RCD versus smooth positive Ricci curvature conjecture

There exist an integer n≥4n\ge 4 and a smooth simply connected nn-manifold MnM^n such that there is no smooth metric gg on MnM^n with Ric⁡≥n−1\operatorname{Ric}\ge n-1, while there is a distance d\mathsf{d} compatible with the topology of MnM^n for which (Mn,d,Hn)(M^n,\mathsf{d},\mathscr{H}^n) is an RCD⁡(n−1,n)\operatorname{RCD}(n-1,n) space.

RCD versus smooth curvature conjecture. Such an nn and MnM^n exist.

The conjecture asks whether synthetic Ricci curvature can occur on a simply connected smooth manifold where the corresponding smooth Ricci lower bound is impossible. The source presents it as an open question at the end of the survey and gives no known resolution.

References

Primary source

Daniele Semola, “The large scale structure of complete 4-manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature and Euclidean volume growth”, arXiv:2501.07125 (2025).

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