A spectral characterization of nilmanifolds (Q2709142)

The article is a summary of a talk at the seminar on spectral theory and geometry in Grenoble, France. It presents recent results by \textit{Colbois, Ghanaat} and \textit{Ruh} [see the link to references in the internet version of this paper and Curvature and Gradient Estimates for eigenforms of the Laplacian, Univ. Karlsruhe, preprint 99/17)]. See also the article by \textit{Aubry, Colbois, Ghanaat} and \textit{Ruh} [Curvature, Harnack's Inequality and a spectral characterization of Nilmanifolds, Univ. Karlsruhe, preprint 01/24].NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINELet \(M\) be a compact manifold. If the \(L^p\)-norm of the sectional curvature is sufficiently small, if the Ricci curvature is almost non-negative and if \(n\) eigenvalues of the Laplacian on \(1\)-forms are sufficiently small, then \(M\) is diffeomorphic to a nilmanifold, i.e. a compact quotient of a nilpotent Lie group by a cocompact discrete subgroup. The article puts the results in the context of other research. Proofs are not included in this summary.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0955.00015].