Ricci flow and diffeomorphism groups of 3-manifolds


Abstract in English

We complete the proof of the Generalized Smale Conjecture, apart from the case of $RP^3$, and give a new proof of Gabais theorem for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We use an approach based on Ricci flow through singularities, which applies uniformly to spherical space forms other than $S^3$ and $RP^3$ and hyperbolic manifolds, to prove that the moduli space of metrics of constant sectional curvature is contractible. As a corollary, for such a 3-manifold $X$, the inclusion $text{Isom} (X,g)to text{Diff}(X)$ is a homotopy equivalence for any Riemannian metric $g$ of constant sectional curvature.

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