On the second best constant in logarithmic Sobolev inequalities on complete Riemannian manifolds

We study the second best constant problem for logarithmic Sobolev inequalities on complete Riemannian manifolds and investigate its relationship with optimal heat kernel bounds and the existence of extremal functions.     

Extremal maps in Sobolev type inequalities: Some remarks

In this work we make some observations on the existence of extremal maps for sharp L²-Riemannian Sobolev type inequalities as Nash and logarithmic Sobolev ones. Among other results, we prove also that there exist smooth compact Riemannian manifolds with scalar curvature changing signal on which there exist extremal maps.     

The wave equation on asymptotically de Sitter-like spaces

In this paper we obtain the asymptotic behavior of solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation on Lorentzian manifolds (X^○,g) which are de Sitter-like at infinity. Such manifolds are Lorentzian analogues of the so-called Riemannian conformally compact (or asymptotically hyperbolic) spaces. Under global assumptions on the (null)bicharacteristic flow, namely that the boundary of the compactification X is a union of two disjoint manifolds, Y_±, and each bicharacteristic converges to one of these two manifolds as the parameter along the bicharacteristic goes to +∞, and to the other manifold as the parameter goes to −∞, we also define the scattering operator, and show that it is a Fourier integral operator associated to the bicharacteristic flow from Y₊ to Y₋.     

A weak energy identity and the length of necks for a sequence of Sacks-Uhlenbeck α-harmonic maps

In this paper we discuss the convergence behavior of a sequence of α-harmonic maps uα with Eα(uα)<C from a compact surface (M,g) into a compact Riemannian manifold (N,h) without boundary. Generally, such a sequence converges weakly to a harmonic map in W1,2(M,N) and strongly in C^∞ away from a finite set of points in M. If energy concentration phenomena appears, we show a generalized energy identity and discover a direct convergence relation between the blow-up radius and the parameter α which ensures the energy identity and no-neck property. We show that the necks converge to some geodesics. Moreover, in the case there is only one bubble, a length formula for the neck is given. In addition, we also give an example which shows that the necks contain at least a geodesic of infinite length.     

The proof of the Lane-Emden conjecture in four space dimensions

We partially solve a well-known conjecture about the nonexistence of positive entire solutions to elliptic systems of Lane-Emden type when the pair of exponents lies below the critical Sobolev hyperbola. Up to now, the conjecture had been proved for radial solutions, or in n?3 space dimensions, or in certain subregions below the critical hyperbola for n?4. We here establish the conjecture in four space dimensions and we obtain a new region of nonexistence for n?5. Our proof is based on a delicate combination involving Rellich-Pohozaev type identities, a comparison property between components via the maximum principle, Sobolev and interpolation inequalities on Sn−1, and feedback and measure arguments. Such Liouville-type nonexistence results have many applications in the study of nonvariational elliptic systems.     

Torsional rigidity of submanifolds with controlled geometry

We prove explicit upper and lower bounds for the torsional rigidity of extrinsic domains of submanifolds P ^m with controlled radial mean curvature in ambient Riemannian manifolds N ⁿ with a pole p and with sectional curvatures bounded from above and from below, respectively. These bounds are given in terms of the torsional rigidities of corresponding Schwarz-symmetrization of the domains in warped product model spaces. Our main results are obtained using methods from previously established isoperimetric inequalities, as found in, e.g., Markvorsen and Palmer (Proc Lond Math Soc 93:253--272, 2006; Extrinsic isoperimetric analysis on submanifolds with curvatures bounded from below, p. 39, preprint, 2007). As in that paper we also characterize the geometry of those situations in which the bounds for the torsional rigidity are actually attained and study the behavior at infinity of the so-called geometric average of the mean exit time for Brownian motion.     

Bubbling phenomena of Palais-Smale-like sequences ofm-harmonic type systems

In this paper, we study the bubbling phenomena of weak solution sequences of a class of degenerate quasilinear elliptic systems ofm-harmonic type. We prove that, under appropriate conditions, the energy is preserved during the bubbling process. The results apply tom-harmonic maps from a closed Riemannian manifoldM to a Riemannian homogeneous space, and tom-harmonic maps with constant volumes, and also to certain Palais-Smale sequences.     

Nonexistence of positive weak solutions of elliptic inequalities

In this paper we give sufficient conditions for the nonexistence of positive entire weak solutions of coercive and anticoercive elliptic inequalities, both of the p$p$-Laplacian and of the mean curvature type, depending also on u$u$ and x$x$ inside the divergence term, while a gradient factor is included on the right-hand side. In particular, to prove our theorems we use a technique developed by Mitidieri and Pohozaev in [E. Mitidieri, S.I. Pohozaev, A priori estimates and the absence of solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations and inequalities, Proc. Steklov Inst. Math., 234 (2001) 1–362], which relies on the method of test functions without using comparison and maximum principles. Their approach is essentially based first on a priori estimates and on the derivation of an asymptotics for the a priori estimate. Finally nonexistence of a solution is proved by contradiction.     

On bifurcation of solutions of the Yamabe problem in product manifolds

We study local rigidity and multiplicity of constant scalar curvature metrics in arbitrary products of compact manifolds. Using (equivariant) bifurcation theory we determine the existence of infinitely many metrics that are accumulation points of pairwise non-homothetic solutions of the Yamabe problem. Using local rigidity and some compactness results for solutions of the Yamabe problem, we also exhibit new examples of conformal classes (with positive Yamabe constant) for which uniqueness holds.     

Eigenvalue inequalities for the p-Laplacian on a Riemannian manifold and estimates for the heat kernel

In this paper, we successfully generalize the eigenvalue comparison theorem for the Dirichlet p  -Laplacian (1<p<∞$1<p<\infty$) obtained by Matei (2000) [19] and Takeuchi (1998) [22], respectively. Moreover, we use this generalized eigenvalue comparison theorem to get estimates for the first eigenvalue of the Dirichlet p-Laplacian of geodesic balls on complete Riemannian manifolds with radial Ricci curvature bounded from below w.r.t. some point. In the rest of this paper, we derive an upper and lower bound for the heat kernel of geodesic balls of complete manifolds with specified curvature constraints, which can supply new ways to prove the most part of two generalized eigenvalue comparison results given by Freitas, Mao and Salavessa (2013) [9].     

On superlinear problems without the Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz condition

Existence and multiplicity results are obtained for superlinear p-Laplacian equations without the Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz condition. To overcome the difficulty that the Palais-Smale sequences of the Euler-Lagrange functional may be unbounded, we consider the Cerami sequences. Our results extend the recent results of Miyagaki and Souto [O. Miyagaki, M. Souto, Superlinear problems without Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz growth condition, J. Differential Equations 245 (2008) 3628-3638].     

Improved interpolation inequalities,relative entropy and fast diffusion equations

We consider a family of Gagliardo–Nirenberg–Sobolev interpolation inequalities which interpolate between Sobolev?s inequality and the logarithmic Sobolev inequality, with optimal constants. The difference of the two terms in the interpolation inequalities (written with optimal constant) measures a distance to the manifold of the optimal functions. We give an explicit estimate of the remainder term and establish an improved inequality, with explicit norms and fully detailed constants. Our approach is based on nonlinear evolution equations and improved entropy–entropy production estimates along the associated flow. Optimizing a relative entropy functional with respect to a scaling parameter, or handling properly second moment estimates, turns out to be the central technical issue. This is a new method in the theory of nonlinear evolution equations, which can be interpreted as the best fit of the solution in the asymptotic regime among all asymptotic profiles.     

Partial differential equations with differential constraints

A geometric setting for constrained exterior differential systems on fibered manifolds with n-dimensional bases is proposed. Constraints given as submanifolds of jet bundles (locally defined by systems of first-order partial differential equations) are shown to carry a natural geometric structure, called the canonical distribution. Systems of second-order partial differential equations subjected to differential constraints are modeled as exterior differential systems defined on constraint submanifolds. As an important particular case, Lagrangian systems subjected to first-order differential constraints are considered. Different kinds of constraints are introduced and investigated (Lagrangian constraints, constraints adapted to the fibered structure, constraints arising from a (co)distribution, semi-holonomic constraints, holonomic constraints).     

Asymptotics of the porous media equation via Sobolev inequalities

Let M be a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary. Consider the porous media equation , u(0)=u₀∈L^q, ? being the Laplace-Beltrami operator. Then, if q?2∨(m-1), the associated evolution is L^q-L^∞ regularizing at any time t>0 and the bound ‖u(t)‖_∞?C(u₀)/t^β holds for t<1 for suitable explicit C(u₀),γ. For large t it is shown that, for general initial data, u(t) approaches its time-independent mean with quantitative bounds on the rate of convergence. Similar bounds are valid when the manifold is not compact, but u(t) approaches u≡0 with different asymptotics. The case of manifolds with boundary and homogeneous Dirichlet, or Neumann, boundary conditions, is treated as well. The proof stems from a new connection between logarithmic Sobolev inequalities and the contractivity properties of the nonlinear evolutions considered, and is therefore applicable to a more abstract setting.     

Complex Monge-Ampère equations and totally real submanifolds

We study the Dirichlet problem for complex Monge-Ampère equations in Hermitian manifolds with general (non-pseudoconvex) boundary. Our main result (Theorem 1.1) extends the classical theorem of Caffarelli, Kohn, Nirenberg and Spruck in Cn. We also consider the equation on compact manifolds without boundary, attempting to generalize Yau's theorems in the Kähler case. As applications of the main result we study some connections between the homogeneous complex Monge-Ampère (HCMA) equation and totally real submanifolds, and a special Dirichlet problem for the HCMA equation related to Donaldson's conjecture on geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics.     

Multiplicity results for interfaces of Ginzburg-Landau-Allen-Cahn equations in periodic media

The Ginzburg-Landau-Allen-Cahn equation is a variational model for phase coexistence and for other physical problems. It contains a term given by a kinetic part of elliptic type plus a double-well potential. We assume that the functional depends on the space variables in a periodic way.We show that given a plane with rational normal, there are minimal solutions, satisfying the following properties. These solutions are asymptotic to the pure phases and are separated by an interface. The convergence to the pure phases is exponentially fast. The interface lies at a finite distance M from the chosen plane, where M is a universal constant. Furthermore, these solutions satisfy some monotonicity properties with respect to integer translations (namely, integer translations are always comparable to the function).We then show that all the interfaces of the global periodic minimizers satisfy similar monotonicity and plane-like properties.We also consider the case of possibly irrationally oriented planes. We show that either there is a one parameter family of minimizers whose graphs provide a field of extremals or there are at least two solutions, one which is a minimizer and another one which is not. These solutions also have interfaces bounded by a universal constant, they enjoy monotonicity properties with respect to integer translations and the nonminimal solutions are trapped inside a gap of the lamination induced by the minimizers.     

Stability for semilinear elliptic variational inequalities depending on the gradient

In this work we give a result concerning the continuous dependence on the data for weak solutions of a class of semilinear elliptic variational inequalities (P_n) with a nonlinear term depending on the gradient of the solution. This paper can be seen as the second part of the work Matzeu and Servadei (2010) [9], in the sense that here we give a stability result for the C^1,α-weak solutions of problem (P_n) found in Matzeu and Servadei (2010) [9] through variational techniques. To be precise, we show that the solutions of (P_n), found with the arguments of Matzeu and Servadei (2010) [9], converge to a solution of the limiting problem (P), under suitable convergence assumptions on the data.     

New geometric aspects of Moser–Trudinger inequalities on Riemannian manifolds: the non-compact case

In the first part of the paper we investigate some geometric features of Moser–Trudinger inequalities on complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds. By exploring rearrangement arguments, isoperimetric estimates, and gluing local uniform estimates via Gromov's covering lemma, we provide a Coulhon, Saloff-Coste and Varopoulos type characterization concerning the validity of Moser–Trudinger inequalities on complete non-compact n-dimensional Riemannian manifolds $(n\ge 2)$ with Ricci curvature bounded from below. Some sharp consequences are also presented both for non-negatively and non-positively curved Riemannian manifolds, respectively. In the second part, by combining variational arguments and a Lions type symmetrization-compactness principle, we guarantee the existence of a non-zero isometry-invariant solution for an elliptic problem involving the n-Laplace–Beltrami operator and a critical nonlinearity on n-dimensional homogeneous Hadamard manifolds. Our results complement in several directions those of Y. Yang [J. Funct. Anal., 2012].     

Existence of radial solutions with prescribed number of zeros for elliptic equations and their Morse index

In this paper we consider radially symmetric solutions of the nonlinear Dirichlet problem Δu+f(|x|,u)=0 in Ω, where Ω is a ball in RN, N?3 and f satisfies some appropriate assumptions. We prove existence of radially symmetric solutions with k prescribed number of zeros. Moreover, when f(|x|,u)=K(|x|)|u|^p−1u, using the uniqueness result due to Tanaka (2008) [21], we verify that these solutions are non-degenerate and we prove that their radial Morse index is exactly k.