Classification of complete positive constant-curvature manifolds
ID: classification-of-complete-positive-constant-curvature-manifolds
For a connected complete Riemannian manifold of dimension and constant sectional curvature , its complete simply connected universal cover is the round sphere of radius . This is the constant-curvature case of Cartan-Ambrose-Hicks theorem. Thus the manifold is a quotient by a finite group of isometries acting freely. In even dimension, the determinant embeds this group in : every determinant-one orthogonal transformation in odd ambient dimension has eigenvalue one and therefore a fixed point. The only possible nonidentity element is the antipodal involution, giving Real projective space. In odd dimensions, free cyclic scalar actions on complex unit spheres instead produce lens spaces.
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