Diffeomorphism finiteness, positive pinching, and second homotopy (Q1818084)

Let \((M,g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension \(n\). If the sectional curvature \(\sigma\) of \((M,g)\) satisfies the inequalities \(\delta\leq\sigma\leq 1\), then \((M,g)\) is called \(\delta\)-pinching. It is known that, to every manifold \((M,g)\), we can associate the homotopy groups \(\pi_k(M,g)\), \(k= 1,2,\dots\)\ . The aim of the present paper is to study the relation of \(\pi_2(M, g)\) with \(\delta\)-pinching. The main results of this paper can be stated as follows: For any given numbers \(m\), \(C\) and \(D\), the class of \(m\)-dimensional simply connected closed smooth manifolds with finite second homotopy groups which admit a Riemannian metric with the absolute value of the sectional curvature bounded by \(C\), \(|\sigma|\leq C\), and diameter uniformly bounded above by \(D\), contains only finitely many diffeomorphism types. Given any \(m\) and any \(\delta>0\), there exists a positive constant \(i_0= i_0(m,\delta)>0\) such that the injectivity radius of any simply connected compact \(m\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold with finite second homotopy group and \(\text{Ric}\geq\delta\), \(\sigma\leq 1\), is bounded below by \(i_0(m,\delta)\).