Nonnegatively curved manifolds with finite fundamental groups admit metrics with positive Ricci curvature (Q2458422)

The reviewed paper is connected with the problem whether a complete Riemannian metric of nonnegative sectional curvature can be deformed to a metric of positive Ricci curvature. The authors prove the following theorem: Let \((M^n,g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold with finite fundamental group and nonnegative sectional curvature. Then, \(M^n\) admits a metric with positive Ricci curvature. To prove this theorem the authors deform the given nonnegatively curved metric by a family of Riemannian metrics \(g_t\) satisfying Hamilton's evolution equation \(\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\,g_t=-2\text{ Ric}(g_t)\). They consider a time dependent family of curvature conditions which, by an extended version of Hamilton's maximum principle, are preserved by the Ricci flow.