Scalar curvature and Betti numbers of compact Riemannian manifolds (Q2198177)

For a compact oriented manifold \(M\) with positive scalar curvature, the author investigates the relationship between algebraic properties of the curvature tensor and the global geometry and topology of Riemannian manifolds (using Bachner technique in the context of manifolds with some type of curvature condition which implies that harmonic forms are vanishing). First, he proves a vanishing theorem for the \(p\)-th Betti number of \(M\) (assuming that the norm of the concircular curvature is less than some positive multiple of the scalar curvature at each point). In the second part, the author shows that, if \(M\) has positive scalar curvature, then the existence of non-trivial harmonic \(p\)-forms imposes a certain integral inequality concerning the scalar curvature and the traceless Ricci curvature. The equality is attained if and only if the Riemannian universal cover of \((M,g)\) is isometric to a Riemannian product \(H^p \times S^{n-p}\).