Zero entropy and bounded topology (Q2493383)

The authors prove that if the geodesic flow on a closed Riemannian manifold has zero topological entropy then there is a finite simply connected CW complex which maps into the manifold in such a way that the rank of the induced homomorphism of the pointed loop space homology grows exponentially. In particular, this implies that if such a manifold is a nilmanifold then the rational homotopy of the manifold is finite-dimensional. The authors state the conjecture which reads that if a closed manifold admits a metric with zero topological entropy then its universal covering is rationally homotopical to a finite elliptic CW complex. In the present paper they prove this for manifolds of dimension 4 and 5.