An overview on the proof of the splitting theorem in non-smooth context

We give a quite detailed overview on the proof of the Cheeger-Colding-Gromoll splitting theorem in the abstract framework of spaces with Riemannian Ricci curvature bounded from below.Comment: 52 page

On the differential structure of metric measure spaces and applications

The main goals of this paper are: i) To develop an abstract differential calculus on metric measure spaces by investigating the duality relations between differentials and gradients of Sobolev functions. This will be achieved without calling into play any sort of analysis in charts, our assumptions being: the metric space is complete and separable and the measure is Borel, non negative and locally finite. ii) To employ these notions of calculus to provide, via integration by parts, a general definition of distributional Laplacian, thus giving a meaning to an expression like $\Delta g=\mu$, where $g$ is a function and $\mu$ is a measure. iii) To show that on spaces with Ricci curvature bounded from below and dimension bounded from above, the Laplacian of the distance function is always a measure and that this measure has the standard sharp comparison properties. This result requires an additional assumption on the space, which reduces to strict convexity of the norm in the case of smooth Finsler structures and is always satisfied on spaces with linear Laplacian, a situation which is analyzed in detail.Comment: Clarified the dependence on the Sobolev exponent $p$ of various objects built in the paper. Updated bibliography. Corrected typo

The splitting theorem in non-smooth context

We prove that an infinitesimally Hilbertian CD(0,N) space containing a line splits as the product of $R$ and an infinitesimally Hilbertian CD(0,N-1) space. By `infinitesimally Hilbertian' we mean that the Sobolev space $W^{1,2}(X,d,m)$, which in general is a Banach space, is an Hilbert space. When coupled with a curvature-dimension bound, this condition is known to be stable with respect to measured Gromov-Hausdorff convergence.Comment: 104 page

The Abresch-Gromoll inequality in a non-smooth setting

We prove that the Abresch-Gromoll inequality holds on infinitesimally Hilbertian CD(K,N) spaces in the same form as the one available on smooth Riemannian manifolds

A Flow Tangent to the Ricci Flow via Heat Kernels and Mass Transport

We present a new relation between the short time behavior of the heat flow, the geometry of optimal transport and the Ricci flow. We also show how this relation can be used to define an evolution of metrics on non-smooth metric measure spaces with Ricci curvature bounded from below

Displacement convexity of Entropy and the distance cost Optimal Transportation

During the last decade Optimal Transport had a relevant role in the study of geometry of singular spaces that culminated with the Lott-Sturm-Villani theory. The latter is built on the characterisation of Ricci curvature lower bounds in terms of displacement convexity of certain entropy functionals along $W_{2}$-geodesics. Substantial recent advancements in the theory (localization paradigm and local-to-global property) have been obtained considering the different point of view of $L^1$-Optimal transport problems yielding a different curvature dimension $\mathsf{CD}^{1}(K,N)$ [8] formulated in terms of one-dimensional curvature properties of integral curves of Lipschitz maps. In this note we show that the two approaches produce the same curvature-dimension condition reconciling the two definitions. In particular we show that the $\mathsf{CD}^{1}(K,N)$ condition can be formulated in terms of displacement convexity along $W_{1}$-geodesics.Comment: Comments are welcom