Seven dimensional cohomogeneity one manifolds with nonnegative curvature (Q1751038)

A Riemannian manifold is said to be \textit{cohomogeneity one} if there is a group acting by isometries whose generic orbits are hypersurfaces. Such manifolds have been classified in dimension \(n\leq 7\); they admit invariant metrics of non-negative curvature unless they belong to one of two 7-dimensional families \(E_{p,q}\) or \(E_{p,q}^*\). The authors show the following. Theorem: The cohomogeneity-one manifold \(E_{p,q}\) does not admit a \(S^3\times S^3\) invariant metric with non-negative curvature if \(|p\pm q|>1\). If \(|p\pm q|=1\), then \(E_{p,q}\) is an Eschenburg space which admits an invariant metric of positive curvature. This reduces the classification of cohomogeneity-one manifolds with non-negative curvature in dimension 7 to only one further family of candidates.