Comparison theorems in Finsler geometry and their applications

Abstract

We prove Hessian comparison theorems, Laplacian comparison theorems and volume comparison theorems for Finsler manifolds under various curvature conditions. As applications, we derive McKean type theorems for the first eigenvalue of Finsler manifolds, as well as generalize to Finsler manifolds a result on fundamental groups due to Milnor.