Related papers: The Geometry of Loop Spaces IV: Closed Sasakian Ma…

We study noncompact, complete, finite volume, Riemannian 4-manifolds $M$ with sectional curvature $-1<K<0$. We prove that $\pi_1 M$ cannot be a 3-manifold group. A classical theorem of Gromov says that $M$ is homeomorphic to the interior of…

We use differential forms on loop spaces to prove that the fundamental group of certain geometric transformation groups is infinite. Examples include both finite and infinite dimensional Lie groups. The finite dimensional examples are the…

For a simply-connected closed manifold $X$ of $\dim X \neq 4$, the mapping class group $\pi_0(\mathrm{Diff}(X))$ is known to be finitely generated. We prove that analogous finite generation fails in dimension 4. Namely, we show that there…

We classify all closed, aspherical Riemannian manifolds M whose universal cover has indiscrete isometry group. One sample application is the theorem that any such M with word-hyperbolic fundamental group must be isometric to a negatively…

Using the Sasakian join construction with homology 3-spheres, we give a countably infinite number of examples of Sasakian manifolds with perfect fundamental group in all odd dimensions greater than 1. These have extremal Sasaki metrics with…

In this paper, we prove that any closed orientable 3-manifold $M$ other than $\#^k S^1\times S^2$ and $S^3$ satisfies the following properties: (1) For any compact orientable 4-manifold $N$ bounded by $M$, the inclusion does not induce an…

We study transnormal and isoparametric functions on closed Riemannian 4-manifolds and establish fundamental restrictions on their topology and geometry. In particular, we show that such manifolds cannot be endowed with negatively curved…

In each dimension $4k+1\geq 9$, we exhibit infinite families of closed manifolds with fundamental group $\mathbb Z_2$ for which the moduli space of metrics of nonnegative sectional curvature has infinitely many path components. Examples of…

Let $M_p$ be a circle bundle with first Chern class $p[\omega]$ over a closed $4n$-dimensional integral symplectic manifold $(\overline{M}, \omega)$. Equivalently, $M_p$ is a closed contact $(4n+1)$-manifold whose Reeb orbits are all closed…

We study the size of the isometry group Isom(M, g) of Riemannian manifolds (M, g) as g varies. For M not admitting a circle action, we show that the order of Isom(M, g) can be universally bounded in terms of the bounds on Ricci curvature,…

We prove that every finitely generated group with recursive aspherical presentation embeds into a group with finite aspherical presentation. This and several known facts about groups and manifolds imply that there exists a 4-dimensional…

We construct closed $(k-1)$-connected manifolds of dimensions $\ge 4k-1$ that possess non-trivial rational Massey triple products. We also construct examples of manifolds $M$ such that all the cup-products of elements of $H^k(M)$ vanish,…

We prove that for any closed Lorentz $4$-manifold $(M,g)$ the isometry group $Isom(M,g)$ is Jordan. Namely, there exists a constant $C$ (depending on $M$ and $g$) such that any finite subgroup $\Gamma\leq Isom(M,g)$ has an abelian subgroup…

We prove the following result: Let $(M,g_0)$ be a complete noncompact manifold of dimension $n\geq 12$ with isotropic curvature bounded below by a positive constant, with scalar curvature bounded above, and with injectivity radius bounded…

Using $S^1$-equivariant symplectic homology, in particular its mean Euler characteristic, of the natural filling of links of Brieskorn-Pham polynomials, we prove the existence of infinitely many inequivalent contact structures on various…

For each nonnegative integer m we show that any closed, oriented topological four-manifold with fundamental group Z_{4m+2} and odd intersection form, with possibly seven exceptions, either admits no smooth structure or admits infinitely…

An analogue of the Hofer metric $\varrho_H$ on the Hamiltonian group $Ham(M,\Lambda)$ of a Poisson manifold $(M,\Lambda)$ can be defined but there is the problem of its non-degeneracy. First we observe that $\varrho_H$ is a genuine metric…

Let $M$ be a 4-dimensional open manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. In this paper, we prove that if the universal cover of $M$ has Euclidean volume growth, then the fundamental group $\pi_1(M)$ is finitely generated. This result…

We construct examples of smooth 4-dimensional manifolds M supporting a locally CAT(0)-metric, whose universal cover X satisfy Hruska's isolated flats condition, and contain 2-dimensional flats F with the property that the boundary at…

We classify those manifolds mentioned in the title which have finite topological type. Namely we show any such connected M is isomorphic to a hyperkaehler quotient of a flat quaternionic vector space by an abelian group. We also show that a…