Gaussian Volume Functional, Integral Scalar Curvature, and Minimal Super-Ricci Flows

Abstract

We present a synthetic notion of scalar curvature (and its integral) for Riemannian manifolds and metric measure spaces, defined in terms of the initial slope of a Gaussian (double) integral. We explicitly calculate the integral scalar curvature for Lipschitz gluings of smooth Riemannian manifolds and for cones. In dimension 2, the former coincides with the formula derived by Gauss-Bonnet, whereas the latter differs. The extension to the time-dependent case allows us to characterize Ricci flows as super Ricci flows with minimal integral curvature functional.