Nonnegative scalar curvature and area decreasing maps on complete foliated manifolds

Abstract

Abstract Let ( M , g T ⁢ M ) {(M,g^{TM})} be a noncompact complete Riemannian manifold of dimension n, and let F ⊆ T ⁢ M {F\subseteq TM} be an integrable subbundle of TM. Let g F = g T ⁢ M | F {g^{F}=g^{TM}|_{F}} be the restricted metric on F and let k F {k^{F}} be the associated leafwise scalar curvature. Let f : M → S n ⁢ ( 1 ) {f:M\to S^{n}(1)} be a smooth area decreasing map along F, which is locally constant near infinity and of non-zero degree. We show that if k F > rk ⁢ ( F ) ⁢ ( rk ⁢ ( F ) - 1 ) {k^{F}>{\rm rk}(F)({\rm rk}(F)-1)} on the support of d ⁢ f {{\rm d}f} , and either TM or F is spin, then inf ⁡ ( k F ) < 0 {\inf(k^{F})<0} . As a consequence, we prove Gromov’s sharp foliated ⊗ ε {\otimes_{\varepsilon}} -twisting conjecture. Using the same method, we also extend two famous non-existence results due to Gromov and Lawson about Λ 2 {\Lambda^{2}} -enlargeable metrics (and/or manifolds) to the foliated case.