Connectedness properties of the space of complete nonnegatively curved planes

DOI10.1007/S00208-014-1159-7MaRDI QIDQ2516892zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Igor Belegradek, Jing Hu

Publication date 4 August 2015

Published in Mathematische Annalen (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1307.3167

zbMATH Keywords

complete metric on \(\mathbb R^2\) of nonnegative sectional curvatureinfinite dimensional topologymanifolds of metricsspace of complete nonnegatively curved metricssubharmonic functions

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Harmonic, subharmonic, superharmonic functions in two dimensions (31A05) Methods of global Riemannian geometry, including PDE methods; curvature restrictions (53C21) Topology of infinite-dimensional manifolds (57N20) Manifolds of metrics (especially Riemannian) (58D17)

Abstract: We study the space of complete Riemannian metrics of nonnegative curvature on the plane equipped with the C^k topology. If k is infinite, we show that the space is homeomorphic to the separable Hilbert space. For any k we prove that the space cannot be made disconnected by removing a finite dimensional subset. A similar result holds for the associated moduli space. The proof combines properties of subharmonic functions with results of infinite dimensional topology and dimension theory. A key step is a characterization of the conformal factors that make the standard Euclidean metric on the plane into a complete metric of nonnegative sectional curvature.

Review text

In this paper, the authors study connectedness properties of the set \(\mathcal{R}_{\geq 0}^k(\mathbb{R}^2)\) of complete nonnegatively curved metrics on \(\mathbb{R}^2\) equipped with the \(C^k\) topology. The main problem of this paper is: when can two metrics be deformed to each other through complete nonnegatively curved metrics outside a given subset, and how large is the space of such deformations. It is well-known that any complete nonnegatively curved metric on \(\mathbb{R}^2\) is conformally equivalent to the standard Euclidean metric \(g_0\), i.e., isometric to \(e^{-2u}g_0\) for some smooth function \(u\). The metric \(e^{-2u}g_0\) has nonnegative curvature if and only if \(u\) is subharmonic. Characterizing subharmonic functions that correspond to complete metrics is not straightforward, and doing so is the main objective of this paper. If \(k\) is infinite, the authors prove that the space \(\mathcal{R}_{\geq 0}^k(\mathbb{R}^2)\) is homeomorphic to the separable Hilbert space. A similar result holds for the associated moduli space. The proof combines properties of subharmonic functions with results of infinite dimensional topology and dimension theory. A key step is a characterization of the conformal factors that make the standard Euclidean metric on the plane into a complete metric of nonnegative sectional curvature.

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Cited in

(13)

• Spaces of nonnegatively curved surfaces
• The classification of flat Riemannian metrics on the plane
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• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1263445 (Why is no real title available?)
• Nonconnected moduli spaces of nonnegative sectional curvature metrics on simply connected manifolds
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6741180 (Why is no real title available?)
• Connectedness of Poisson cylinders in Euclidean space
• Relative eta invariant and uniformly positive scalar curvature on non-compact manifolds

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