On compact Riemannian manifolds admitting a certain function (Q760028)

Let M be a complete Riemannian manifold. The existence of a function satisfying certain differential equations often relates to the geometry of M. For example, if M admits a non-trivial solution f of the equations \(\nabla df+kfg=0\) for some positive constant k (where g is the metric), then Ishihara and Tashiro showed M is isometric to a Euclidean sphere. This paper studies the problem of to what extent it is possible to perturb this equality and still restrict the topology of M. They study the inequality \(| \nabla df+fg| <\epsilon\) (where ''\(| ''\) denotes the sup norm of the 2-tensor involved) and show that certain hypotheses upon \(\epsilon\) and f imply the conclusion that M is homeomorphic to a sphere.