Strongly positive curvature

Abstract

We begin a systematic study of a curvature condition (strongly positive curvature) which lies strictly between positive curvature operator and positive sectional curvature, and stems from the work of Thorpe in the 1970s. We prove that this condition is preserved under Riemannian submersions and Cheeger deformations, and that most compact homogeneous spaces with positive sectional curvature satisfy it.