Skip to main content
Made it clearer where edit starts
Source Link

One has to be careful with perturbations of metrics of nonnegative curvature, because that may introduce negative curvature.

Here's another approach which gives you a nonnegatively curved metric.

Start with $S^3\times S^2$ with the product of round metrics. (Note that the round metric on S^3 is its biinvariant metric).

Consider the $S^1$ action on $S^3 \times S^2$ where it acts as the Hopf action on $S^3$ and simultaneously rotates the $S^2$ factor $2k$ times around for some integer $k$.

To make it explicit, thinking of $S^2$ as the unit sphere in the imaginary quaternions, the action can be described as $z*(p,q) = (zp, z^k q \overline{z}^k)$.

The action is clearly free and the quotient is diffeomorphic to $S^2 \times S^2$. Since the circle is acting isometrically, there is an induced submersion metric on $S^2\times S^2$. By the O'Neill formulas for a submersion, this metric has nonnegative curvature. When k = 0, one gets the usual product of round metrics, but when $k\neq 0$ the metric is, in general, not a product.

Edit I'm now no longer certain that for $k\neq 0$, the metric is not a product. I am confident that for $k\neq 0$, the metric is not a product of round metrics, but I don't see any reason they can't be a product of two nonnegatively curved metrics.

However, here is an example (sorry for doubling the length of my post!): Let $G = S^3\times S^3$. Let $g_0$ denote a biinvariant metric on $G$. Writing $\mathfrak{g}$ for the Lie algebra of $G$, set $\mathfrak{p}$ to be the Lie algebra of the diagonal $S^3$ and choose $\mathfrak{q}$ to be $g_0$-orthogonal to $\mathfrak{p}$.

Fix a positive real number $t$ and define a new inner product $g_1 = g_0|_{\mathfrak{q}} + \frac{t}{t+1}g_0|_{\mathfrak{p}}$ and left translate it around $G$ to give a left invariant, right $\Delta S^3$ invariant metric. Such a metric is called a Cheeger deformation of $g_0$ and it is known that $g_1$ has nonnegative sectional curvature.

Give $G\times G$ the product metric $g_0+g_1$ and consider the space $\Delta S^3 \backslash G\times G/ T^2$ where the $T^2$ acts on $G\times G$ as $(z,w)*(p,q,r,s) = (pz^{-1}, q, rw^{-1},sw^{-1})$.

(The map $G\times G\rightarrow G$ sending $(p,q,r,s)$ to $(r^{-1}p, s^{-1}q)$, or something like it if I've made a mistake, induces a diffeomorphism between $\Delta S^3\backslash G\times G/T^2$ and $G/T^2 = S^2\times S^2$, where the $G/T^2$ is referring to the action of $T^2$ on $G$ spelled out before the edit with k=1).

As above, there is an induced submersion metric of nonnegative sectional curvature by the O'Neill formulas. Finally, to prove that this is NOT a product metric, one observes that at generic points, there is a unique plane with 0 sectional curvature, while for a product metric, there should be infinitely many planes of 0 curvature.

The observation comes from

P.Müter, Krümmungserhöhende Deformationen mittels Gruppenaktionen, Ph.D. thesis, University of Münster, 1987.

One has to be careful with perturbations of metrics of nonnegative curvature, because that may introduce negative curvature.

Here's another approach which gives you a nonnegatively curved metric.

Start with $S^3\times S^2$ with the product of round metrics. (Note that the round metric on S^3 is its biinvariant metric).

Consider the $S^1$ action on $S^3 \times S^2$ where it acts as the Hopf action on $S^3$ and simultaneously rotates the $S^2$ factor $2k$ times around for some integer $k$.

To make it explicit, thinking of $S^2$ as the unit sphere in the imaginary quaternions, the action can be described as $z*(p,q) = (zp, z^k q \overline{z}^k)$.

The action is clearly free and the quotient is diffeomorphic to $S^2 \times S^2$. Since the circle is acting isometrically, there is an induced submersion metric on $S^2\times S^2$. By the O'Neill formulas for a submersion, this metric has nonnegative curvature. When k = 0, one gets the usual product of round metrics, but when $k\neq 0$ the metric is, in general, not a product.

One has to be careful with perturbations of metrics of nonnegative curvature, because that may introduce negative curvature.

Here's another approach which gives you a nonnegatively curved metric.

Start with $S^3\times S^2$ with the product of round metrics. (Note that the round metric on S^3 is its biinvariant metric).

Consider the $S^1$ action on $S^3 \times S^2$ where it acts as the Hopf action on $S^3$ and simultaneously rotates the $S^2$ factor $2k$ times around for some integer $k$.

To make it explicit, thinking of $S^2$ as the unit sphere in the imaginary quaternions, the action can be described as $z*(p,q) = (zp, z^k q \overline{z}^k)$.

The action is clearly free and the quotient is diffeomorphic to $S^2 \times S^2$. Since the circle is acting isometrically, there is an induced submersion metric on $S^2\times S^2$. By the O'Neill formulas for a submersion, this metric has nonnegative curvature. When k = 0, one gets the usual product of round metrics, but when $k\neq 0$ the metric is, in general, not a product.

Edit I'm now no longer certain that for $k\neq 0$, the metric is not a product. I am confident that for $k\neq 0$, the metric is not a product of round metrics, but I don't see any reason they can't be a product of two nonnegatively curved metrics.

However, here is an example (sorry for doubling the length of my post!): Let $G = S^3\times S^3$. Let $g_0$ denote a biinvariant metric on $G$. Writing $\mathfrak{g}$ for the Lie algebra of $G$, set $\mathfrak{p}$ to be the Lie algebra of the diagonal $S^3$ and choose $\mathfrak{q}$ to be $g_0$-orthogonal to $\mathfrak{p}$.

Fix a positive real number $t$ and define a new inner product $g_1 = g_0|_{\mathfrak{q}} + \frac{t}{t+1}g_0|_{\mathfrak{p}}$ and left translate it around $G$ to give a left invariant, right $\Delta S^3$ invariant metric. Such a metric is called a Cheeger deformation of $g_0$ and it is known that $g_1$ has nonnegative sectional curvature.

Give $G\times G$ the product metric $g_0+g_1$ and consider the space $\Delta S^3 \backslash G\times G/ T^2$ where the $T^2$ acts on $G\times G$ as $(z,w)*(p,q,r,s) = (pz^{-1}, q, rw^{-1},sw^{-1})$.

(The map $G\times G\rightarrow G$ sending $(p,q,r,s)$ to $(r^{-1}p, s^{-1}q)$, or something like it if I've made a mistake, induces a diffeomorphism between $\Delta S^3\backslash G\times G/T^2$ and $G/T^2 = S^2\times S^2$, where the $G/T^2$ is referring to the action of $T^2$ on $G$ spelled out before the edit with k=1).

As above, there is an induced submersion metric of nonnegative sectional curvature by the O'Neill formulas. Finally, to prove that this is NOT a product metric, one observes that at generic points, there is a unique plane with 0 sectional curvature, while for a product metric, there should be infinitely many planes of 0 curvature.

The observation comes from

P.Müter, Krümmungserhöhende Deformationen mittels Gruppenaktionen, Ph.D. thesis, University of Münster, 1987.

Source Link

One has to be careful with perturbations of metrics of nonnegative curvature, because that may introduce negative curvature.

Here's another approach which gives you a nonnegatively curved metric.

Start with $S^3\times S^2$ with the product of round metrics. (Note that the round metric on S^3 is its biinvariant metric).

Consider the $S^1$ action on $S^3 \times S^2$ where it acts as the Hopf action on $S^3$ and simultaneously rotates the $S^2$ factor $2k$ times around for some integer $k$.

To make it explicit, thinking of $S^2$ as the unit sphere in the imaginary quaternions, the action can be described as $z*(p,q) = (zp, z^k q \overline{z}^k)$.

The action is clearly free and the quotient is diffeomorphic to $S^2 \times S^2$. Since the circle is acting isometrically, there is an induced submersion metric on $S^2\times S^2$. By the O'Neill formulas for a submersion, this metric has nonnegative curvature. When k = 0, one gets the usual product of round metrics, but when $k\neq 0$ the metric is, in general, not a product.