Paper · Oct 30, 2025

Singular sets in noncollapsed Ricci flow limit spaces

Hanbing Fang, Yu Li

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Abstract

In this paper, we study the singular set of a noncollapsed Ricci flow limit space, arising as the pointed Gromov–Hausdorff limit of a sequence of closed Ricci flows with uniformly bounded entropy. The singular set admits a natural stratification: \beginequation* \mathcal S^0 \subset \mathcal S^1 \subset \cdots \subset \mathcal S^n-2=\mathcal S, \endequation* where a point if and only if no tangent flow at is -symmetric. In general, the Hausdorff dimension of with respect to the spacetime distance is at most . We show that the subset , consisting of points where some tangent flow is given by a standard cylinder or its quotient, is parabolic -rectifiable. In dimension four, we prove the stronger statement that each stratum is parabolic -rectifiable for . Furthermore, we establish a sharp uniform -volume bound for and show that, up to a set of -measure zero, the tangent flow at any point in is backward unique. In addition, we derive -curvature bounds for four-dimensional closed Ricci flows. As an application, we resolve Perelman's bounded diameter conjecture for three-dimensional closed Ricci flows.

Comments: Revised version. The spacetime distance has been updated in accordance with arXiv:2510.12398v3, and several typos have been corrected. All main results remain unchanged

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The 8 papers on this site closest to this one, judged by the topics they share, the words and phrases in their titles and abstracts, and their authors. They are not its citations, but a map of the work around it. Papers here go back to 2021, plus the canon.

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    Topics 4-manifolds, (Non)collapsing, Limit spaces & RCD · Same author Yu Li · Shared terms “noncollapsed”, “singular set”, “Hausdorff limit”

  5. Strong uniqueness of tangent flows at cylindrical singularities in Ricci flow

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  6. Strong uniqueness and rectifiability of generalized cylindrical singularities in Ricci flow

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  7. Structure theory of non-collapsed limits of Ricci flows

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Background reading

The guides for the topics of this paper: what each idea is, why it matters, and the papers to read first.

In the guidebook

  1. 9B.3
    Collapsing and NoncollapsingBook 9B · Comparison, Convergence and Heat on Manifolds

    Injectivity radius bounds from volume, collapsing examples, and the definition Perelman needs.

  2. 12A.4
    κ-NoncollapsingBook 12A · Entropy and Noncollapsing

    The theorem that excludes the cigar.

  3. 12A.8
    Local Noncollapsing from the Reduced VolumeBook 12A · Entropy and Noncollapsing

    Perelman's §§7.3 and 8: noncollapsing that needs only local curvature control, the small-and-large-vector split, the maximum principle for the reduced distance, and the form that survives surgery.