Rigidity results for complete manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature (Q6183887)

The author gives a proof of the following rigidity theorem: Theorem: For \(3 \leq n\leq 7\), let \((M^n,g)\) be an oriented complete open Riemannian manifold with nonnegative scalar curvature, which admits a smooth proper map \(f:M\rightarrow T^{n-1}\times \mathbf{R}\) with nonzero degree. Then \((M,g)\) is isomorphic to the Riemannian product of a flat \((n-1)\)-torus and the real line. The author also proves the optimal inequality \[ \inf_M R(g) \cdot \mathrm{sys}_2(M,g) \leq 8 \pi \] for complete open Riemannian manifolds of dimension \(3\leq n\leq 7\) with nonnegative scalar curvature and which satisfy additional conditions. Here \(R(g)\) is scalar curvature and \(\mathrm{sys}_2(M,g)\) is the spherical 2-systole of \((M,g)\). Equality holds when the universal cover of \((M,g)\) is isometric to the standard Riemannian product \(\mathbf{S}^2\times \mathbf{R}\) up to scaling.