Moduli space of non-negative sectional or positive Ricci curvature metrics on sphere bundles over spheres and their quotients

Abstract

We show that the moduli space of positive Ricci curvature metrics on all the total spaces of S^7-bundles over S^8 which are rational homology spheres has infinitely many path components. Furthermore, we carry out the diffeomorphism classification of quotients of Milnor spheres by a certain involution and show that the moduli space of metrics of non-negative sectional curvature on them has infinitely many path components. Finally, a diffeomorphism finiteness result is obtained on quotients of Shimada spheres by the same type of involution and we show that for the types that can be expressed by an infinite family of manifolds, the moduli space of positive Ricci curvature metrics has infinitely many path components.