The Ricci flow for simply connected nilmanifolds

Abstract

We prove that the Ricci flow g(t) starting at any metric on the euclidean space that is invariant by a transitive nilpotent Lie group N, can be obtained by solving an ODE for a curve of nilpotent Lie brackets. By using that this ODE is the negative gradient flow of a homogeneous polynomial, we obtain that g(t) is type-III, and, up to pull-back by time-dependent diffeomorphisms, that g(t) converges to the flat metric, and the rescaling |R(g(t))|g(t) converges smoothly to a Ricci soliton, uniformly on compact sets. The Ricci soliton limit is also invariant by some transitive nilpotent Lie group, though possibly non-isomorphic to N.