3-manifolds with(out) metrics of nonpositive curvature (Q1910212)

In the context of Thurston's geometrisation program we address the question which compact aspherical 3-manifolds admit Riemannian metrics of nonpositive curvature. We prove that a Haken manifold with possibly empty boundary of zero Euler characteristic admits metrics of nonpositive curvature if the boundary is non-empty or if at least one atoroidal component occurs in its canonical topological decomposition. Our arguments are based on Thurston's hyperbolisation theorem. We give examples of closed graph-manifolds with linear gluing graph and arbitrarily many Seifert components which do not admit metrics of nonpositive curvature.