_{\mathrm{Riem}(\kappa\sqrt{t})}\) for some constants \(K\) and \(\kappa\), and as \(t\) goes to zero, \((\mathbb H, d_t)\) converge to \((\mathbb H,d_{cc})\) in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff topology.