Convergence to the product of the standard spheres and eigenvalues of the Laplacian (Q2023419)

The main result of the present paper (in non-technical terms) is that if an \(n\)-dimensional closed Riemannian manifold with positive Ricci curvature admits an almost parallel \(p\)-form (\(2\le p < n/2\)) in \(L^2\)-sense and if the first \(n+ 1\) eigenvalues of the Laplacian acting on functions are close to their optimal values, then the Riemannian manifold is close to the product of the standard spheres \(S^{n-p}\times S^p\) with appropriate radii. A precise statement is given in the main theorem on page 3 of the paper. The result is a contribution to and along previous results of Lichnerowicz and Obata, Petersen, Aubry, Honda and other researchers. We note that the reference ``Lichnerowicz-Obata estimate, almost parallel \(p\)-form and almost product manifolds'' has now appeared in [the author, ``Lichnerowicz-Obata estimate, almost parallel \(p\)-form and almost product manifolds'', J. Geom. Anal., 87 p. (2021; \url{doi:10.1007/s12220-021-00670-9}].