Bounds on Sectional Curvature and Interactions with Topology

Abstract

In this survey article we exemplarily illustrate implications of curvature assumptions on the topology of the underlying manifold. We shall mainly focus on sectional curvature and three different kinds of restrictions, namely on non-negative respectively on positive sectional curvature, as well as on two-sided curvature bounds.We shall see that there are various implications on the side of topology, namely, for example, geometry having an impact on elementary invariants like the Euler characteristic or Betti numbers as well as on concepts from rational homotopy theory or index theory, and that there are connections to K-theory.On our way of making these connections we shall draw on certain simplifications and tools like group actions or metrics with additional properties like geometric formality.