Infinite families of manifolds of positive \(k\)th-intermediate Ricci curvature with \(k\) small (Q6169584)

Recall that the Ricci curvature of a Riemannian \(n\)-manifold \((M^n,g)\) is said to be positive if for every point \(p \in M\) and every unit vector \(x \in T_p M\), \[ \mathrm{Ric}_g(x,x) = \sum_i g(R(x,e_i)e_i,x) = \sum_i K(x,e_i) > 0\] for any orthonormal \((n-1)\)-frame \(e_1,\dots,e_{n-1}\) perpendicular to \(x\) in \(T_p M\). The sectional curvature is positive if for every point \(p \in M\) and every unit vector \(x \in T_pM\), there holds \(g(R(x,y)y,x) = K(x,y) > 0\) for any unit vector \(y\) perpendicular to \(x\) in \(T_pM\). It is natural to consider the intermediate notion where at each point \(p \in M\) and for every unit vector \(x \in T_pM\) we have that \(\sum_i K(x,e_i) > 0\) for any orthonormal \(k\)-frame \(e_1,\dots,e_k\) perpendicular to \(x\) in \(T_pM\). In this case we say that \((M,g)\) has positive \(k\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature (or \(\mathrm{Ric}_k >0\) for short). This article deals with the existence of infinite families of such manifolds when \(k\) is small (note that when \(k=1\), one is considering manifolds of positive sectional curvature; infinite families are known to exist in dimensions 7 and 13). The authors establish that: (A) For \(n \geq 1\) there are infinitely many pairwise homotopically distinct closed simply-connected \((4n+3)\)-manifolds of positive \(k\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature for some \(k < (4n+3)/2\); (B) For \(n\geq1\) there are closed simply-connected \(4n\)-manifolds that admit positive \(k\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature for some \(k<2n\) that do not admit positive sectional curvature, and some closed simply-connected \((4n+1)\)-manifolds that admit positive \(k\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature for \(k<(4n+1)/2\) that do not admit positive sectional curvature. The authors prove (A) by showing that each generalized Aloff-Wallach space \(W^{4n+3} \equiv \mathrm{SU}(n+2)/\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{U}^{p,q} \times \mathrm{U}(n) \right)\) is a closed simply-connected \((4n+3)\)-manifold with positive \((2n-1)\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature if \(n \neq 2 \) and with positive fourth-intermediate Ricci curvature if \(n=2\). A routine calculation of cohomology rings shows that infinitely many homotopy types exist among the generalized Aloff-Wallach spaces in each of these dimensions. They prove (B) by showing that the Grassmannian of 2-planes \(\mathrm{Gr}_2(\mathbb{R}^{2n+2})\) in \(\mathbb{R}^{2n+2}\) is a non-simply connected orientable \(4n\)-manifold with positive \(2n\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature and that the projectivized tangent bundle of the real projective \((2n+1)\)-space \(P_\mathbb{R}\mathbb{R}P^{2n+1}\) is a non-orientable \((4n+1)\)-manifold with positive \(2n\)-th intermediate Ricci curvature. None of them can have positive sectional curvature by Synge's theorem.