Lichnerowicz-Obata estimate, almost parallel \(p\)-form and almost product manifolds (Q2238539)

As the title suggests, the present technical, though detailed paper is concerned with a result along the lines of the Lichnerowicz-Obata theorem, which gives a lower bound on the first eigenvalue \(\lambda_1\) of the negative Laplacian on a positively Ricci-curved Riemannian manifold. The bound is optimal if and only if the manifold is isometric to the round sphere. Moreover, \textit{E. Aubry} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 38, No. 3, 387--405 (2005; Zbl 1085.53024)], \textit{S. Honda} [Tohoku Math. J. (2) 61, No. 4, 499--522 (2009; Zbl 1198.53043)] and \textit{P. Petersen} [Invent. Math. 138, No. 1, 1--21 (1999; Zbl 0988.53011)] showed that a pinching condition on \(\lambda_n\) can be used to control the Gromov-Hausdorff distance to this sphere. Theorem 1 in the paper proves an \(L^2\)-generalization in the spirit of \textit{J.-F. Grosjean} [Manuscr. Math. 107, No. 4, 503--520 (2002; Zbl 1017.58004)], who gave a \(\lambda_1\) estimate on a positively Ricci-curved Riemannian manifold in the presence of a non-trivial parallel \(p\)-form. As for Lichnerowicz-Obata, in Grosjean's result the bound is optimal if and only if the manifold is isometric to a product involving the round \((n-p)\)-sphere. Theorems 2 and 4 then show how a pinching condition (on \(\lambda_{n-p+1}\) or \(\lambda_{n-p}\) among other things) controls the Gromov-Hausdorff distance to this product. This paper delivers significant technical ingredients for later work of the author in [SIGMA, Symmetry Integrability Geom. Methods Appl. 17, Paper 017, 29 p. (2021; Zbl 1467.53036)].