Kähler parabolicity and the Euler number of compact manifolds of non-positive sectional curvature (Q5947403)

A problem attributed to Hopf is to know whether for a compact Riemannian manifold \(M^{2n}\) of negative sectional curvature, the Euler number satisfies the inequality \((-1)^{n}\chi(M^{2n})>0\). A result of \textit{M. Gromov} [J. Differ. Geom. 33, 263-292 (1991; Zbl 0719.53042)] states that this is true with the additional assumption that \(M^{2n}\) is homotopically equivalent to a compact Kähler manifold. The main result of this paper is: if \(M^{2n}\) is a compact Riemannian manifold of non-positive sectional curvature, homeomorphic to a compact Kähler manifold, then \((-1)^{n}\chi(M^{2n})\geq 0\).