Rigidity of the critical point equation

On a compact n ‐dimensional manifold M, it was shown that a critical point metric g of the total scalar curvature functional, restricted to the space of metrics with constant scalar curvature of volume 1, satisfies the critical point equation ([5], p. 3222). In 1987 Besse proposed a conjecture in his book [1], p. 128, that a solution of the critical point equation is Einstein (Conjecture A, hereafter). Since then, number of mathematicians have contributed for the proof of Conjecture A and obtained many geometric consequences as its partial proofs. However, none has given its complete proof yet. The purpose of the present paper is to prove Theorem 1, stating that a compact 3‐dimensional manifold M is isometric to the round 3‐sphere S³ if ker s^′*_g ≠ 0 and its second homology vanishes. Note that this theorem implies that M is Einstein and hence that Conjecture A holds on a 3‐dimensional compact manifold under certain topological conditions (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Complex<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">n</Emphasis>-dimensional manifolds with a real<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">n</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>-dimensional automorphism group

The main theorem of this article is a characterization of non compact simply connected complete Kobayashi hyperbolic complex manifold of dimension n≽ 2 with real n ²-dimensional holomorphic automorphism group. Together with the earlier work [11, 12] and [13] of Isaev and Krantz, this yields a complete classification of the simply-connected, complete Kobayashi hyperbolic manifolds with dim_ℝ Aut (M) ≽ (dim_ℂ M)².     

Cusp Cross-Sections of Hyperbolic Orbifolds by Heisenberg Nilmanifolds I

Long and Reid [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 2: 285–296, 2002] have shown that the diffeomorphism class of every Riemannian flat manifold of dimension n≥ 3 arises as a cusp cross-section of a complete finite volume real hyperbolic (n+1)-orbifold. For the complex hyperbolic case, McReynolds [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 4: 721–755, 2004] proved that every 3-dimensional infranilmanifold is diffeomorphic to a cusp cross-section of a complete finite volume complex hyperbolic 2-orbifold. Moreover, he gave a necessary and sufficient condition for a Heisenberg infranilmanifold to be realized as a cusp cross-section of finite volume (arithmetically) complex hyperbolic orbifold. We study these realization problems by using Seifert fibrations.     

The projective rank of a Hermitian symmetric space: a geometric approach and consequences

The “Projective Rank” of a compact connected irreducible Hermitian symmetric space M has been defined as the maximal complex dimension of the compact totally geodesic complex submanifolds having positive holomorphic bisectional curvature with the induced K?hler metric. We present a geometric way to compute this invariant for the space M based on ideas developed in [1], [13] and [14]. As a consequence we obtain the following inequality relating the Projective Rank, Pr(M), the usual rank,rk(M), and the 2-number # (which is known to be equal to the Euler-Poincare characteristic in these spaces). Received: 6 June 2000 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

The projective rank of a Hermitian symmetric space: A geometric approach and consequences

The “Projective Rank” of a compact connected irreducible Hermitian symmetric space M has been defined as the maximal complex dimension of the compact totally geodesic complex submanifolds having positive holomorphic bisectional curvature with the induced K?hler metric. We present a geometric way to compute this invariant for the space M based on ideas developed in [1], [13] and [14]. As a consequence we obtain the following inequality relating the Projective Rank, the usual rank, and the 2-number (which is known to be equal to the Euler-Poincare characteristic in these spaces). Received: 6 June 2000 / Revised version: 6 August 2001 / Published online: 4 April 2002     

Variation de la L-norme de la 1-forme de torsion sur une variété hermitienne compacte

Let (M,g) be a complex compact hermitian manifold with dimension complex dim_C = m ≥ 2, we study in this paper the critical points of the functional: in the set of the hermitian metrics with total volume equal to one, where θ is 1 — form of torsion of the Chern connexion and r is a real number such that 1 ≤ r ≤ m. We show that the critical points of this functional are exactly a semi-kählerian metric.     

Spectral Analysis of Magnetic Laplacians on Conformally Cusp Manifolds

We consider an open manifold which is the interior of a compact manifold with boundary. Assuming gauge invariance, we classify magnetic fields with compact support into being trapping or non-trapping. We study spectral properties of the associated magnetic Laplacian for a class of Riemannian metrics which includes complete hyperbolic metrics of finite volume. When B is non-trapping, the magnetic Laplacian has nonempty essential spectrum. Using Mourre theory, we show the absence of singular continuous spectrum and the local finiteness of the point spectrum. When B is trapping, the spectrum is discrete and obeys the Weyl law. The existence of trapping magnetic fields with compact support depends on cohomological conditions, indicating a new and very strong long-range effect. In the non-gauge invariant case, we exhibit a strong Aharonov–Bohm effect. On hyperbolic surfaces with at least two cusps, we show that the magnetic Laplacian associated to every magnetic field with compact support has purely discrete spectrum for some choices of the vector potential, while other choices lead to a situation of limiting absorption principle. We also study perturbations of the metric. We show that in the Mourre theory it is not necessary to require a decay of the derivatives of the perturbation. This very singular perturbation is then brought closer to the perturbation of a potential. Submitted: February 6, 2007. Accepted: August 20, 2007.     

A topological minorization for the volume of vector fields on 5-manifolds

A vector field X on a Riemannian manifold determines a submanifold in the tangent bundle. The volume of X is the volume of this submanifold for the induced Sasaki metric. When M is compact, the volume is well defined and, usually, this functional is studied for unit fields. Parallel vector fields are trivial minima of this functional.For manifolds of dimension 5, we obtain an explicit result showing how the topology of a vector field with constant length influences its volume. We apply this result to the case of vector fields that define Riemannian foliations with all leaves compact.Received: 29 April 2004     

Hausdorff Dimension and Limits of Kleinian Groups

In this paper we prove that if M is a compact, hyperbolizable 3-manifold, which is not a handlebody, then the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set is continuous in the strong topology on the space of marked hyperbolic 3-manifolds homotopy equivalent to M. We similarly observe that for any compact hyperbolizable 3-manifold M (including a handlebody), the bottom of the spectrum of the Laplacian gives a continuous function in the strong topology on the space of topologically tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds homotopy equivalent to M. Submitted: January 1998.     

Stability of hyperbolic manifolds with cusps under Ricci flow

We show that every finite volume hyperbolic manifold of dimension greater than or equal to 3 is stable under rescaled Ricci flow, i.e. that every small perturbation of the hyperbolic metric flows back to the hyperbolic metric again. Note that we do not need to make any decay assumptions on this perturbation.     

Nondegeneracy of critical points of the mean curvature of the boundary for Riemannian manifolds

Let M be a compact smooth Riemannian manifold of finite dimension n+1 with boundary ? M which is a compact n-dimensional submanifold of M. We show that for generic Riemannian metric g, all the critical points of the mean curvature of ?M are nondegenerate.     

Surgery and the Yamabe Invariant

We study the Yamabe invariant of manifolds obtained as connected sums along submanifolds of codimension greater than 2. In particular: for a compact connected manifold M with no metric of positive scalar curvature, we prove that the Yamabe invariant of any manifold obtained by performing surgery on spheres of codimension greater than 2 on M is not smaller than the invariant of M. Submitted: August 1998.     

Complex hyperbolic hyperplane complements

We study spaces obtained from a complete finite volume complex hyperbolic n-manifold M by removing a compact totally geodesic complex (n − 1)-submanifold S. The main result is that the fundamental group of M\ S{M{\setminus} S} is relatively hyperbolic, relative to fundamental groups of the ends of M\ S{M{\setminus} S} , and M\ S{M{\setminus} S} admits a complete finite volume A-regular Riemannian metric of negative sectional curvature. It follows that for n > 1 the fundamental group of M\ S{M{\setminus} S} satisfies Mostow-type Rigidity, has solvable word and conjugacy problems, has finite asymptotic dimension and rapid decay property, satisfies Borel and Baum-Connes conjectures, is co-Hopf and residually hyperbolic, has no nontrivial subgroups with property (T), and has finite outer automorphism group. Furthermore, if M is compact, then the fundamental group of M\ S{M{\setminus} S} is biautomatic and satisfies Strong Tits Alternative.     

Deformations of the hemisphere that increase scalar curvature

Consider a compact Riemannian manifold M of dimension n whose boundary ?M is totally geodesic and is isometric to the standard sphere S ^n?1. A natural conjecture of Min-Oo asserts that if the scalar curvature of M is at least n(n?1), then M is isometric to the hemisphere $S_{+}^{n}$ equipped with its standard metric. This conjecture is inspired by the positive mass theorem in general relativity, and has been verified in many special cases. In this paper, we construct counterexamples to Min-Oo??s Conjecture in dimension n??3.     

The missing boundary problem for smooth manifolds of dimension greater than or equal to six

Let M be a non-compact differentiable manifold of dimension ?6. Suppose both M and ?M are 1-ended spaces. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for M to be diffeomorphic to the complement of a compact subset of the boundary of a compact manifold. There are four conditions: two geometric conditions and two algebraic obstructions. We give examples to show that these obstructions are not always trivial. In particular, an example of a manifold is constructed which does not have a completion but any tubular neighborhood of codimension ?3 has a completion. We also classify the different ways to complete a given manifold.     

Non-Wrapping of Hyperbolic Interval Bundles

We demonstrate a condition on the boundary at infinity of a hyperbolic interval bundle N that guarantees that, for any associated geometric limit, there is a compact core for N which embeds under the covering map. The proof involves an analysis of the geometry of torus cusps in a hyperbolic manifold, and techniques of Anderson, Canary and McCullough [AnCM]. Together with results of Holt–Souto [HS] this shows that the locus of non-local-connectivity of the space of once-punctured torus groups is not dense, and describes a relatively open subset of the boundary of the space of once-punctured torus groups consisting of points of non-self-bumping. Received: April 2006, Revision: May 2007, Accepted: December 2007     

Spectrum,harmonic functions,and hyperbolic metric spaces

The main result of the paper says, in particular, that ifM is a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold with Ricci curvature bounded from below and without focal points, which is also a hyperbolic metric space in the sense of Gromov, then the top λ of theL ²-spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator Δ is negative, the Martin boundary ofM corresponding to Δ is homeomorphic to the sphere at infinityS(∞), and the harmonic measures onS(∞) have positive Hausdorff dimensions. These generalize the results of [AS], [An1], [Ki], [KL] and [BK]. Moreover, if dimM=2, then in the presence of the other conditions the hyperbolicity is also necessary for λ<0. The machinery consists of a combination of geometrical and probabilistic means. Partially supported by U.S.-Israel BSF. Partially sponsored by the Edmund Landau Center for Research in Mathematical Analysis, supported by the Minerva Foundation (Germany).     

Analytic torsion of complete hyperbolic manifolds of finite volume

In this paper we define the analytic torsion for a complete oriented hyperbolic manifold of finite volume. It depends on a representation of the fundamental group. For manifolds of odd dimension, we study the asymptotic behavior of the analytic torsion with respect to certain sequences of representations obtained by restriction of irreducible representations of the group of isometries of the hyperbolic space to the fundamental group.     

Anomaly formulas for the complex-valued analytic torsion on compact bordisms

We extend the complex-valued analytic torsion, introduced by Burghelea and Haller on closed manifolds, to compact Riemannian bordisms. We do so by considering a flat complex vector bundle over a compact Riemannian manifold, endowed with a fiberwise nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. The Riemmanian metric and the bilinear form are used to define non-selfadjoint Laplacians acting on vector-valued smooth forms under absolute and relative boundary conditions. In order to define the complex-valued analytic torsion in this situation, we study spectral properties of these generalized Laplacians. Then, as main results, we obtain so-called anomaly formulas for this torsion. Our reasoning takes into account that the coefficients in the heat trace asymptotic expansion associated to the boundary value problem under consideration, are locally computable. The anomaly formulas for the complex-valued Ray–Singer torsion are derived first by using the corresponding ones for the Ray–Singer metric, obtained by Brüning and Ma on manifolds with boundary, and then an argument of analytic continuation. In odd dimensions, our anomaly formulas are in accord with the corresponding results of Su, without requiring the variations of the Riemannian metric and bilinear structures to be supported in the interior of the manifold.     

Kodaira dimensions and hyperbolicity of nonpositively curved compact Kähler manifolds

In this article, we prove that a compact Kähler manifold M ⁿ with real analytic metric and with nonpositive sectional curvature must have its Kodaira dimension, its Ricci rank and the codimension of its Euclidean de Rham factor all equal to each other. In particular, M ⁿ is of general type if and only if it is without flat de Rham factor. By using a result of Lu and Yau, we also prove that for a compact Kähler surface M ² with nonpositive sectional curvature, if M ² is of general type, then it is Kobayashi hyperbolic.