An upper diameter bound for compact Ricci solitons with applications to the Hitchin-Thorpe inequality

Abstract: In this article, stimulated by Fernandez-Lopez and Garcia-Rio, we shall give an upper diameter bound for compact Ricci solitons in terms of the range of the scalar curvature. As an application, we shall provide some sufficient conditions for four-dimensional compact Ricci solitons to satisfy the Hitchin-Thorpe inequality.