Gromov's rational essentialness conjecture for positive scalar curvature

From papers

Let MM be a closed nn-manifold, with classifying map f:MK(π1(M),1)f:M\to K(\pi_1(M),1). It is Q\mathbb{Q}-essential if

f[M]0Hn(K(π1(M),1);Q).f_*[M]\neq 0\in H_n(K(\pi_1(M),1);\mathbb{Q}).

Gromov's rational essentialness conjecture. A closed Q\mathbb{Q}-essential nn-manifold does not admit any Riemannian metric with positive scalar curvature.

This strengthens the aspherical-manifold conjecture, since every closed aspherical manifold is Q\mathbb{Q}-essential. The source attributes the stronger conjecture to Gromov and gives no resolution.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Florent Balacheff, Teo Gil Moreno de Mora Sardà and Stéphane Sabourau, “Complete 3-manifolds of positive scalar curvature with quadratic decay”, arXiv:2407.07198 (2025).

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