Preserving positive intermediate curvature (Q6053035)

For an \(n\)-dimensional compact manifold \(N\) (with or without boundary) and the Riemannian metrics \(g, \tilde{g}\) on \((N , \partial N )\) with positive \(m\)-intermediate curvature and \(m\)-positive difference \(h_g - h_{\tilde{g}}\) of second fundamental forms, the authors prove that there exists a smooth family of Riemannian metrics with positive \(m\)-intermediate curvature interpolating between \(g\) and \(\tilde{g}\) (Theorem 1.2). As an interesting application, a non-existence result for partial torical bands with positive m-intermediate curvature and strictly \(m\)-convex boundaries is obtained (Theorem 1.5).