Shortest curves on convex hypersurfaces

We give a survey of results of the author on the geometry of geodesics and shortest curves on general convex hypersurfaces in spaces with constant curvature. We present qualitatively new theorems, which unite and generalize the main classical results; we give applications to the solution of a number of actual problems of geometry of convex surfaces in the large. We give generalizations of some well-known theorems on geodesics and shortest curves to Riemannian manifolds and nonregular multidimensional convex metrics.Translated from Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki, Seriya Problemy Geometrii, Vol. 16, pp. 155–194, 1984.     

On the total curvature of convex hypersurfaces in hyperbolic spaces

Let be two convex compact subsets of the hyperbolic space with smooth boundary. It is shown that the total curvature of the hypersurface is larger than the total curvature of .

     

Induced Riemannian structures on null hypersurfaces

Given a null hypersurface L of a Lorentzian manifold, we construct a Riemannian metric on it from a fixed transverse vector field ζ. We study the relationship between the ambient Lorentzian manifold, the Riemannian manifold and the vector field ζ. As an application, we prove some new results on null hypersurfaces, as well as known ones, using Riemannian techniques.     

Antipodal convex hypersurfaces

Motivated by a conjecture of Steinhaus, we consider the mapping F, associating to each point x of a convex hypersurface the set of all points at maximal intrinsic distance from x. We first provide two large classes of hypersurfaces with the mapping F single-valued and involutive. Afterwards we show that a convex body is smooth and has constant width if its double has the above properties of F, and we prove a partial converse to this result. Additional conditions are given, to characterize the (doubly covered) balls.     

Integral formulae on hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds

The coefficients of the complete set of n fundamental forms of a hypersuface V_n−1 imbedded in an n-dimensional Riemannian space V_n, as recently introduced[(5)], are used to construct certain tensor fields over V_n−1 which display some remarkable features. In particular, the divergences of these tensor fields can be expressed very simply in terms of polynomials involving the curvature tensor of V_n, the coefficients of the n fundamental forms, and the r^th curvatures of V_n−1. As the result of an application of the generalized divergence theorem of Gauss to these relations a set of integral formulae on V_n−1 is obtained. The integrands of these integral formulae can be expressed very simply in terms of the n fundamental forms of V_n−1. By successive specialization it is indicated how known integral theorems([2], [3], [6], [7], [8]) can be derived as particular cases, which is possible partly as a result of the fact that the polynomial referred to above vanishes identically whenever V_n is a space of constant curvature. This research was supported by the National Research Council of Canada. Entrata in Redazione il 21 agosto 1970.     

Elliptic Weingarten hypersurfaces of Riemannian products

Let $M^n$ be either a simply connected space form or a rank-one symmetric space of the noncompact type. We consider Weingarten hypersurfaces of $M\times \mathbb{R}$, which are those whose principal curvatures $k_1,\cdots ,k_n$ and angle function $𝛩$ satisfy a relation $W(k_1,\cdots ,k_n,{𝛩}^2)=0$, being W a differentiable function which is symmetric with respect to $k_1,\cdots ,k_n$. When $\partial W/\partial k_i>0$ on the positive cone of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, a strictly convex Weingarten hypersurface determined by W is said to be elliptic. We show that, for a certain class of Weingarten functions W, there exist rotational strictly convex Weingarten hypersurfaces of $M\times \mathbb{R}$ which are either topological spheres or entire graphs over M. We establish a Jellett–Liebmann-type theorem by showing that a compact, connected and elliptic Weingarten hypersurface of either ${\mathbb{S}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ or ${\mathbb{H}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ is a rotational embedded sphere. Other uniqueness results for complete elliptic Weingarten hypersurfaces of these ambient spaces are obtained. We also obtain existence results for constant scalar curvature hypersurfaces of ${\mathbb{S}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ and ${\mathbb{H}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ which are either rotational or invariant by translations (parabolic or hyperbolic). We apply our methods to give new proofs of the main results by Manfio and Tojeiro on the classification of constant sectional curvature hypersurfaces of ${\mathbb{S}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ and ${\mathbb{H}}^n\times \mathbb{R}$.     

Spherical-type hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold

We extend some rigidity results of Aleksandrov and Ros on compact hypersurfaces inR ⁿ to more general ambient spaces with the aid of the notion of almost conformal vector fields. These latter, at least locally, always exist and allow us to find interesting integral formulas fitting our purposes.     

Shortest paths with ordinal weights

We investigate the single-source-single-destination “shortest” path problem in directed, acyclic graphs with ordinal weighted arc costs. We define the concepts of ordinal dominance and efficiency for paths and their associated ordinal levels, respectively. Further, we show that the number of ordinally non-dominated path vectors from the source node to every other node in the graph is polynomially bounded and we propose a polynomial time labeling algorithm for solving the problem of finding the set of ordinally non-dominated path vectors from source to sink.     

Contracting convex hypersurfaces by curvature

We consider compact convex hypersurfaces contracting by functions of their curvature. Under the mean curvature flow, uniformly convex smooth initial hypersurfaces evolve to remain smooth and uniformly convex, and contract to points after finite time. The same holds if the initial data is only weakly convex or non-smooth, and the limiting shape at the final time is spherical. We provide a surprisingly large family of flows for which such results fail, by a variety of mechanisms: Uniformly convex hypersurfaces may become non-convex, and smooth ones may develop curvature singularities; even where this does not occur, non-uniformly convex regions and singular parts in the initial hypersurface may persist, including flat sides, ridges of infinite curvature, or ‘cylindrical’ regions where some of the principal curvatures vanish; such cylindrical regions may persist even if the speed is positive, and in such cases the hypersurface may even collapse to a line segment or higher-dimensional disc rather than to a point. We provide sufficient conditions for these various disasters to occur, and by avoiding these arrive at a class of flows for which arbitrary weakly convex initial hypersurfaces immediately become smooth and uniformly convex and contract to points.     

Regularity of isoperimetric hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds

We add to the literature the well-known fact that an isoperimetric hypersurface of dimension at most six in a smooth Riemannian manifold is a smooth submanifold. If the metric is merely Lipschitz, then is still Hölder differentiable.

     

Cylinder theorems for convex hypersurfaces

The research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research (Grant 93-011-179).     

Affine complete locally convex hypersurfaces

An open problem in affine geometry is whether an affine complete locally uniformly convex hypersurface in Euclidean (n+1)-space is Euclidean complete for n≥2. In this paper we give the affirmative answer. As an application, it follows that an affine complete, affine maximal surface in R ³ must be an elliptic paraboloid. Oblatum 16-VI-2001 & 27-II-2002?Published online: 29 April 2002