Toponogov comparison theorem for open triangles

Dedicated to Professor Gromoll: The aim of our article is to generalize the Toponogov comparison theorem to a complete Riemannian manifold with smooth convex boundary. A geodesic triangle will be replaced by an open (geodesic) triangle standing on the boundary of the manifold, and a model surface will be replaced by the universal covering surface of a cylinder of revolution with totally geodesic boundary. Applications of our theorem are found in our article "Applications of Toponogov's comparison theorems for open triangles" (arXiv:1102.4156).Comment: This version 4 (36 pages, no figures) is a version to appear in Tohoku Mathematical Journa

Total curvatures of model surfaces control topology of complete open manifolds with radial curvature bounded below. II

We prove, as our main theorem, the finiteness of topological type of a complete open Riemannian manifold $M$ with a base point $p \in M$ whose radial curvature at $p$ is bounded from below by that of a non-compact model surface of revolution $\tilde{M}$ which admits a finite total curvature and has no pair of cut points in a sector. Here a sector is, by definition, a domain cut off by two meridians emanating from the base point $\tilde{p} \in \tilde{M}$. Notice that our model $\tilde{M}$ does not always satisfy the diameter growth condition introduced by Abresch and Gromoll. In order to prove the main theorem, we need a new type of the Toponogov comparison theorem. As an application of the main theorem, we present a partial answer to Milnor's open conjecture on the fundamental group of complete open manifolds.Comment: 37 pages, No figures, Submitted to Transactions of Amer. Math. Soc. (December 17, 2007), The [v1] is the 2nd revised version (October 17, 2008) according to the 2nd referee's repor

Sufficient conditions for open manifolds to be diffeomorphic to Euclidean spaces

Let M be a complete non-compact connected Riemannian n-dimensional manifold. We first prove that, for any fixed point p in M, the radial Ricci curvature of M at p is bounded from below by the radial curvature function of some non-compact n-dimensional model. Moreover, we then prove, without the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff convergence theory, that, if model volume growth is sufficiently close to 1, then M is diffeomorphic to Euclidean n-dimensional space. Hence, our main theorem has various advantages of the Cheeger-Colding diffeomorphism theorem via the Euclidean volume growth. Our main theorem also contains a result of do Carmo and Changyu as a special case.Comment: This version 3 (13 pages, no figures) is a version to appear in Differential Geometry and its Application