Curvature of the second kind and a conjecture of Nishikawa (Q6041355)

The authors consider various conditions on curvature tensors of compact Riemannian manifolds related to Nishikawa's curvature of the second kind \[ \hat{R}(e_i\otimes e_j+e_j\otimes e_i) := R_{ik{\ell}j}(e_k\otimes e_{\ell}+e_{\ell}\otimes e_k). \] The main theorem is: Theorem. If the sum of the two smallest eigenvalues of \(\hat{R}\) is positive, then the manifold is diffeomorphic to a spherical space form. The authors also classify Einstein \(4\)-manifolds for which the sum of the five smallest eigenvalues of \(\hat{R}\) is positive. They relate these conditions to the condition found by \textit{S. Brendle} [Duke Math. J. 151, No. 1, 1--21 (2010; Zbl 1189.53042)] and to the analytical work of \textit{S. Brendle} and \textit{R. Schoen} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 22, No. 1, 287--307 (2009; Zbl 1251.53021)] on Ricci flows.