Riemannian manifold referred to warped product models (Q2479944)

Consider a pair \((M,S^{m-1})\) where \(M\) is a compact \(m\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold and where \(S^{m-1}\) is the standard unit sphere of dimension \(m-1\) which is isometrically embedded in \(M\) as a totally geodesic submanifold. Assume the oriented distance function \(\rho_S:M\rightarrow\mathbb R\) is well defined and that the radial curvature at every point \(P\in M\) is bounded below by \(K(\rho_S(P))\). The author gives inequalities which ensure in this situation that \(M\) is homeomorphic to the \(m\)-sphere; the conditions are optimal in the sense that if one is violated, there are counter examples.