An upper bound on the revised first Betti number and a torus stability result for \textsf{RCD} spaces (Q2165720)

In the early part of the twentieth century, Bochner proved that a closed Riemannian manifold \((M^n,g)\) with \(\mathrm{Ric}_g \geq 0\) affords the bound \(b_1(M) \leq n\) on its first Betti number. Moreover, equality is achieved if and only if \((M,g)\) is a flat torus. \textit{S. Gallot} [in: Séminaire de théorie spectrale et géométrie. Année 1982-1983. Chambéry: Univ. de Savoie, Fac. des Sciences, Service de Math.; St. Martin d'Hères: Univ. de Grenoble I, Inst. Fourier. Exp. No. II, 20 p. (1983; Zbl 1006.53502)] and \textit{M. Gromov} [Structures métriques pour les variétés riemanniennes. Rédigé par J. Lafontaine et P. Pansu. Paris: Cedic/Fernand Nathan (1981; Zbl 0509.53034)] showed there is an \(\varepsilon(n)>0\) such that for closed Riemannian manifolds \((M^n,g)\) with \(\mathrm{diam}^2(M,g) \mathrm{Ric}_g \geq - \varepsilon(n)\), the same first Betti number bound holds. \textit{J. Cheeger} and \textit{T. H. Colding} [Ann. Math. (2) 144, No. 1, 189--237 (1996; Zbl 0865.53037)] showed that if \(b_1(M)=n\), then \((M,g)\) is bi-Hölder homeomorphic to a flat torus. The authors extend these results to the setting of RCD spaces -- synthetic versions of Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below. A metric measure space \((X, d, \mathfrak{m})\) is a complete and separable metric space \((X,d)\) endowed with a nonnegative Borel measure that is finite on bounded sets. For fixed constants, \(K \in \mathbb{R}\) and \(N \in [1, + \infty)\), \textit{K.-T. Sturm} [Acta Math. 196, No. 1, 65--131 (2006; Zbl 1105.53035); ibid., 133--177 (2006; Zbl 1106.53032)] and \textit{J. Lott} and \textit{C. Villani} [Ann. Math. (2) 169, No. 3, 903--991 (2009; Zbl 1178.53038)] made precise the notion of a metric measure space having a Ricci curvature lower bound \(\mathrm{Ric} \geq K\) and upper bound on its dimension \(\dim \leq N\), in terms of convexity properties of entropy functionals along Wasserstein geodesics. This is what is called the (\textit{curvature-dimension}) CD\((K,N)\) condition. For smooth Riemannian manifolds \((M,g)\), the CD\((K,N)\) condition returns the condition of \(\mathrm{Ric}_g \geq K\), and is thus an honest generalization of the familiar setting. It is, moreover, an intrinsic notion, not relying on smooth approximating sequences of Riemannian manifolds, and is stable with respect to the appropriate notion of convergence of metric measure spaces. Metric measure spaces satisfying the CD\((K,N)\) condition, however, can be Finsler manifolds. In 2015, \textit{N. Gigli} [On the differential structure of metric measure spaces and applications. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2015; Zbl 1325.53054)] introduced RCD\((K,N)\) spaces -- metric measure spaces satisfying the \textit{Riemannian curvature-dimension condition}. The RCD\((K,N)\) spaces form a stable subclass of the CD\((K,N)\) spaces that are intrinsically defined, consistent with the smooth case, and rule out the Finsler spaces. A metric measure space is an RCD\((K,N)\) space if it satisfies the CD\((K,N)\) condition, and the Sobolev space \(W^{1,2}(X)\) is a Hilbert space. \textit{K. Bacher} and \textit{K.-T. Sturm} [J. Funct. Anal. 259, No. 1, 28--56 (2010; Zbl 1196.53027)] defined (via distortion coefficients) the \textit{reduced curvature-dimension condition} CD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\), a curvature-dimension condition that admits improved local-to-global and tensorization properties. Note that the CD\((K,N)\) condition implies that CD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) condition, and conversely, the CD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) condition implies the CD\(\left( \left( 1 - \frac{1}{N} \right)K,N \right)\) condition. A metric measure space that satisfies the CD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) condition with \(W^{1,2}(X)\) a Hilbert space, is said to be an RCD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) space. \textit{A. Mondino} and \textit{G. Wei} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 753, 211--237 (2019; Zbl 1422.53033)] proved that RCD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) spaces admit a universal cover which is also an RCD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) space. The group of deck transformations of this universal cover is called the \textit{revised fundamental group} and is denoted \(\bar{\pi}_1(X)\). The rank of the abelianization of \(\bar{\pi}_1(X)\) is called the \textit{revised first Betti number}. For \(K \in \mathbb{R}\), \(N \in [1,+\infty)\), and \(D>0\), let \(\mathcal{Z}(K,N,D)\) denote the space of compact RCD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) spaces \((X,d,\mathfrak{m})\) with \(\mathrm{supp}(\mathfrak{m})=X\), \(\mathrm{diam}(X) \leq D\). The first main theorem of the article is the following: Theorem. There exists a positive function \(C(N,t) >0\) with \(\lim_{t \to 0} C(N,t) = \lfloor N \rfloor\) such that for \(X \in \mathcal{Z}(K,N,D)\) the revised first Betti number satisfies \[ b_1(X) \ \leq \ C(N,KD^2). \] In particular, for any \(N \in [1,+\infty)\), there exists \(\varepsilon(N)>0\) such that for \(X \in \mathcal{Z}(K,N,D)\) satisfying \(KD^2 \geq - \varepsilon(N)\), the revised first Betti number satisfies \[ b_1(X) \ \leq \ \lfloor N \rfloor. \] The second main theorem is: Theorem. For every \(N \in [1,+\infty)\), there exists \(\delta(N)>0\) such that for any compact RCD\(^{\ast}(K,N)\) space \((X,d, \mathfrak{m})\) with \(K\mathrm{diam}^2(X) > - \delta(N)\) and \(b_1(X) = \lfloor N \rfloor\), the following holds: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] \((X, d, \mathfrak{m})\) has essential dimension \(\lfloor N \rfloor\) and as a metric measure space it is \(\lfloor N \rfloor\)-rectifiable; \item[(2)] There exists a finite cover \((X', d_{X'}, \mathfrak{m}_{X'})\) of \((X,d,\mathfrak{m})\) which is \(\varepsilon(\delta \vert N)-\text{mGH}\) close to a flat torus of dimension \(\lfloor N \rfloor\); \item[(3)] If, in addition, \(N \in \mathbb{N}\), then \(\mathfrak{m} = c \mathcal{H}^N\) for some constant \(c>0\) and \((X,d)\) is bi-Hölder homeomorphic to an \(N\)-dimensional flat torus. \end{itemize}