Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Our goal is to identify curvature conditions that distinguish Euclidean space in the case of open, contractible manifolds and the disk in the case of compact, contractible manifolds with boundary. First, we show that an open manifold that is the interior of a sufficiently connected, compact, contractible 5-manifold with boundary and supports a complete Riemannian metric with uniformly positive scalar curvature is diffeomorphic to Euclidean 5-space. Next, we investigate the analogous question for compact manifolds with boundary: Must a compact, contractible manifold that supports a Riemannian metric with positive scalar curvature and mean convex boundary necessarily be the disk? We present examples demonstrating that this curvature condition alone cannot distinguish the disk; on the other hand, we exhibit stronger curvature conditions that allow us to draw such a conclusion.
Source: Mathematische Annalen
Author: Paul Sweeney
Institution: Michigan State University
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Mathematics
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: G2436294553, G434337789
OpenAlex ID: W7130418367