Collapse to nonsmoothable manifolds under lower sectional and positive Ricci curvature bounds

Abstract

We construct smooth collapsing sequences with sectional curvature at least $-1$ whose limits are topological manifolds with nonzero Kirby--Siebenmann class. For every $n\geq6$, the source and limit are simply connected, have dimensions $n+3$ and $n$, and the metrics have a common positive Ricci lower bound. The limits are homeomorphic to the product of the Chern four-manifold with $S^{n-4}$. We also obtain spin examples and five-dimensional lens-space homotopy types, the latter from finite quotients of one fixed $2$-connected eight-manifold. Finally, we realize aspherical manifolds with no closed PL representatives of their homotopy types as collapsing limits with scalar curvatures tending uniformly to $+\infty$, and establish an obstruction to their approximation with almost nonnegative Ricci curvature.