Minimal Graphic Functions on Manifolds of Nonnegative Ricci Curvature

We study minimal graphic functions on complete Riemannian manifolds ∑ with nonnegative Ricci curvature, euclidean volume growth, and quadratic curvature decay. We derive global bounds for the gradients for minimal graphic functions of linear growth only on one side. Then we can obtain a Liouville‐type theorem with such growth via splitting for tangent cones of ∑ at infinity. When, in contrast, we do not impose any growth restrictions for minimal graphic functions, we also obtain a Liouville‐type theorem under a certain nonradial Ricci curvature decay condition on ∑. In particular, the borderline for the Ricci curvature decay is sharp by our example in the last section. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ricci curvature,radial curvature and large volume growth

In this paper, we study complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below. When the Ricci curvature is nonnegative, we show that this kind of manifolds are diffeomorphic to a Euclidean space, by assuming an upper bound on the radial curvature and a volume growth condition of their geodesic balls. When the Ricci curvature only has a lower bound, we also prove that such a manifold is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean space if the radial curvature is bounded from below. Moreover, by assuming different conditions and applying different methods, we shall prove more results on Riemannian manifolds with large volume growth.     

具有非负Ricci曲率和次大体积增长的完备流形(英文)

本文研究了具有非负Ricci曲率和次大体积增长的完备黎曼流形的拓扑结构问题.利用Toponogov型比较定理及临界点理论,获得了流形具有有限拓扑型的结果,推广了H.Zhan和Z.Shen的定理,并且还证明了该流形的基本群是有限生成的.     

The logarithmic entropy formula for the linear heat equation on Riemannian manifolds

In this paper we introduce a new logarithmic entropy functional for the linear heat equation on complete Riemannian manifolds and prove that it is monotone decreasing on complete Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. Our results are simpler version, without Ricci flow, of R.-G. Ye’s recent result (arXiv:math.DG/0708.2008). As an application, we apply the monotonicity of the logarithmic entropy functional of heat kernels to characterize Euclidean space.     

An optimal parabolic estimate and its applications in prescribing scalar curvature on some open manifolds with Ricci \ge 0

By establishing an optimal comparison result on the heat kernel of the conformal Laplacian on open manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature, (a) we show that many manifolds with positive scalar curvature do not possess conformal metrics with scalar curvature bounded below by a positive constant; (b) we identify a class of functions with the following property: If the manifold has a scalar curvature in this class, then there exists a complete conformal metric whose scalar curvature is any given function in this class. This class is optimal in some sense; (c) we have identified all manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature, which are “uniformly” conformal to manifolds with zero scalar curvature. Even in the Euclidean case, we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition under which the main existence results in [Ni1] and [KN] on prescribing nonnegative scalar curvature will hold. This condition had been sought in several papers in the last two decades. Received: 11 November 1998 / Revised: 7 April 1999     

Differential Harnack inequalities on Riemannian manifolds I: Linear heat equation

In the first part of this paper, we get new Li–Yau type gradient estimates for positive solutions of heat equation on Riemannian manifolds with Ricci(M)?−k, k∈R. As applications, several parabolic Harnack inequalities are obtained and they lead to new estimates on heat kernels of manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below. In the second part, we establish a Perelman type Li–Yau–Hamilton differential Harnack inequality for heat kernels on manifolds with Ricci(M)?−k, which generalizes a result of L. Ni (2004, 2006) [20] and [21]. As applications, we obtain new Harnack inequalities and heat kernel estimates on general manifolds. We also obtain various entropy monotonicity formulas for all compact Riemannian manifolds.     

A splitting theorem for manifolds of almost nonnegative Ricci curvature

Cheeger and Gromoll proved that a closed Riemannian manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature is, up to a finite cover, diffeomorphic to a direct product of a simply connected manifold and a torus. In this paper, we extend this theorem to manifolds of almost nonnegative Ricci curvature.     

The entropy formula for linear heat equation

We derive the entropy formula for the linear heat equation on general Riemannian manifolds and prove that it is monotone non-increasing on manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. As applications, we study the relation between the value of entropy and the volume of balls of various scales. The results are simpler version, without Ricci flow, of Perelman ’s recent results on volume non-collapsing for Ricci flow on compact manifolds. We also prove that if the entropy for the heat kernel achieves its maximum value zero at some positive time, on any complete Riamannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, if and only if the manifold is isometric to the Euclidean space.     

On Gromov's large Riemannian manifolds

Gromov introduced several notions of largeness of Riemannian manifolds and proved that they are all equivalent for manifolds of nonnegative sectional curvature. In this paper, we study the equivalence of these notions in the case of nonnegative Ricci curvature and in particular we give an affirmative answer to one of Gromov's open questions.     

Large volume growth and the topology of open manifolds

In this paper, we study complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature and large volume growth. We find some reasonable conditions to insure that this kind of manifolds are diffeomorphic to a Euclidean space or have finite topological type. Received: January 4, 2000; in final form: October 31, 2000 / Published online: 19 October 2001     

Local gradient estimate for harmonic functions on Finsler manifolds

In this paper, we prove the local gradient estimate for harmonic functions on complete, noncompact Finsler measure spaces under the condition that the weighted Ricci curvature has a lower bound. As applications, we obtain Liouville type theorems on noncompact Finsler manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature.     

Topological rigidity theorems for open Riemannian manifolds

In this article, we study topology of complete non‐compact Riemannian manifolds. We show that a complete open manifold with quadratic curvature decay is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean n ‐space ?ⁿ if it contains enough rays starting from the base point. We also show that a complete non‐compact n ‐dimensional Riemannian manifold M with nonnegative Ricci curvature and quadratic curvature decay is diffeomorphic to ?ⁿ if the volumes of geodesic balls in M grow properly. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ricci flatness of asymptotically locally Euclidean metrics

In this article we study the metric property and the function theory of asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) Kähler manifolds. In particular, we prove the Ricci flatness under the assumption that the Ricci curvature of such manifolds is either nonnegative or nonpositive. The result provides a generalization of previous gap type theorems established by Greene and Wu, Mok, Siu and Yau, etc. It can also be thought of as a general positive mass type result. The method also proves the Liouville properties of plurisubharmonic functions on such manifolds. We also give a characterization of Ricci flatness of an ALE Kähler manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature in terms of the structure of its cone at infinity.

     

Eigenvalue inequalities for the buckling problem of the drifting Laplacian

In this paper, we study the buckling problem of the drifting Laplacian on bounded domains in a complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative ∞-dimensional Bakry–Émery Ricci curvature. According to the property of the manifold, we obtain a family of trial functions. By making use of these trial functions, we derive a universal inequality of eigenvalues, which is independent of the domains.     

Rigidity Theorems for Manifolds with Boundary and Nonnegative Ricci Curvature

In this paper, we obtain some rigidity theorems for compact Riemannian manifolds Ω with boundary M and nonnegative Ricci curvature; for instance, we prove that the existence of certain functions on M together with a lower bound c > 0 on the principal curvtures of M imply that Ω is an euclidean ball of radius $ {1\over c} $ .     

Spectral gap on Riemannian path space over static and evolving manifolds

In this article, we continue the discussion of Fang–Wu (2015) to estimate the spectral gap of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck operator on path space over a Riemannian manifold of pinched Ricci curvature. Along with explicit estimates we study the short-time asymptotics of the spectral gap. The results are then extended to the path space of Riemannian manifolds evolving under a geometric flow. Our paper is strongly motivated by Naber's recent work (2015) on characterizing bounded Ricci curvature through stochastic analysis on path space.     

Some existence results on the exterior Dirichlet problem for the minimal hypersurface equation

It is proved the existence of solutions to the exterior Dirichlet problem for the minimal hypersurface equation in complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds either with negative sectional curvature and simply connected or with nonnegative Ricci curvature under a growth condition on the sectional curvature.     

Sobolev Inequalities in Manifolds with Nonnegative Curvature

We prove a sharp Sobolev inequality on manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. Moreover, we prove a Michael-Simon inequality for submanifolds in manifolds with nonnegative sectional curvature. Both inequalities depend on the asymptotic volume ratio of the ambient manifold. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.     

Addenda to “The entropy formula for linear heat equation”

We add two sections to [8] and answer some questions asked there. In the first section we give another derivation of Theorem 1.1 of [8], which reveals the relation between the entropy formula, (1.4) of [8], and the well-known Li-Yau ’s gradient estimate. As a by-product we obtain the sharp estimates on ‘Nash’s entropy’ for manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. We also show that the equality holds in Li-Yau’s gradient estimate, for some positive solution to the heat equation, at some positive time, implies that the complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature is isometric to ℝ ⁿ .In the second section we derive a dual entropy formula which, to some degree, connects Hamilton’s entropy with Perelman ’s entropy in the case of Riemann surfaces.     

Harnack inequality for nondivergent parabolic operators on Riemannian manifolds

We consider second-order linear parabolic operators in non-divergence form that are intrinsically defined on Riemannian manifolds. In the elliptic case, Cabré proved a global Krylov-Safonov Harnack inequality under the assumption that the sectional curvature of the underlying manifold is nonnegative. Later, Kim improved Cabré’s result by replacing the curvature condition by a certain condition on the distance function. Assuming essentially the same condition introduced by Kim, we establish Krylov-Safonov Harnack inequality for nonnegative solutions of the non-divergent parabolic equation. This, in particular, gives a new proof for Li-Yau Harnack inequality for positive solutions to the heat equation in a manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature.