Width, largeness and index theory (Q2217988)

This paper is well written, well documented and of huge interest in the study of existence of metrics of positive scalar curvature from the point of view of higher index theory for Dirac-type operators. We recall that Conjectures 1.1 and 1.2, which are the main subject of the study, are, respectively, due to Gromov and Rosenberg-Stolz, and deal with the existence of complete Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature on infinite cylinders \(X\times\mathbb{R}\) whose bases \(X\) are closed manifolds of dimension \(\neq4\), and a metric inequality concerning an estimate on the widths of Riemannian bands. The author proves some results related to the above conjectures. First, the author gave a detailed review on Conjectures 1.1 and 1.2 in the framework of the index theory for Callias-type operators, which involves the Rosenberg index taking values in the real \(K\)-theory of the (maximal) \(C^*\)-algebra of \(\pi_1(X)\) (see Section 3). This was achieved in Theorem 3.1, which bridges the gap between the conjectures. As a corollary, one obtain a refinement of the conclusion of Conjecture 1.1 as a strict inequality (see Proposition 5.5). Secondly, the author studied the notion of iso-enlargeability due to Gromov: it gave some generalization to iso-enlargeability, closely related to the degree for smooth maps (see (4.1)), and related it to the notion of infinite KO-width. This was summarized by an obstruction to the existence of metrics of positive scalar curvature (see Theorem 6.1). At the end of this paper, in Section 7, the author listed some open problems related to the study.