On Ricci deformation of a Riemannian metric on manifold with boundary (Q1919931)

Adapting some results and methods by \textit{R. S. Hamilton} [J. Differ. Geom. 17, 255-306 (1982; Zbl 0504.53034)], the author proves the following two theorems. For any Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) with weakly umbilical boundary (i.e., \(h_{\alpha,\beta}=\lambda g_{\alpha\beta}\) holds on the boundary \(\partial M\), where \(\lambda\) is a constant and \(h\) the second fundamental form of \(\partial M\)) there exists a short time solution of the system \[ \partial g(x,t)/\partial t= -2\text{ Ric }g,\quad g(x,0)= g(x)\quad (x\in M),\quad h=\lambda g\quad (x\in\partial M), \] the so-called Ricci flow. A compact three-dimensional Riemannian manifold with totally geodesic boundary (i.e., \(\lambda=0\)) and with positive Ricci curvature can be Ricci-deformed to a manifold with constant positive curvature and totally geodesic boundary.