Curvature-dimension condition of sub-Riemannian \(\alpha \)-Grushin half-spaces (Q6926311)

It is known that a sub-Riemannian manifold equipped with a positive smooth measure cannot satisfy the \(\mathsf{CD}\)-condition of Lott-Villani and Sturm, unless it is a Riemannian manifold. The situation completely changes if one considers a sub-Riemannian structure on a manifold with boundary, equipping it with a smooth measure that vanishes on the boundary. Indeed, it was recently observed [\textit{J. Pan} and \textit{G. Wei}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 32, No. 3, 676--685 (2022; Zbl 1496.53104)] that the \(\alpha\)-Grushin half-plane \((\overline{G}^+_{\alpha},\mathsf{d}_{G_{\alpha}},\mathfrak{m}_{\beta})\) verifies the \(\mathsf{CD}(K,N)\) condition (and even the \(\mathsf{RCD}(K,N)\) condition, being infinitesimally Hilbertian) for appropriate \(K\) and \(N\) depending on a suitable choice of parameters \(0\le\alpha\le\beta\). Here \(\overline{G}^+_{\alpha}\) is the half-plane \(\{x\ge 0\}\) considered with the metric tensor\N\[\Ng_{G_{\alpha}}=\mathsf{d}x\otimes\mathsf{d}x+\frac{1}{|x|^{2\alpha}}\mathsf{d}y\otimes\mathsf{d}y\N\]\Ninduced by the vector fields \(X=\partial_x\) and \(Y=|x|^{\alpha}\partial_y\), \(\mathsf{d}_{G_{\alpha}}\) is the distance associated to the metric \(g_{G_{\alpha}}\), and \(\mathfrak{m}_{\beta}\) is the measure \(\mathfrak{m}_{\beta}:=|x|^{\beta-\alpha}\mathsf{d}x\mathsf{d}y\) that vanishes on the singular set \(\{x=0\}.\) \smallskip\N\NThe authors define and study similar weighted sub-Riemannian structures on the 2-dimensional \(\alpha\)-Grushin hemisphere \((\overline{\mathbb{S}}^+_{\alpha},\mathsf{d}_{\mathbb{S}_{\alpha}},\mathfrak{m}^{\beta}_{\mathbb{S}_{\alpha}})\) and on the \(\alpha\)-Grushin hyperbolic half-plane \((\overline{\mathbb{H}}^+_{\alpha},\mathsf{d}_{\mathbb{H}_{\alpha}},\mathfrak{m}^{\beta}_{\mathbb{H}_{\alpha}})\). In the main results of the article, they show that these spaces satisfy the \(\mathsf{RCD}(K,N)\) condition for suitable \(K\) and \(N\) depending on \(\alpha,\beta\). The quantity \(K\), corresponding to a synthetic lower bound on the Ricci curvature, can be chosen to be positive for the hemisphere, while it must be negative for \(\overline{\mathbb{H}}^+_{\alpha}\).\N\NAnother generalization of the \(\alpha\)-Grushin plane is also considered, namely the so-called \(\infty\)-Grushin plane which is a new model of Grushin plane with infinite Hausdorff dimension. In this last setting, the authors prove that the \(\infty\)-Grushin half-space, equipped with an appropriate distance and measure, satisfies the \(\mathsf{RCD}(0,\infty)\) condition while there are no \(N\in (2,+\infty)\) and \(K\in \mathbb{R}\) such that the \(\mathsf{RCD}(K,N)\) condition holds. This is in accordance with the role of \(N\), which corresponds to a synthetic upper bound on the dimension of the space.