4-manifolds

We introduce a geometric structure – a conformal Killing–Yano Ricci soliton (CKY–RS) – that couples conformal Ricci soliton (CRS) geometry to conformal Killing–Yano (CKY) 2–forms. The soliton field of the CRS geometry is given by the divergence of the CKY 2–form. We introduce a conserved CKY–Cotton current and derive a compatibility identity relating the Cotton tensor, the CRS obstruction tensor, and the CKY 2–form. In 4–dimensional Lorentzian signature, we show that, under non-degeneracy and closedness assumptions on the CKY form, a CKY–RS structure forces the conformal representative to be locally Kerr–NUT–(A)dS. For a closed non-degenerate CKY on a Kerr–NUT–(A)dS background, the conformal deformation is necessarily trivial. For Einstein backgrounds of arbitrary dimension and signature, the conformal factor satisfies an eigenvalue equation and an Obata–type Hessian equation. If the background is also compact or a CKY orbit is periodic, the conformal factor is an invariant of the CKY–flow and we obtain simple spectral obstructions to non-trivial CKY–RS structures. From the Hessian equation, we obtain obstruction and classification results for the non-trivial conformal sector, including product/Brinkmann geometries and a Weyl–aligned branch. Finally, we give explicit constructions for static spherically symmetric geometries and BTZ backgrounds, including a CKY–RS realization with a time-dependent conformally flat representative. These results provide a geometric framework for studying CRS with hidden symmetry structure, with potential applications to exact geometries in general relativity.

In this paper, we prove that any complete, compact or noncompact, almost-Kähler gradient shrinking Ricci soliton is Kähler in arbitrary even dimension. Among other applications, combining our result with the classification of complete gradient shrinking Kähler-Ricci solitons in complex dimension two, we obtain a full classification of complete almost-Kähler gradient shrinking Ricci solitons in real dimension four.

We prove that every compact four-dimensional weakly Einstein Ricci soliton is Einstein. The nontrivial compact case reduces to the gradient shrinking setting, where a differential identity for weakly Einstein four-manifolds, together with the curvature identity for gradient Ricci solitons, yields the pointwise relation $|R{|}^2\nabla f=0$ for the soliton potential $f$. Consequently, no compact proper weakly Einstein four-manifold admits a Ricci soliton structure. A noncompact homogeneous example shows that the compactness assumption is essential.

We study Ricci solitons on the Riemannian manifold ${\mathbb{H}}^2\times \mathbb{R}$ equipped with the standard metric. A complete classification of soliton vector fields is obtained: they form a four-dimensional affine space, namely a translate of the Killing algebra $\mathfrak{isom}({\mathbb{H}}^2\times \mathbb{R})$. All corresponding solitons are expanding. In addition, gradient solitons are fully characterized and shown to form a one-parameter subfamily of the complete family of soliton fields. As a byproduct, every soliton vector field turns out to be affine, preserving the Levi-Civita connection, the curvature tensor, and the Ricci tensor.

We prove that the Feldman–Ilmanen–Knopf (FIK) blowdown singularity has a nonempty open nonlinear formation basin in the full space of smooth Riemannian metrics and, on a smaller neighborhood, local marked first-order asymptotic moduli. Given a closed connected oriented Riemannian four-manifold, an implantation point, and a positive time bound, its oriented blow-up admits a relatively $C^{2,\alpha }$-open set of smooth metrics whose Ricci flows form, before that time, a localized FIK singularity with global Type-I curvature control. No symmetry, Kähler condition, or finite-dimensional tuning is imposed. Curvature stays uniformly bounded outside the implantation region; fixed-convention marked rescalings converge along the full singular-time sequence to the ancient FIK flow; and the exceptional sphere has sharp FIK asymptotics for area, intrinsic diameter, and curvature. To our knowledge, this is the first open full-metric formation theorem for a finite-time singularity modeled on a noncompact, noncylindrical shrinker. A self-contained spectral certification identifies the weighted FIK operator's nine-dimensional nonnegative space with the scaling and diffeomorphism directions, and exact modulation removes this block. On a smaller little-Hölder $h^{2,\alpha }$ neighborhood, a fixed positive-time restart yields the marked first-profile coordinate ${\mathfrak{A}}_1={\lambda }_{\infty }^{-{\gamma }_1}{V}_{\infty }\in E_1$. This amplitude is a split $C^1$ submersion and locally the projection onto $E_1$. Equality of amplitudes characterizes marked first-order agreement; a transverse disk uniquely realizes each sufficiently small amplitude; normalized two-flow differences converge to the corresponding Jacobi field; and the amplitude determines the first quadratic scale and phase response. This gives a complete local marked first-order profile coordinate for FIK blowdown.

In this paper, we compute the canonical and Kobayashi-Nomizu connections, together with their curvature, on Lorentzian four-dimensional nilpotent Lie groups endowed with a product structure. We also classify the algebraic Ricci solitons associated with these connections.

We study the metric geometry of finite-time singularities of volume-noncollapsed Kähler-Ricci flows and the geometry at infinity of Ricci shrinkers. For a compact volume-noncollapsed Kähler-Ricci flow approaching its first singular time, we prove that the time slices converge to a unique Gromov-Hausdorff limit, canonically identified with the time-zero slice of the Ricci-flow spacetime completion. Its regular part is identified with the complement of the null locus, and we show that the singular set has Hausdorff codimension at least four. For Kähler-Ricci shrinkers, we relate the geometry at infinity to the associated Fano fibration. We prove local smooth convergence to a Kähler cone metric on the locus where the fibration is biholomorphic, and characterize asymptotic conicality by biholomorphicity outside a compact set. For Ricci shrinkers with bounded scalar curvature, we show that local compactness of the time-zero slice implies pointed Gromov-Hausdorff convergence of the full self-similar flow to that slice. As applications, we prove uniqueness of the tangent space at infinity for Kähler-Ricci shrinkers with bounded scalar curvature and Euclidean volume growth whose soliton vector field generates an $S^1$-action, and for all four-dimensional Ricci shrinkers with bounded scalar curvature.

In this paper, we study 4-dimensional complete noncompact manifolds (M,g) satisfying Rm(g) $\in {\mathfrak{C}}_{\eta ,\mu }$ via Ricci flow. Under the additional assumption of maximal volume growth, we prove topological and geometric gap theorems. We also study 4-dimensional complete manifolds satisfying a lower bound with respect to ${\mathfrak{C}}_{\eta ,\mu }$ and obtain regularity results for Gromov-Hausdorff limits of complete volume non-collapsed manifolds satisfying such curvature lower bounds.

Let $(M^4,g,f)$ be a four-dimensional complete noncompact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton with the equation $Ric+{\nabla }^{2}f=\frac{1}{2}g$. If its scalar curvature is $1$, Cheng-Zhou proved that it is a finite quotient of ${\mathbb{R}}^2\times {\mathbb{S}}^2$. In this note we present an alternative proof by analyzing the asymptotic geometry at infinity.

Let $(M^n,g,f)$ be an $n$-dimensional complete noncompact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton with the equation $Ric+{\nabla }^{2}f=\frac{1}{2}g$. 1. If its scalar curvature is $\frac{k}{2}$, Ricci curvature is nonnegative and sectional curvature has upper bound $\frac{1}{2(k-1)}$, we prove that the Ricci shrinker is isometric to a finite quotient of ${\mathbb{R}}^{n-k}\times {\mathbb{S}}^k$. 2. If $M$ has constant scalar curvature $R=\frac{n-2}{2}$, and each level set of $f$ has vanishing Weyl curvature, we prove that it is a finite quotient of ${\mathbb{R}}^2\times {\mathbb{S}}^{n-2}$. This can be seen a generalization of Cheng-Zhou's four dimensional result to high dimension, since the level set of the potential function $f$ has vanishing Weyl curvature automatically when $n=4$.

We study compact $m$-quasi-Einstein manifolds and derive geometric estimates relating the oscillation of the potential function to the diameter of the manifold. We obtain lower bounds for the diameter in terms of the oscillation of the potential function. As an application in dimension four, we derive diameter conditions ensuring that compact $m$-quasi-Einstein manifolds satisfy the Hitchin–Thorpe inequality. Our results extend diameter estimates in smooth metric measure spaces and are consistent with known bounds in the limiting case corresponding to Ricci solitons. Finally, we provide a volume estimate involving the oscillation.

In this note, we study the classification of four-dimensional complete gradient steady and expanding Ricci solitons. Specifically, under the asymptotically cylindrical (respectively, asymptotically conical) assumption, we classify gradient steady (respectively, expanding) Ricci solitons with half-harmonic Weyl curvature. In addition, we obtain a partial classification of four-dimensional gradient expanding Ricci solitons with half-nonnegative isotropic curvature.

In this paper we study the behavior of the scalar curvature at infinity on complete noncompact steady gradient Ricci solitons. In dimension four, we assume that the canonical Ricci flow induced by the soliton is a weak $\kappa$-solution and that the soliton is not isometric to the Bryant soliton. In this setting, we identify the two edges of the soliton and prove that the scalar curvature decays at a linear rate away from these edges. Moreover, if the scalar curvature vanishes at infinity, then a stronger inequality holds and the asymptotic cone is a ray. In particular, our results apply to the four-dimensional steady solitons constructed by Lai.

In a recent preprint [arXiv:2601.14134v1], Rubin argues that the arrow of time originates from the monotonic growth of the volume of extra dimensions. While the identification of a geometric origin for time's arrow is compelling in the case of brane-world models, we point out a possible tension between the proposed volume growth and the observational stability of the effective four-dimensional Newton's gravitational constant, G, that may arise in Kaluza-Klein (KK) theory. In standard KK approaches, such volume growth induces a time-variation of G that exceeds Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) bounds by many orders of magnitude. To resolve this tension while preserving the author's key insight in the Kaluza-Klein case, we propose an extension: the "shape-dynamic arrow of time". By utilizing the scale-invariant monotonicity of Perelman's nu-entropy under normalized Ricci flow, we demonstrate how an arrow of time can emerge from the geometric smoothing of extra dimensions at fixed volume, thereby satisfying observational constraints on fundamental constants.

We describe four-dimensional Lorentzian algebraic Ricci solitons. In sharp contrast with the Riemannian situation, any connected and simply connected four-dimensional Lie group admits a left-invariant Lorentz metric which is a Ricci soliton.

We investigate the conditions under which pseudo-Riemannian inner products induce pseudo-Riemannian algebraic Ricci solitons on four-dimensional Lie algebras. By analyzing the algebraic Ricci soliton equation for each four-dimensional Lie algebra, we obtain a complete description of when such pseudo-Riemannian algebraic Ricci solitons arise in dimension four. We present two applications of our formalism on a chosen four-dimensional Lie algebra by exhibiting a pseudo-Riemannian algebraic Ricci soliton and a flat pseudo-Riemannian inner product, which is a trivial algebraic Ricci soliton.

In the framework of the study of homogeneous Lorentzian three-manifolds, we consider here the only class of examples which admit a four-dimensional group of isometries but are neither Lorentzian Bianchi-Cartan-Vranceanu spaces nor plane waves. We obtain an explicit description in global coordinates of these special homogeneous Lorentzian manifolds. We then prove that all such examples are non-gradient expanding Ricci solitons.

The classical Bach tensor in four dimensions can be expressed as a linear combination of two independent, symmetric, divergence-free, quadratic-in-curvature tensors U and V. Several classification results for gradient-shrinking Ricci solitons have been obtained under the assumption that the Bach tensor vanishes. We define a Bach-like tensor to be any other linear combination of U and V. We prove that within a certain cone of parameters, the vanishing of a Bach-like tensor forces a four-dimensional complete gradient-shrinking Ricci soliton to be either Einstein or isometric to the Gaussian soliton, extending the results of Cao–Chen (2013). The special case where U=0 forces $f_{\min }\in \{0,1,2\}$, with rigidity holding when $f_{\min }=0,2$. The remaining case $f_{\min }=1$ is the central open problem, with a cylinder as the conjectured exceptional geometry. Finally, we show that Bach-like tensors arise as Euler–Lagrange equations of a two-parameter family of quadratic curvature functionals and compute the corresponding first and second variation formulas.

In this paper, we study the singular set $\mathcal{S}$ 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 $\mathcal{S}$ 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 $z\in {\mathcal{S}}^k$ if and only if no tangent flow at $z$ is $(k+1)$-symmetric. In general, the Hausdorff dimension of ${\mathcal{S}}^k$ with respect to the spacetime distance is at most $k$. We show that the subset ${\mathcal{S}}_{\mathrm{qc}}^k\subset {\mathcal{S}}^k$, consisting of points where some tangent flow is given by a standard cylinder or its quotient, is parabolic $k$-rectifiable. In dimension four, we prove the stronger statement that each stratum ${\mathcal{S}}^k$ is parabolic $k$-rectifiable for $k\in \{0,1,2\}$. Furthermore, we establish a sharp uniform ${\mathcal{H}}^2$-volume bound for $\mathcal{S}$ and show that, up to a set of ${\mathcal{H}}^2$-measure zero, the tangent flow at any point in $\mathcal{S}$ is backward unique. In addition, we derive $L^1$-curvature bounds for four-dimensional closed Ricci flows. As an application, we resolve Perelman's bounded diameter conjecture for three-dimensional closed Ricci flows.

In this article, we investigate a gradient almost Ricci soliton with harmonic Weyl tensor. We first prove that its Ricci tensor has at most three distinct eigenvalues of constant multiplicities in a neighborhood of a regular point of the potential function. Then, we classify those with exactly two distinct eigenvalues. It is worth mentioning that the case with exactly one eigenvalue has already been settled elsewhere. Our results are based on a local representation of these manifolds as multiply warped products of a one-dimensional base, having at most two Einstein fibers, which we also obtain in this paper. These results extend a result by Catino, who assumes, in addition, that the Weyl tensor is radially flat, and a result by Kim, who considers the four-dimensional case.

In this survey paper, we analyse and compare the recent curvature estimates for three types of $4$-dimensional gradient Ricci solitons, especially between Ricci shrinkers [58] and expanders [17]. In addition, we provide some new curvature estimates for $4$-dimensional gradient steady Ricci solitons, including the sharp curvature estimate $|Rm|\le CR$ for gradient steady Ricci solitons with positive Ricci curvature (see Theorem 1.1).

In this paper, we investigate curvature pinching phenomena in complete non-compact asymptotically conical gradient expanding Ricci solitons and establish several Hamilton-Ivey type curvature pinching estimates. These results are parallel to those known for shrinking and steady Ricci solitons. In particular, we prove a three-dimensional Hamilton-Ivey type curvature pinching theorem: any three-dimensional non-compact gradient Ricci expander, which is asymptotic to a cone with positive scalar curvature, must have positive sectional curvature. Furthermore, we formulate a general method and apply it to obtain analogues of several additional known generalized Hamilton-Ivey type curvature pinching results for ancient solutions. Among these is a curvature pinching estimate for four-dimensional asymptotically conical Ricci expanders with uniformly positive isotropic curvature, analogous to a result for four-dimensional gradient steady solitons due to Brendle [8].

We investigate four-dimensional gradient shrinking Ricci solitons with positive modified sectional curvature. Our first main result shows that if the norm of the self-dual Weyl tensor and the scalar curvature satisfy a certain sharp pinching condition (closely related, in a precise sense, to that of Kähler metric), then the soliton is necessarily locally Kähler. We further obtain a characterization theorem and a weighted integral gap result for compact gradient shrinking Ricci solitons with bounded modified sectional curvature. In addition, we establish a Hitchin-Thorpe type inequality for compact four-dimensional Ricci solitons, providing new topological constraints on such manifolds.

This paper attempts to construct monotonic entropy functionals for four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime under physical boundary conditions, as an extension of Perelman's monotonic entropy functionals constructed for three-dimensional compact Riemannian manifolds. The monotonicity of these entropy functionals is utilized to prove the well-posedness of applying Ricci flow to four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime for a long flow-time, particularly for the timelike modes which would seem blow up and ill-defined. The general idea is that the Ricci flow of a Lorentzian spacetime metric and the coupled conjugate heat flow of a density on the Lorentzian spacetime as a whole turns out to be the gradient flows of the monotonic functionals for a long flow-time, so the superficial "blow-up" in the individual Ricci flow system or the conjugate heat flow system contradicts the boundedness of the monotonic functionals within finite flow interval, which gives a semi-global control to the whole coupled system. The physical significance and applications of these monotonic entropy functionals in real gravitational systems are also discussed.

We first prove a uniform integral Laplace comparison result for the Kähler Ricci flow on Fano manifolds which depends only on the initial metric. As an application, using Cheeger-Colding theory and previous results by some of the authors, we give a direct and independent proof of the Hamilton-Tian conjecture on convergence of Kähler-Ricci flows, modulo a codimension 4 singular set. We also expounded on some existing literature on this conjecture.

For all dimensions $n\ge 5$, let $(M,g,f)$ be a $n-$dimensional shrinking gradient Ricci soliton with strictly positive isotropic curvature (PIC). Suppose furthermore that ${\nabla }^{2}f$ is $2-$nonnegative and the curvature tensor is WPIC1 at some point $\bar{x}\in M$. Then $(M,g)$ must be a quotient of either $S^n$ or $S^{n-1}\times \mathbb{R}$. Our result partially extends the classification result for 4-dimensional PIC shrinking Ricci solitons established in [LNW16] to highter dimensions. Combining the pinching estimates deduced in [Chen24] we also extend the result in [CL23] to dimensions $n\ge 9$. Namely that a complete ancient solution to the Ricci flow of dimension $n\ge 9$ with uniformly PIC must be weakly PIC2.

We prove that the four-dimensional blowdown shrinking Ricci soliton constructed by Feldman-Ilmanen-Knopf is strictly linearly stable in the sense of Cao-Hamilton-Ilmanen. This provides the first known example of a non-cylindrical linearly stable shrinking Ricci soliton. This offers new insights into the topological behavior of generic solutions to the Ricci flow in four dimensions: on top of reversing connected sums and handle surgeries, they should also undo complex blow-ups. The proof starts from an explicit description of the metric and develops a tensor harmonic analysis, adapted to its weighted Lichnerowicz Laplacian and based on its $U(2)$-invariance. It further exploits the Kähler structure of the blowdown shrinking soliton and insights from four-dimensional selfduality. The main difficulty is that the weighted Lichnerowicz Laplacian of the soliton admits a $9$-dimensional set of eigentensors associated with nonnegative eigenvalues. We show that they correspond to the Ricci tensor and gauge transformations.

In this paper, we study the geometry and topology of complete gradient shrinking Sasaki-Ricci solitons. We first prove that they must be connected at infinity. This is a Sasaki analogue of gradient shrinking Kähler-Ricci solitons. Secondly, with the positive sectional curvature or positive transverse holomorphic bisectional curvature, we show that they must be compact. All results are served as a generalization of Perelman in dimension three, of Naber in dimension four, and of Munteanu-Wang in all dimensions, respectively.

We study the properties of LP-Sasakian manifolds endowed with generalized Ricci solitons associated to the general connection. Finally, the existence of such solitons on a 4-dimensional LP-Sasakian manifold is proved by constructing a non-trivial example.

Motivated by the long-time behavior of Ricci flows that collapse with bounded curvature, we study expanding Ricci solitons with nilpotent symmetry on vector bundles over a closed manifold. We prove that, under mild assumptions that are satisfied by Ricci flow limits, the equations dimension-reduce to the so-called twisted harmonic-Einstein equations. When the base is a surface, we establish a correspondence between solutions of the latter and a class of G-Higgs bundles. This allows us to produce infinite families of new examples that are not locally homogeneous, and in particular to obtain a complete description in dimension 4. We also show that all our examples admit Einstein one-dimensional extensions.

This note corrects an error in the proof of Proposition 13 in arXiv:1903.09181 and simultaneously establishes a more general result. We prove that if $M$ is a compact connected oriented $4$-manifold with connected boundary $\partial M$, and if an unbounded number of disjoint copies of $M$ embed topologically and locally flatly in the interior of a compact $4$-manifold $N,$ then $\mathrm{Tor}{H}_1(\partial M;\mathbb{Z})$ is a direct double, i.e., $\mathrm{Tor}{H}_1(\partial M;\mathbb{Z})\cong A\oplus A$, with the linking pairing vanishing identically on the first summand, i.e., the linking pairing is split metabolic. This partially generalizes Hantzsche's theorem stating that the linking pairing for a closed $3$-manifold that embeds in $S^4$ is hyperbolic.

Introducing a moment map whose zero locus is the group of symplectomorphisms of the real four-dimensional torus, we exhibit a gradient flow that can be made into a strictly parabolic flow by mean of a DeTurck trick (famously known for its use in the study of the Ricci flow), showing the local existence and regularity for the solutions of this flow and hence showing that the group of symplectomorphisms of the real four-dimensional torus is locally contractible. This work follows the ideas introduced by Yann Rollin in [3], even though the moment map picture comes from different considerations.

Simply-connected four-dimensional gradient Ricci solitons that are invariant under a compact cohomogeneity one group action have been studied extensively. However, the special case where the group is $SU(2)$ (the smallest possible example) has received comparatively little attention. The purpose of this article is to give a comprehensive study of simply-connected $SU(2)$-invariant expanding and shrinking cohomogeneity one gradient Ricci solitons. The first result is the construction of new 3-parameter families of complete $SU(2)$-invariant asymptotically conical expanding gradient Ricci solitons. New shrinking Kähler $U(2)$-invariant gradient Ricci solitons in dimension 4 with orbifold singularities are also constructed, leading to a classification of such metrics when the base space of the orbifold is a simply-connected smooth manifold. Finally, we highlight numerical evidence that all the compact cohomogeneity one shrinking gradient Ricci solitons are known.

We demonstrate that any four-dimensional shrinking Ricci soliton $(\mathcal{B}\times {\mathbb{S}}^2,g)$, where $\mathcal{B}$ is any two-dimensional complete noncompact surface and $g$ is a warped product metric over the base $\mathcal{B}$, has to be isometric to the generalized cylinder ${\mathbb{R}}^2\times {\mathbb{S}}^2$ equipped with the standard cylindrical metric. After completing this classification, we study Ricci flow solutions that are multiply warped products – but not products – and provide rigorous examples of the formation of generalized cylinder singularity models ${\mathbb{R}}^k\times {\mathbb{S}}^{\ell }$.

We give biLipschitz models for the Ricci flow on some 4-manifolds (minimal surfaces of general type), exhibiting a combination of expanding and static behavior.

We use Lott's functional and construct a new functional to derive rigidity results for invariant Ricci flow blowdown limits on nilpotent principal bundles with zero associated curvature. Consequently, we prove that the blowdown limit is locally an expanding Ricci soliton when the structure group is the three dimensional Heisenberg group. In addition, we classify this soliton when the base manifold is one dimensional. This, together with Lott's work in the abelian setting, yields a complete local classification of invariant Ricci flow blowdown limits on four dimensional, nilpotent principal bundles.

In this paper we study $n$-dimensional Ricci flows $(M^n,g(t){)}_{t\in [0,T)},$ where $T<\infty$ is a potentially singular time, and for which the spatial $L^p$ norm, $p>\frac{n}{2}$, of the scalar curvature is uniformly bounded on $[0,T).$ In the case that $M$ is closed and four dimensional, we explain why non-collapsing estimates hold and how they can be combined with integral bounds on the Ricci and full curvature tensor of the prequel paper of the authors, as well as non-inflating estimates (already known due to works of Bamler), to obtain an improved space time integral bound of the Ricci curvature. As an application of these estimates, we show that if we further restrict to $n=4$, then the solution convergences to an orbifold as $t\to T$ and that the flow can be extended using the Orbifold Ricci flow to the time interval $[0,T+\sigma )$ for some $\sigma >0.$ We also prove local versions of many of the results mentioned above.

[Dedicated to Richard S. Hamilton on forty years of Ricci flow] Gradient Ricci solitons have garnered significant attention both as self-similar solutions and singularity models of the Ricci flow. This survey article starts with a list of examples; it also provides some geometric aspects of gradient Ricci solitons, including various asymptotic behaviors; finally, it discusses some recent results on classification and rigidity. In particular, this survey focuses on dimension four.

We introduce new families of four-dimensional Ricci solitons of cohomogeneity two with volume collapsing ends. In a local presentation of the metric conformal to a product, we reduce the soliton equation to a degenerate Monge-Ampère equation for the conformal factor coupled with ODEs. We obtain explicit complete expanding solitons as well as abstract existence results for shrinking and steady solitons with boundary. These families of Ricci solitons specialize to classical examples of Einstein and soliton metrics. We also classify local solutions of this Monge-Ampère equation to prove rigidity for these solitons.

This undergraduate thesis is focused on introducing the reader to concepts related to the search for topological obstructions to the existence of compact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton metrics in dimension four. It contains a discussion of the relevant background material for this subject. Furthermore, it introduces the problem of extending the Hitchin-Thorpe inequality to gradient shrinking Ricci soliton metrics and explores the limitations of current results in that direction. At last, the topic of compact Kaehler gradient shrinking Ricci solitons is introduced and the classification of these spaces is outlined in literature-study fashion.

In this paper we prove localised weighted curvature integral estimates for solutions to the Ricci flow in the setting of a smooth four dimensional Ricci flow or a closed $n$-dimensional Kähler Ricci flow. These integral estimates improve and extend the integral curvature estimates shown by the second author in an earlier paper. If the scalar curvature is uniformly bounded in the spatial $L^p$ sense for some $p>2,$ then the estimates imply a uniform bound on the spatial $L^2$ norm of the Riemannian curvature tensor. Stronger integral estimates are shown to hold if one further assumes a weak non-inflating condition, or we restrict to closed manifolds.

Let $(M,g,\omega ,f,\lambda )$ be a Kähler gradient Ricci soliton in real dimension four. One first observes that it is an integrable Hamiltonian system in a classical sense. Indeed, all known complete examples are toric and the symmetry is intrinsically related to the potential function $f$ and the scalar curvature $\text{SS}$. While another article addresses the case that these functions are functionally dependent, this one considers the independent case. The main result states that the soliton admits a toric action under a generic assumption. That is, one assumes that the system is non-degenerate and the potential function $f$ is proper. Then there is an effective, completely integrable Hamiltonian toric ${\mathbb{T}}^2$- action on $(M,\omega )$.

This is a sequel to our paper [24], in which we investigated the geometry of 4-dimensional gradient shrinking Ricci solitons with half positive (nonnegative) isotropic curvature. In this paper, we mainly focus on 4-dimensional gradient steady Ricci solitons with nonnegative isotropic curvature (WPIC) or half nonnegative isotropic curvature (half WPIC). In particular, for 4D complete ancient solutions with WPIC, we are able to prove the 2-nonnegativity of the Ricci curvature and bound the curvature tensor Rm by |Rm|\leq R. For 4D gradient steady solitons with WPIC, we obtain a classification result. We also give a partial classification of 4D gradient steady Ricci solitons with half WPIC. Moreover, we obtain a preliminary classification result for 4D complete gradient expanding Ricci solitons with WPIC. Finally, motivated by the recent work [59], we improve our earlier results in [24] on 4D gradient shrinking Ricci solitons with half PIC or half WPIC, and also provide a characterization of complete gradient Kaehler-Ricci shrinkers in complex dimension two among 4-dimensional gradient Ricci shrinkers.

Let $(M,g)$ be a closed connected oriented (possibly non-spin) smooth four-dimensional manifold with scalar curvature bounded below by $n(n-1)$. In this paper, we prove that if $f$ is a smooth map of non-zero degree from $(M,g)$ to the unit four-sphere, then $f$ is an isometry. Following ideas of Gromov, we use $\mu$-bubbles and a version with coefficients of the rigidity of the three-sphere to rule out the case of strict inequality. Our proof of rigidity is based on the harmonic map heat flow coupled with the Ricci flow.

This article consists of an introduction to the theory of nonassociative geometric classical and quantum information flows defined by star products with R-flux deformations in string gravity. Corresponding nonassociative generalizations of the concepts of classical Shannon entropy, quantum von Neumann entropy, Rényi entropy are formulated. The fundamental geometric and quantum information objects are computed following the Grigori Perelman statistical thermodynamic approach to Ricci flows and gravity theories generalized for phase spaces modelled as (co) tangent Lorentz bundles. Nonassociative parametric deformations and nonholonomic thermo-geometric versions of statistical generating functions, their quantum analogues as density matrices are considered for deriving the entropy, energy and fluctuation functionals. This allows us to define and compute respective classical and quantum relative and conditional entropies, mutual information and nonassociative entanglement and thermodynamic information variables. We formulate the principles of nonassociative quantum geometric and information flow theory, QGIF, and study the basic properties of such quasi-stationary models related to modified gravity theories. Applications are considered for nonassociative deformed and entangled couples of four-dimensional, 4-d, wormholes (defined by respective spacetime and/or momentum type coordinates) and nonassociative QGIFs of 8-d phase space generalized wormholes configurations. Finally, we speculate on phase space black holes and wormholes being transversable for nonassociative qubits, quantum channels and entanglement witness; thought and laboratory experiments are discussed; and perspectives for quantum computer modelling and tests of nonassociative geometric flow and gravity theories are considered.

In this paper we study 4d gradient steady Ricci solitons, which are weak $\kappa$-solutions, and admit O(3)-symmetry. Under a weak curvature decay condition, we find precise geometric asymptotics of such solitons, which are similar to those for 3d compact $\kappa$-solutions found in [ABDS22]. This is the first step towards the classification of 4d gradient steady Ricci solitons and more general ancient Ricci flows.

We consider noncollapsed steady gradient Ricci solitons with nonnegative sectional curvature. We show that such solitons always dimension reduce at infinity. This generalizes an earlier result in [CDM22] to higher dimensions. In dimension four, we classify possible reductions at infinity, which lays foundation for possible classifications of steady solitons. Moreover, we show that any tangent flow at infinity of a general noncollapsed steady soliton must split off a line. This generalizes an earlier result in [BCDMZ21] to higher dimensions. While this article is under preparation, we realized that part of our main results are proved independently in a recent post [ZZ23] under different assumptions.

In the paper, we analysis the asymptotic behavior of noncompact $\kappa$-noncollapsed steady gradient Ricci soliton $(M,g)$ with nonnegative curvature operator away from a compact set $K$ of $M$. In particular, we prove: any $4d$ noncompact $\kappa$-noncollapsed steady gradient Ricci soliton $(M^4,g)$ with nonnegative sectional curvature must be a Bryant Ricci soliton up to scaling if it admits a sequence of rescaled flows of $(M^4,g)$, which converges subsequently to a family of shrinking quotient cylinders.

All known examples of simply-connected gradient Kähler-Ricci soliton in real dimension four are toric, and the symmetry is intrinsically related to the potential function $f$ and the scalar curvature $\text{SS}$. In this article, we consider the case that $f$ and $\text{SS}$ are functionally dependent and deduce a complete classification, while the independence case is addressed elsewhere. The main theorem recovers all known examples of cohomogeneity one symmetry. We also discover a connection to the theory of isoparametric functions and contact geometry. Indeed, a key ingredient is a new characterization for a deformed Sasakian structure generalizing a classical result.

We introduce a classification conjecture for $\kappa$-solutions in 4d Ricci flow. Our conjectured list includes known examples from the literature, but also a new 1-parameter family of ${\mathbb{Z}}_2^2\times {\mathrm{O}}_3$-symmetric bubble-sheet ovals that we construct. We observe that some special cases of the conjecture follow from recent results in the literature. We also introduce a stronger variant of the classification conjecture for ancient asymptotically cylindrical 4d Ricci flows, which does not assume smoothness and nonnegative curvature operator a priori. Assuming this stronger variant holds true, we establish a canonical neighborhood theorem for 4d Ricci flow through cylindrical singularities, which shares some elements in common with Perelman's canonical neighborhood theorem for 3d Ricci flow as well as the mean-convex neighborhood theorem for mean curvature flow through neck-singularities. Finally, we argue that quotient-necks lead to new phenomena, and sketch an example of non-uniqueness for 4d Ricci flow through singularities.

We prove that there exists a gradient expanding Ricci soliton asymptotic to any given cone over the product of a round sphere and a Ricci flat manifold. In particular we obtain asymptotically conical expanding Ricci solitons with positive scalar curvature on ${\mathbb{R}}^3\times S^1.$ More generally we construct continuous families of gradient expanding Ricci solitons on trivial vector bundles over products of Einstein manifolds with arbitrary Einstein constants.

We make classifications of gradient Ricci solitons $(M,g,f)$ with harmonic Weyl curvature. As a local classification, we prove that the soliton metric $g$ is locally isometric to one of the following four types: an Einstein manifold, the Riemannian product of a Ricci flat manifold and an Einstein manifold, a warped product of $\mathbb{R}$ and an Einstein manifold, and a singular warped product of ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ and a Ricci flat manifold. Compared with the previous four-dimensional study in, we have developed a novel method of {\it refined adapted frame fields} and overcome the main difficulty arising from a large number of Riemmannian connection components in dimension$\ge 5$. Next we have obtained a classification of {\it complete} gradient Ricci solitons with harmonic Weyl curvature. For the proof, using the real analytic nature of $g$ and $f$, we elaborate geometric arguments to fit together local regions.

The Bach tensor is classically defined in dimension 4, and work from J. Bergman and others shows that $B=\frac{1}{2}U+\frac{1}{6}V$ where $U$ and $V$ are more basic 2-tensors, which are symmetric, divergence-free, algebraically independent, and quadratic in the Riemann tensor. In this paper, we extend H.-D. Cao and Q. Chen's results for Bach-flat gradient shrinking Ricci solitons to solitons with $\mathfrak{B}=\alpha U+\beta V=0$.