The Bernstein problem for affine maximal hypersurfaces

In this paper, we prove the validity of the Chern conjecture in affine geometry [18], namely that an affine maximal graph of a smooth, locally uniformly convex function on two dimensional Euclidean space, R ², must be a paraboloid. More generally, we shall consider the n-dimensional case, R ⁿ , showing that the corresponding result holds in higher dimensions provided that a uniform, “strict convexity” condition holds. We also extend the notion of “affine maximal” to non-smooth convex graphs and produce a counterexample showing that the Bernstein result does not hold in this generality for dimension n≥10. Oblatum 16-IV-1999 & 4-XI-1999?Published online: 21 February 2000     

On complete noncompact submanifolds with constant mean curvature and finite total curvature in Euclidean spaces

In this paper, we consider a complete noncompact n-submanifold M with parallel mean curvature vector h in an Euclidean space. If M has finite total curvature, we prove that M must be minimal, so that M is an affine n-plane if it is strongly stable. This is a generalization of the result on strongly stable complete hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature in Received: 30 June 2005     

An affine characterization of the Veronese surface

IfM ² is a nondegenerate surface in a 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold , then there is a natural affine metricg defined onM ². It is shown that this affine metricg is conformal to the induced Riemannian metric onM ² if and only ifM ² is a minimal submanifold of in the usual Riemannian sense. If the conformal factor is a constant, then the two metrics are said to be homothetic. It is shown that there does not exist a nondegenerate surface in Euclidean space ⁴ or hyperbolic spaceH ⁴ whose affine metric is homothetic to the induced Riemannian metric. Furthermore, ifM ² is a nondegenerate surface in the standard 4-sphereS ⁴ whose affine metric is homothetic to the induced Riemannian metric, thenM ² is a Veronese surface.T. Cecil was supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-9101961.     

Affine immersion ofn-dimensional manifold intoR n+n(n+1)/2 and affine minimality

We formulate an affine theory of immersions of ann-dimensional manifold into the Euclidean space of dimensionn+n(n+1)/2 and give a characterization of critical immersions relative to the induced volume functional in terms of the affine shape operator.     

Affine differential geometry of surfaces in ℝ4

Employing the method of moving frames, i.e. Cartan's algorithm, we find a complete set of invariants for nondegenerate oriented surfacesM ² in ⁴ relative to the action of the general affine group on ⁴. The invariants found include a normal bundle, a quadratic form onM ² with values in the normal bundle, a symmetric connection onM ² and a connection on the normal bundle. Integrability conditions for these invariants are also determined. Geometric interpretations are given for the successive reductions to the bundle of affine frames overM ², obtained by using the method of moving frames, that lead to the aforementioned invariants. As applications of these results we study a class of surfaces known as harmonic surfaces, finding for them a complete set of invariants and their integrability conditions. Further applications involve the study of homogeneous surfaces; these are surfaces which are fixed by a group of affine transformations that act transitively on the surface. All homogeneous harmonic surfaces are determined.     

Complete hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature and finite L p norm curvature in Euclidean spaces

In this paper, we consider complete hypersurfaces in R ⁿ⁺¹ with constant mean curvature H and prove that M ⁿ is a hyperplane if the L ² norm curvature of M ⁿ satisfies some growth condition and M ⁿ is stable. It is an improvement of a theorem proved by H. Alencar and M. do Carmo in 1994. In addition, we obtain that M ⁿ is a hyperplane (or a round sphere) under the condition that M ⁿ is strongly stable (or weakly stable) and has some finite L ^p norm curvature. Received: 14 July 2007     

On some properties of the curvature and Ricci tensors in complex affine geometry

We present a new approach — which is more general than the previous ones — to the affine differential geometry of complex hypersurfaces inC ⁿ⁺¹. Using this general approach we study some curvature conditions for induced connections.The research supported by Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and KBN grant no. 2 P30103004.     

An Optimal Inequality and Extremal Classes of Affine Spheres in Centroaffine Geometry

A hypersurface f : M → Rⁿ⁺¹ in an affine (n+1)-space is called centroaffine if its position vector is always transversal to f_*(TM) in Rⁿ⁺¹. In this paper, we establish a general optimal inequality for definite centroaffine hypersurfaces in Rⁿ⁺¹ involving the Tchebychev vector field. We also completely classify the hypersurfaces which verify the equality case of the inequality.     

Conformal capacities and conformally invariant functions on Riemannian manifolds

This paper develops the theory of conformal invariants initiated inJ. Differential Geom 8 (1973), 487–510 for a Riemannian manifoldM with dimensionn2. We construct and study four conformally invariant functions M, M, M, M resp. depending on 4, 3 or 2 points onM, defined as extremal capacities for condensers associated with those points. These functions have similarities with the classical invariants onS ⁿ ,R ⁿ orH ⁿ . Their properties, and especially their continuity, are efficient tools for solving some problems of conformal geometry in the large.     

Number of Singularities of Stable Maps

Sharp estimates for the Ricci curvature of a submanifold M ⁿ of an arbitrary Riemannian manifold N ^n+p are established. It is shown that the equality in the lower estimate of the Ricci curvature of M ⁿ in a space form N ^n+p (c) is achieved only when M ⁿ is quasiumbilical with a flat normal bundle. In the case when the codimension p satisfies 1 ≤ p ≤ n − 3, the only submanifolds in N ^n+p (c) on which the Ricci curvature is minimal are the conformally flat ones with a flat normal bundle.      

Minimal surfaces in R3 with one end¶and bounded curvature

We study complete minimal surfaces M immersed in R ³, with finite topology and one end. We give conditions which oblige M to be conformally a compact Riemann surface punctured in one point, and we show that M can be parametrized by meromorphic data on this compact Riemann surface. The goal is to prove that when M is also embedded, then the end of M is asymptotic to an end of a helicoid (or M is a plane). Received: 13 January 1997 / Revised version: 15 September 1997     

Affine minimal hypersurfaces of rotation

We give a complete list of affine minimal surfaces inA ³ with Euclidean rotational symmetry, completing the treatise given in [1] and prove that these surfaces have maximal affine surface area within the class of all affine surfaces of rotation satisfying suitable boundary conditions. Besides we show that for rotationally symmetric locally strongly convex affine minimal hypersurfaces inA ⁿ ,n4, the second variation of the affine surface area is negative definite under certain conditions on the meridian.     

HORIZONTAL DISTRIBUTIONS ON SPACES OF FIBERS

Abstract

Geometric methods for systems of partial differential equations and multiple integral problems in the calculus of variations lead naturally to differentiable manifolds that resemble fiber bundles but do not possess a structure group; in terms of local coordinates, π:B→M_n|(xⁱ, q^α)→(xⁱ), dim(B) = N + n, dim(M_n) = n. The standard notions of horizontal distributions, horizontal and vertical subspaces of T(B), T(B) = V(B) ⊕ H(B), horizontal lifts of curves in M_n, and horizontal and vertical dual subspaces with Λ¹(B) = V*(B) ⊕ H*(B) are shown to be well defined in B. The absence of a structure group is compensated for by an analysis based on the homogeneous ideals V and H that are generated by the canonical bases of V*(B) and H*(B), respectively. The differential system constructed from the generators of the horizontal ideal is shown to lead to a unique system of connection 1-forms and torsion 2-forms under the requirements that they have vacuous intersections with the horizontal ideal. The horizontal ideal is shown to be completely integrable if and only if the torsion 2-forms vanish throughout B, in which case the curvature 2-forms are congruent to zero mod H, and the curvature 2-forms are shown to have a vacuous intersection with H if and only if the horizontal distribution is affine. The paper concludes with a study of the mapping properties of the connection, torsion and curvature. These are significantly more general than those of a fiber bundle since the absence of a structure group allows mappings of the form 'xⁱ = φⁱ(x,q), 'q^α = φ^α (x,q).     

Separation by a codimension-1 map with a normal crossing point

Letf:M ^n–1N ⁿ be an immersion with normal crossings of a closed orientable (n–1)-manifold into an orientablen-manifold. We show, under a certain homological condition, that iff has a multiple point of multiplicitym, then the number of connected components ofN–f(M) is greater than or equal tom+1, generalizing results of Biasi and Romero Fuster (Illinois J. Math. 36 (1992), 500–504) and Biasi, Motta and Saeki (Topology Appl. 52 (1993), 81–87). In fact, this result holds more generally for every codimension-1 continuous map with a normal crossing point of multiplicitym. We also give various geometrical applications of this theorem, among which is an application to the topology of generic space curves.     

The torsion of a submanifold of a Riemannian manifold

For a submanifoldM ⁿ of a Riemannian manifoldM ^q, the concept of a torsion bivector at the point x M ⁿ for given one- and two-dimensional directions fromT _x M ⁿ is introduced using only the first and second fundamental forms ofM ⁿ. Its relation to the concept of Gaussian torsion is then established. It is proved that: 1) equality to zero of the torsion bivector is necessary and, whenM ⁿ is a nondevelopable surface of a space of constant curvature with nonzero second fundamental form, is also sufficient for the "flattening" ofM ⁿ into some totally geodesicM ⁿ⁺¹ inM ^q; 2) when n = 2, the independence of the nonzero torsion bivector of direction characterizes a minimalM ² inM ^q.Translated from Ukrainskii Geometricheskii Sbornik, No. 34, pp. 39–42, 1991.     

On a class of Einstein hypersurfaces immersed in a Riemannian manifold

Let x:M→ be an isometric immersion of a hypersurface M into an (n+1)-dimensional Riemannian manifold and let ρ _i  (i∈{1,...,n}) be the principal curvatures of M. We denote by E and P the distinguished vector field and the curvature vector field of M, respectively, in the sense of [8].?If M is structured by a P-parallel connection [7], then it is Einsteinian. In this case, all the curvature 2-forms are exact and other properties induced by E and P are stated.?The principal curvatures ρ _i are isoparametric functions and the set (ρ₁,...,ρ _n ) defines an isoparametric system [10].?In the last section, we assume that, in addition, M is endowed with an almost symplectic structure. Then, the dual 1-form π=P ^♭ of P is symplectic harmonic. If M is compact, then its 2nd Betti number b ₂≥1. Received: April 7, 1999; in final form: January 7, 2000?Published online: May 10, 2001     

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     

The gradient of certain harmonic functions on manifolds of almost nonnegative Ricci curvature

In this paper we prove that when the Ricci curvature of a Riemannian manifoldM ⁿ is almost nonnegative, and a ballB _L (p)⊂M ⁿ is close in Gromov-Hausdorff distance to a Euclidean ball, then the gradient of the harmonic functionb defined in [ChCo1] does not vanish. In particular, these functions can serve as harmonic coordinates on balls sufficiently close to an Euclidean ball. The proof, is based on a monotonicity theorem that generalizes monotonicity of the frequency for harmonic functions onR ⁿ .