An Illustrated Introduction to the Ricci Flow

Abstract

The Ricci flow is one of the most important topics in differential geometry, and a central focus of modern geometric analysis. In this paper, we give an illustrated introduction to the subject which is intended for a general audience. The goal is to provide a working definition of the Ricci flow as well as some intuition for its behavior without assuming any prerequisite knowledge of differential geometry or topology.

42 pages, 22 figures