Semilinear elliptic problems and concentration compactness on non-compact Riemannian manifolds

Existence of solution for semilinear problem with the Laplace-Beltrami operator on non-compact Riemannian manifolds with rich symmetries is proved by concentration compactness based on actions of the manifold's isometry group.     

Harmonic manifolds with minimal horospheres

For a non-compact harmonic manifold M, we establish an integral formula for the derivative of a harmonic function on M. As an application we show that for the harmonic spaces having minimal horospheres, bounded harmonic functions are constant. The main result of this article states that the harmonic spaces having polynomial volume growth are flat. In other words, if the volume density function Θ of M has polynomial growth, then M is flat. This partially answers a question of Szabo namely, which density functions determine the metric of a harmonic manifold. Finally, we give some natural conditions which ensure polynomial growth of the volume function.     

Anderson-Cheeger limits of smooth Riemannian manifolds,and other Gromov-Hausdorff limits

We establish further regularity of the C^α and H^1,p limits of smooth, n-dimensional Riemannian manifolds with a lower bound on Ricci tensor and injectivity radius, and an upper bound on volume, first considered in [1]. We use this extra regularity to show that such a limit is a nonbranching geodesic space, as defined in [10], and to construct a variant of a geodesic flow for such a limit. We contrast the behavior of some slightly more singular limits.     

The Yamabe problem for almost Hermitian manifolds

The conformal class of a Hermitian metric g on a compact almost complex manifold (M^2m, J) consists entirely of metrics that are Hermitian with respect to J. For each one of these metrics, we may define a J-twisted version of the Ricci curvature, the J-Ricci curvature, and its corresponding trace, the J-scalar curvature s^J. We ask if the conformal class of g carries a metric with constant s^J, an almost Hermitian version of the usual Yamabe problem posed for the scalar curvature s. We answer our question in the affirmative. In fact, we show that (2m−1)s^J−s=2(2m−1)W(ω, ω), where W is the Weyl tensor and ω is the fundamental form of g. Using techniques developed for the solution of the problem for s, we construct an almost Hermitian Yamabe functional and its corresponding conformal invariant. This invariant is bounded from above by a constant that only depends on the dimension of M, and when it is strictly less than the universal bound, the problem has a solution that minimizes the almost complex Yamabe functional. By the relation above, we see that when W (ω, ω) is negative at least one point, or identically zero, our problem has a solution that minimizes the almost Hermitian Yamabe functional, and the universal bound is reached only in the case of the standard 6-sphere equipped with a suitable almost complex structure. When W(ω, ω) is non-negative and not identically zero, we prove that the conformal invariant is strictly less than the universal bound, thus solving the problem for this type of manifolds as well. We discuss some applications.     

The fundamental solution on manifolds with time-dependent metrics

In this article we prove the existence of a fundamental solution for the linear parabolic operator L(u) = (Δ − ∂/∂t − h)u, on a compact n-dimensional manifold M with a time-parameterized family of smooth Riemannian metrics g(t). Δ is the time-dependent Laplacian based on g(t), and h(x, t) is smooth. Uniqueness, positivity, the adjoint property, and the semigroup property hold. We further derive a Harnack inequality for positive solutions of L(u) = 0 on (M, g(t) on a time interval depending on curvature bounds and the dimension of M, and in the special case of Ricci flow, use it to find lower bounds on the fundamental solution of the heat operator in terms of geometric data and an explicit Euclidean type heat kernel.     

Flat manifolds isospectral on p-forms

We study isospectrality on p-forms of compact flat manifolds by using the equivariant spectrum of the Hodge-Laplacian on the torus. We give an explicit formula for the multiplicity of eigenvalues and a criterion for isospectrality. We construct a variety of new isospectral pairs, some of which are the first such examples in the context of compact Riemannian manifolds. For instance, we give pairs of flat manifolds of dimension n=2p, p≥2, not homeomorphic to each other, which are isospectral on p-forms but not on q-forms for q∈p, 0≤q≤n. Also, we give manifolds isospectral on p-forms if and only if p is odd, one of them orientable and the other not, and a pair of 0-isospectral flat manifolds, one of them Kähler, and the other not admitting any Kähler structure. We also construct pairs, M, M′ of dimension n≥6, which are isospectral on functions and such that β_p(M)<β_p(M’), for 04 and ? ₂ ² , respectively.     

Closed manifolds with small excess

In this article, we study closed Riemannian manifolds with small excess. We show that a closed connected Riemannian manifold with Ricci curvature and injectivity radius bounded from below is homeomorphic to a sphere if it has sufficiently small excess. We also show that a closed connected Riemannian manifold with weakly bounded geometry is a homotopy sphere if its excess is small enough.     

Riemannian manifolds carrying a pair of skew symmetric conformal vector fields

We deal with a Riemannian manifoldM carrying a pair of skew symmetric conformal vector fields (X, Y). The existence of such a pairing is determined by an exterior differential system in involution (in the sense of Cartan). In this case,M is foliated by 3-dimensional totally geodesic submanifolds. Additional geometric properties are proved. Supported by a JSPS postdoctoral fellowship.     

Existence and multiplicity of normal geodesics in Lorentzian manifolds

In this paper we shall prove some results pertaining to the existence and multiplicity of normal geodesics joining two given submanifolds of an orthogonal splitting Lorentzian manifold. To this aim, we look for critical points of an unbounded suitable functional by using a Saddle-Point Theorem and the relative category theory.     

The heat flow and harmonic maps between complete manifolds

We consider the existence, uniqueness and convergence for the long time solution to the harmonic map heat equation between two complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds, where the target manifold is assumed to have nonpositive curvature. As an application, we solve the Dirichlet problem at infinity for proper harmonic maps between two hyperbolic manifolds for a class of boundary maps. The boundary map under consideration has finite many points at which either it is not differentiable or has vanishing energy density.     

Continuous families of Riemannian manifolds, Isospectral on functions but not on 1-forms

The purpose of this paper is to present the first continuous families of Riemannian manifolds that are isospectral on functions but not on 1-forms, and, simultaneously, the first continuous families of Riemannian manifolds with the same marked length spectrum but not the same 1-form spectrum. Examples of isospectral manifolds that are not isospectral on forms are sparse, as most examples of isospectral manifolds can be explained by Sunada’s method or its generalizations, hence are strongly isospectral. The examples here are three-step Riemannian nilmanifolds, arising from a general method for constructing isospectral Riemannian nilmanifolds previously presented by the author. Gordon and Wilson constructed the first examples of nontrivial isospectral deformations, continuous families of Riemannian nilmanifolds. Isospectral manifolds constructed using the Gordon-Wilson method, a generalized Sunada method, are strongly isospectral and must have the same marked length spectrum. Conversely, Ouyang and Pesce independently showed that all isospectral deformations of two-step nilmanifolds must arise from the Gordon-Wilson method, and Eberlein showed that all pairs of two-step nilmanifolds with the same marked length spectrum must come from the Gordon-Wilson method. To the memory of Hubert Pesce, a valued friend and colleague.     

Embedding open Riemann surfaces in Riemannian manifolds

For the Riemann surface of the topological type, we can get a conformai model in orientable Riemannian manifolds. We will prove that there is a conformally equivalent model in orientable Riemannian manifolds for a given open Riemann surface. To end up we utilize Garsia 's Continuity lemma and Brouwer's Fixed Point lemma along with the Teichmüller theory.     

Length minimizing geodesics and the length spectrum of Riemannian two-step nilmanifolds

In the first part of this article, we prove an explicit lower bound on the distance to the cut point of an arbitrary geodesic in a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group G with a lieft invariant metric. As a result, we obtaine a lower bound on the injectivity radius of a simply connected two-step nilpotent Lie group with a left invariant metric. We use this lower bound to determine the form of certain length minimizing geodesics from the identity to elements in the center of G. We also give an example of a two-step nilpotent Lie group G such that along most geodesics in this group, the cut point and the first conjugate point do not coincide. In the second part of this article, we examine the relation between the Laplace spectrum and the length spectrum on nilmanifolds by showing that a method developed by Gordon and Wilson for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yields manifolds with the same length spectrum. As a consequence, all known methods for constructing families of isospectral two-step nilmanifolds necessarily yield manifolds with the same length spectrum. In memory of Robert Brooks     

Local volume estimate for manifolds with<Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>-bounded curvature

We obtain a local volume growth for complete, noncompact Riemannian manifolds with small integral bounds and with Bach tensor having finite L² norm in dimension 4.     

Admissible convergence in Cartan-Hadamard manifolds

In the context of a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold of pinched negative curvature, we show that several families of approach domains are equivalent for convergence to points of the boundary, and for the purposes of H^p-theory.     

An index formula on manifolds with fibered cusp ends

We consider a compact manifold X whose boundary is a locally trivial fiber bundle, and an associated pseudodifferential algebra that models fibered cusps at infinity. Using tracelike functionals that generate the 0-dimensional Hochschild cohomology groups we first express the index of a fully elliptic fibered cusp operator as the sum of a local contribution from the interior of X and a term that comes from the boundary. This leads to an abstract answer to the index problem formulated in [11]. We give a more precise answer for firstorder differential operators when the base of the boundary fiber bundle is S¹. In particular, for Dirac operators associated to a metric of the form near ∂X = {x = 0} with twisting bundle T we obtain

Isoscattering deformations for complete manifolds of negative curvature

We construct continuous families of nonisometric metrics on simply connected manifolds of dimension n ≥ 9which have the same scattering phase, the same resolvent resonances, and strictly negative sectional curvatures. This situation contrasts sharply with the case of compact manifolds of negative curvature, where Guillemin/Kazhdan, Min-Oo, and Croke/Sharafutdinov showed that there are no nontrivial isospectral deformations of such metrics.     

Space-time formulation of Harnack inequalities for curvature flows of hypersurfaces

We consider the motion of hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds by their curvature vectors. We show that the Harnack quadratic is an affine second fundamental form of the space-time track of the hypersurface. Given a solution to the Ricci flow, we show that with respect to an appropriate metric on space-time, the space-slices evolve by mean curvature flow. This enables us to identify the Harnack quadratic for the mean curvature flow with the trace Harnack quadratic for the Ricci flow.     

Small eigenvalues of geometrically finite manifolds

Let M be a complete geometrically finite manifold of bounded negative curvature, infinite volume, and dimension at least 3.We give both a lower bound for the bottom of the spectrum of M and an upper bound for the number of the small eigenvalues of M. These bounds only depend on the dimension, curvature bounds and the volume of the oneneighborhood of the convex core.     

Length spectra and<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-spectra of compact flat manifolds

We compare and contrast various length vs Laplace spectra of compact flat Riemannian manifolds. As a major consequence we produce the first examples of pairs of closed manifolds that are isospectral on p-forms for some p ≠ 0, but have different weak length spectrum. For instance, we give a pair of 4-dimensional manifolds that are isospectral on p-forms for p = 1, 3and we exhibit a length of a closed geodesic that occurs in one manifold but cannot occur in the other. We also exhibit examples of this kind having different injectivity radius and different first eigenvalue of the Laplace spectrum on functions. These results follow from a method that uses integral roots of the Krawtchouk polynomials. We prove a Poisson summation formula relating the p-eigenvalue spectrum with the lengths of closed geodesics. As a consequence we show that the Laplace spectrum on functions determines the lengths of closed geodesics and, by an example, that it does not determine the complex lengths. Furthermore we show that orientability is an audible property for closed flat manifolds. We give a variety of examples, for instance, a pair of manifolds isospectral on functions (resp. Sunada isospectral) with different multiplicities of length of closed geodesies and a pair with the same multiplicities of complex lengths of closed geodesies and not isospectral on p-forms for any p, or else isospectral on p-forms for only one value of p ≠ 0.