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Ricci Solitons, Conical Singularities, and Nonuniqueness

In dimension $n=3$, there is a complete theory of weak solutions of Ricci flow - the singular Ricci flows introduced by Kleiner and Lott - which are unique across singularities, as was proved by Bamler and Kleiner. We show that uniqueness should not be expected to hold for Ricci flow weak solutions in dimensions $n\geq5$. Specifically, we exhibit a discrete family of asymptotically conical gradient shrinking solitons, each of which admits non-unique forward continuations by gradient expanding solitons. (v2) We recast the Main Theorem in the language of Kleiner and Lott's Ricci Flow spacetimes and in addition show that topological nonuniqueness is possible for the solutions we construct.