A new proof of the theorem: Harmonic manifolds with minimal horospheres are flat

Abstract

In this note we reprove the known theorem: Harmonic manifolds with minimal horospheres are flat. It turns out that our proof is simpler and more direct than the original one. We also reprove the theorem: Ricci flat harmonic manifolds are flat, which is generally affirmed by appealing to Cheeger–Gromov splitting theorem. We also confirm that if a harmonic manifold M has same volume density function as ℝ n , then M is flat.