Comparison Geometry for the Bakry-Emery Ricci Tensor

Abstract

For Riemannian manifolds with a measure $(M,g, e^{-f} dvol_g)$ we prove mean curvature and volume comparison results when the $\infty$-Bakry-Emery Ricci tensor is bounded from below and $f$ is bounded or $\partial_r f$ is bounded from below, generalizing the classical ones (i.e. when $f$ is constant). This leads to extensions of many theorems for Ricci curvature bounded below to the Bakry-Emery Ricci tensor. In particular, we give extensions of all of the major comparison theorems when $f$ is bounded. Simple examples show the bound on $f$ is necessary for these results.Comment: 21 pages, Some of the estimates have been improved. In light of some new references, and to improve the exposition, the paper has been reorganized. An appendix is also adde