Lichnerowicz-Obata Estimate, Almost Parallel $p$-form and Almost Product Manifolds

Abstract

We show a Lichnerowicz-Obata type estimate for the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian of $n$-dimensional closed Riemannian manifolds with an almost parallel $p$-form ($2\leq p \leq n/2$) in $L^2$-sense, and give an almost decomposition result of the manifold under some pinching conditions when $2\leq p<n/2$.