Dimensional reduction and the long-time behavior of Ricci flow (Q983899)

It is an open question whether the Ricci flow directly performs the geometric decomposition of a 3-manifold, as time evolves. In particular, it is known that if the geometric decomposition of this manifold consists of a single geometric piece which has Thurston type \(S^3\) or \(S^1 \times S^2\) then its Ricci flow has a finite extinction time. For the other Thurston types, one can ask whether the large-time behavior of the Ricci flow solution is that of a locally homogeneous Ricci flow. The author is interested in whether one can show asymptotic homogeneity for a wider class of Ricci flow solutions. It is proved that if \(g(t)\) is a 3-dimensional Ricci flow solution, with sectional curvatures that are \(O(t^{-1})\) and diameter that is \(O(t^{1/2})\), then the pullback Ricci flow solution on the universal cover approaches a homogeneous expanding soliton.