<b>Asymptotic cones.</b> A finitely generated group has a word metric, which one can scale and thereby view the group from increasingly distant vantage points. The group coalesces to an "asymptotic cone" in the limit (this is made precise using techniques of non-standard analysis). The reward is that in place of the discrete group one has a continuous object "that is amenable to attack by geometric (e.g. topological, infinitesimal) machinery" (to quote Gromov). We give coarse geometric conditions for a metric space X to have N-connected asymptotic cones. These conditions are expressed in terms of certain filling functions concerning filling N-spheres in an appropriately coarse sense. We interpret the criteria in the case where X is a finitely generated group &Gamma; with a word metric. This leads to upper bounds on filling functions for groups with simply connected cones -- in particular they have linearly bounded filling length functions. We prove that if all the asymptotic cones of &Gamma; are N-connected then &Gamma; is of type F_N+1 and we provide N-th order isoperimetric and isodiametric functions. Also we show that the asymptotic cones of a virtually polycyclic group &Gamma; are all contractible if and only if &Gamma; is virtually nilpotent. <b>Combable groups and almost-convex groups.</b> A combing of a finitely generated group &Gamma; is a normal form; that is a choice of word (a combing line) for each group element that satisfies a geometric constraint: nearby group elements have combing lines that fellow travel. An almost-convexity condition concerns the geometry of closed balls in the Cayley graph for &Gamma;. We show that even the most mild combability or almost-convexity restrictions on a finitely presented group already force surprisingly strong constraints on the geometry of its word problem. In both cases we obtain an n! isoperimetric function, and upper bounds of ~ n² on both the minimal isodiametric function and the filling length function.

On s'intéresse à la géométrie globale et asymptotique de certaines variétés riemanniennes non compactes. Dans une première partie, on étudie la topologie et la géométrie à l'infini des variétés riemanniennes à courbure (de Ricci) positive ayant un rapport asymptotique de courbure fini. On caractérise le cas non effondré via la notion de cône asymptotique et on donne des conditions suffisantes sur le groupe fondamental pour garantir un non effondrement. La seconde partie est dédiée à l'étude des solutions de Type III du flot de Ricci à courbure positive et aux solitons gradients de Ricci expansifs (points fixes de Type III) présentant une décroissance quadratique de la courbure. On montre l'existence et l'unicité des cônes asymptotiques de tels points fixes. On donne également des conditions suffisantes de nature algébrique et géométrique pour garantir une géométrie de révolution de tels solitons. Dans une troisième partie, on caractérise la géométrie des solitons gradients de Ricci stables à courbure positive et à croissance volumique linéaire. Puis, on s'intéresse au non effondrement des variétés riemanniennes de dimension trois à courbure de Ricci positive ayant un rapport asymptotique de courbure fini. / We study the global and asymptotic geometry of non-compact Riemannian manifolds. First, we study the topology and geometry at infinity of Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative (Ricci) curvature and finite asymptotic curvature ratio. We focus on the non-collapsed case with the help of asymptotic cones and we give sufficient conditions on the fundamental group to guarantee non-collapsing. The second part is dedicated to the study of (non-negatively curved) Type III Ricci flow solutions. We mainly analyze the asymptotic geometry of Type III self-similar solutions (expanding gradient Ricci soliton) with finite asymptotic curvature ratio. We prove the existence and uniqueness of their asymptotic cones. We also give algebraic and geometric sufficient conditions to guarantee rotational symmetry of such metrics. In the last part, we characterize the geometry of steady gradient Ricci solitons with nonnegative sectional curvature and linear volume growth. Finally, we study the non-collapsing of three dimensional Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature and finite asymptotic curvature ratio.