Total curvatures of model surfaces control topology of complete open manifolds with radial curvature bounded below. III (Q763982)

Recall that a von Mangoldt surface of revolution is a complete surface of revolution \(\widetilde M \) homeomorphic to \(\mathbb R^2\) with non-increasing Gaussian curvature along each meridian and that the Busemann function on a complete non-compact connected Riemannian manifold \(M\) is a function of a ray \(\gamma\) in \(M\) given by \(F_\gamma(x) = \lim_{t\to\infty}\{t-d(x, \gamma(t))\}\), and a function \(\varphi: M\to \mathbb R\) is called an exhaustion, if \(\varphi^{-1}(-\infty, a]\) is compact for all \(a\in \mathbb R\). In the paper [Math. Ann. 351, No. 2, 251--266 (2011; Zbl 1243.53072)], the authors showed that all Busemann functions on a complete non-compact connected Riemannian manifold \(M\) which is not less curved than a von Mangoldt surface of revolution \(\widetilde{M}\) are exhaustions, if the total curvature of \(\widetilde{M}\) is greater than \(\pi\) and the purpose of the paper under review is to generalize this theorem to a manifold M which is not less curved than a certain more general surface of revolution.