Bundles with even-dimensional spherical space form as fibers and fiberwise quarter pinched Riemannian metrics

Abstract

Let $E$ be a smooth bundle with fiber an $n$-dimensional real projective space $\mathbb{R}{P}^n$. We show that, if every fiber carries a positively curved pointwise strongly $1/4$-pinched Riemannian metric that varies continuously with respect to its base point, then the structure group of the bundle reduces to the isometry group of the standard round metric on $\mathbb{R}{P}^n$.

11 pages, to appear in Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society