In the previous work [35], the second and third authors established a Bochner type formula on Alexandrov spaces. The purpose of this paper is to give some applications of the Bochner type formula. Firstly, we extend the sharp lower bound estimates of spectral gap, due to Chen-Wang [9, 10] and Bakry-Qian [6], from smooth Riemannian manifolds to Alexandrov spaces. As an application, we get an Obata type theorem for Alexandrov spaces. Secondly, we obtain (sharp) Li-Yau's estimate for positve solutions of heat equations on Alexandrov spaces.
In this paper, we establish a Bochner type formula on Alexandrov spaces with Ricci curvature bounded below. Yau's gradient estimate for harmonic functions is also obtained on Alexandrov spaces.
We obtain sharp lower bounds on the radii of inscribed balls for strictly convex isoperimetric domains lying in a 2-dimensional Alexandrov metric space of curvature bounded below. We also characterize the case when such bounds are attained.
In the paper \cite{yau1974convex}, Yau proved that: There is no non-trivial continuous concave function on a complete manifold with finite volume. We prove analogue theorems for several metric spaces, including Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded below/above, $C^α$-Hölder Riemannian manifolds.
We prove the following quantitative version of the celebrated Soap Bubble Theorem of Alexandrov. Let $S$ be a $C^2$ closed embedded hypersurface of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, $n\geq1$, and denote by $osc(H)$ the oscillation of its mean curvature. We prove that there exists a positive $\varepsilon$, depending on $n$ and upper bounds on the area and the $C^2$-regularity of $S$, such that if $osc(H) \leq \varepsilon$ then there exist two concentric balls $B_{r_i}$ and $B_{r_e}$ such that $S \subset \overline{B}_{r_e} \setminus B_{r_i}$ and $r_e -r_i \leq C \, osc(H)$, with $C$ depending only on $n$ and …
In this paper, we will show the Yau's gradient estimate for harmonic maps into a metric space $(X,d_X)$ with curvature bounded above by a constant $κ$, $κ\geq0$, in the sense of Alexandrov. As a direct application, it gives some Liouville theorems for such harmonic maps. This extends the works of S. Y. Cheng [4] and H. I. Choi [5] to harmonic maps into singular spaces.
We derive a sharp, localized version of elliptic type gradient estimates for positive solutions (bounded or not) to the heat equation. These estimates are akin to the Cheng-Yau estimate for the Laplace equation and Hamilton's estimate for bounded solutions to the heat equation on compact manifolds. As applications, we generalize Yau's celebrated Liouville theorem for positive harmonic functions to positive eternal solutions of the heat equation, under certain growth condition. Surprisingly, this Liouville theorem for the heat equation does not hold even in ${\bf R}^n$ without such a condition.…
Chung-Grigor'yan-Yau's inequality describes upper bounds of eigenvalues of Laplacian in terms of subsets ("input") and their volumes. In this paper we will show that we can reduce "input" in Chung-Grigor'yan-Yau's inequality in the setting of Alexandrov spaces satisfying CD$(0,\infty)$. We will also discuss a related conjecture for some universal inequality among eigenvalues of Laplacian.
In this paper, motivated by the works of Bakry et. al in finding sharp Li-Yau type gradient estimate for positive solutions of the heat equation on complete Riemannian manifolds with nonzero Ricci curvature lower bound, we first introduce a general form of Li-Yau type gradient estimate and show that the validity of such an estimate for any positive solutions of the heat equation reduces to the validity of the estimate for the heat kernel of the Riemannian manifold. Then, a sharp Li-Yau type gradient estimate on the three dimensional hyperbolic space is obtained by using the explicit expression…
We prove a sharp Alexandrov-Fenchel-type inequality for star-shaped, strictly mean convex hypersurfaces in hyperbolic $n$-space, $n\geq 3$. The argument uses two new monotone quantities along the inverse mean curvature flow. As an application we establish, in any dimension, an optimal Penrose inequality for asymptotically hyperbolic graphs carrying a minimal horizon, with the equality occurring if and only if the graph is an anti-de Sitter-Schwarzschild solution. This sharpens previous results by Dahl-Gicquaud-Sakovich and settles, for this class of initial data sets, the conjectured Penrose i…
We prove that the sharp Li-Yau equality holds for the conjugate heat kernel on shrinking Ricci solitons without any curvature or volume assumptions. This quantity yields several estimates which allows us to classify four dimensional, non-compact shrinking Ricci solitons, which arise as Type I singularity models to the Ricci flow.
We prove the sharp local L^1 - L^\infty smoothing estimate for the logarithmic fast diffusion equation, or equivalently, for the Ricci flow on surfaces. Our estimate almost instantly implies an improvement of the known L^p - L^\infty estimate for p larger than 1. It also has several applications in geometry, providing the missing step in order to pose the Ricci flow with rough initial data in the noncompact case, for example starting with a general noncompact Alexandrov surface, and giving the sharp asymptotics for the contracting cusp Ricci flow, as we show elsewhere.
In this paper we study the heat equation (of Hodge-Laplacian) deformation of $(p, p)$-forms on a Kähler manifold. After identifying the condition and establishing that the positivity of a $(p, p)$-form solution is preserved under such an invariant condition we prove the sharp differential Harnack (in the sense of Li-Yau-Hamilton) estimates for the positive solutions of the Hodge-Laplacian heat equation. We also prove a nonlinear version coupled with the Kähler-Ricci flow and some interpolating matrix differential Harnack type estimates for both the Kähler-Ricci flow and the Ricci flow.
In this paper, motivated by finding sharp Li-Yau type gradient estimate for positive solution of heat equations on complete Riemannian manifolds with negative Ricci curvature lower bound, we first introduce the notion of Li-Yau multiplier set and show that it can be computed by heat kernel of the manifold. Then, an optimal Li-Yau type gradient estimate is obtained on hyperbolic spaces by using recurrence relations of heat kernels on hyperbolic spaces. Finally, as an application, we obtain sharp Harnack inequalities on hyperbolic spaces.
Let $X\in\text{Alex}\,^n(-1)$ be an $n$-dimensional Alexandrov space with curvature $\ge -1$. Let the $r$-scale $(k,ε)$-singular set $\mathcal S^k_{ε,\,r}(X)$ be the collection of $x\in X$ so that $B_r(x)$ is not $εr$-close to a ball in any splitting space $\mathbb R^{k+1}\times Z$. We show that there exists $C(n,ε)>0$ and $β(n,ε)>0$, independent of the volume, so that for any disjoint collection $\big\{B_{r_i}(x_i):x_i\in \mathcal S_{ε,\,βr_i}^k(X)\cap B_1, \,r_i\le 1\big\}$, the packing estimate $\sum r_i^k\le C$ holds. Consequently, we obtain the Hausdorff measure estimates $\mathcal H^k(\m…
The Alexandrov Soap Bubble Theorem asserts that the distance spheres are the only embedded closed connected hypersurfaces in space forms having constant mean curvature. The theorem can be extended to more general functions of the principal curvatures $f(k_1,\ldots,k_{n-1})$ satisfying suitable conditions. In this paper we give sharp quantitative estimates of proximity to a single sphere for Alexandrov Soap Bubble Theorem in space forms when the curvature operator $f$ is close to a constant. Under an assumption that prevents bubbling, the proximity to a single sphere is quantified in terms of t…
In this paper, we will study the (linear) geometric analysis on metric measure spaces. We will establish a local Li-Yau's estimate for weak solutions of the heat equation and prove a sharp Yau's gradient gradient for harmonic functions on metric measure spaces, under the Riemannian curvature-dimension condition $RCD^*(K,N).$
We prove a generalization of the Li-Yau estimate for a board class of second order linear parabolic equations. As a consequence, we obtain a new Cheeger-Yau inequality and a new Harnack inequality for these equations. We also prove a Hamilton-Li-Yau estimate, which is a matrix version of the Li-Yau estimate, for these equations. This results in a generalization of Huisken's monotonicity formula for a family of evolving hypersurfaces. Finally, we also show that all these generalizations are sharp in the sense that the inequalities become equalities for a family of fundamental solutions, which h…
A Gauss equation is proved for subspaces of Alexandrov spaces of curvature bounded above by K. That is, a subspace of extrinsic curvature less than or equal to A, defined by a cubic inequality on the difference of arc and chord, has intrinsic curvature less than or equal to K+A^2. Sharp bounds on injectivity radii of subspaces, new even in the Riemannian case, are derived.
In this paper, we will establish an elliptic local Li-Yau gradient estimate for weak solutions of the heat equation on metric measure spaces with generalized Ricci curvature bounded from below. One of its main applications is a sharp gradient estimate for the logarithm of heat kernels. These results seem new even for smooth Riemannian manifolds.
We provide sharp stability estimates for the Alexandrov Soap Bubble Theorem in the hyperbolic space. The closeness to a single sphere is quantified in terms of the dimension, the measure of the hypersurface and the radius of the touching ball condition. As consequence we obtain a new pinching result for hypersurfaces in the hyperbolic space. Our approach is based on the method of moving planes. In this context we carefully review the method and we provide the first quantitative study in the hyperbolic space.
In this paper we prove a new matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton estimate for Kähler-Ricci flow. The form of this new Li-Yau-Hamilton estimate is obtained by the interpolation consideration originated in \cite{Ch1}. This new inequality is shown to be connected with Perelman's entropy formula through a family of differential equalities. In the rest of the paper, We show several applications of this new estimate and its linear version proved earlier in \cite{CN}. These include a sharp heat kernel comparison theorem, generalizing the earlier result of Li and Tian, a manifold version of Stoll's theorem on the …
We prove a uniform C^alpha estimate for collapsing Calabi-Yau metrics on the total space of a proper holomorphic submersion over the unit ball in C^m. The usual methods of Calabi, Evans-Krylov, and Caffarelli do not apply to this setting because the background geometry degenerates. We instead rely on blowup arguments and on linear and nonlinear Liouville theorems on cylinders. In particular, as an intermediate step, we use such arguments to prove sharp new Schauder estimates for the Laplacian on cylinders. If the fibers of the submersion are pairwise biholomorphic, our method yields a uniform …
In the first part, we derive a sharp gradient estimate for the log of Dirichlet heat kernel and Poisson heat kernel on domains, and a sharpened local Li-Yau gradient estimate that matches the global one. In the second part, without explicit curvature assumptions, we prove a global upper bound for the fundamental solution of an equation introduced by G. Perelman, i.e. the heat equation of the conformal Laplacian under backward Ricci flow. Further, under nonnegative Ricci curvature assumption, we prove a qualitatively sharp, global Gaussian upper bound.
In this paper we give Hamilton's Laplacian estimates for the heat equation on complete noncompact manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. As an application, combining Li-Yau's lower and upper bounds of the heat kernel, we give an estimate on Laplacian form of the heat kernel on complete manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature that is sharp in the order of time parameter for the heat kernel on the Euclidean space.
We consider the first non-zero eigenvalue $λ_1$ of the Laplacian on hyperbolic surfaces for which one disconnecting collar degenerates and prove that $8π\nabla\log(λ_1)$ essentially agrees with the dual of the differential of the degenerating Fenchel-Nielsen length coordinate. As a consequence, we can improve previous results of Schoen, Wolpert, Yau and Burger to obtain estimates with optimal error rates and obtain new information on the leading order terms of the polyhomogeneous expansion of $λ_1$ of Albin, Rochon and Sher.
This is the very first paper to focus on the CR analogue of Yau's uniformization conjecture in a complete noncompact pseudohermitian $(2n+1)$-manifold of vanishing torsion (i.e. Sasakian manifold) which is an odd dimensional counterpart of Kähler geometry. In this paper, we mainly deal with the problem of the sharp dimension estimate of CR holomorphic functions in a complete noncompact pseudohermitian manifold of vanishing torsion with nonnegative pseudohermitian bisectional curvature.
We study the radial parts of the Brownian motions on Kähler and quaternion Kähler manifolds. Thanks to sharp Laplacian comparison theorems, we deduce as a consequence a sharp Cheeger-Yau type lower bound for the heat kernels of such manifolds and also sharp Cheng's type estimates for the Dirichlet eigenvalues of metric balls.
We prove that if $(X,\mathsf{d},\mathfrak{m})$ is a metric measure space with $\mathfrak{m}(X)=1$ having (in a synthetic sense) Ricci curvature bounded from below by $K>0$ and dimension bounded above by $N\in [1,\infty)$, then the classic Lévy-Gromov isoperimetric inequality (together with the recent sharpening counterparts proved in the smooth setting by E. Milman for any $K\in \mathbb{R}$, $N\geq 1$ and upper diameter bounds) hold, i.e. the isoperimetric profile function of $(X,\mathsf{d},\mathfrak{m})$ is bounded from below by the isoperimetric profile of the model space. Moreover, if equal…
We extend several Cheeger-type isoperimetric bounds for convex sets in Euclidean space, due to Bobkov and Kannan-Lovász-Simonovits, to Riemannian manifolds having non-negative Ricci curvature. In order to extend Bobkov's bound, we require in addition an upper bound on the sectional curvature of the space, which permits us to use comparison tools in Cartan-Alexandrov-Toponogov (or CAT) spaces. Along the way, we also quantitatively improve our previous result that weak concentration assumptions imply a Cheeger-type isoperimetric bound, to a sharp bound with respect to all parameters.
We prove that a compact $RCD^*(0,N)$ (or equivalently $RCD(0,N)$) metric measure space, $\left(X, d, m \right)$, with $\diam X \le d$ and its first (nonzero) eigenvalue of the Laplacian (in the sense of Ambrosio-Gigli-Savaré) , $λ_1 = \frac{π^2}{d^2}$, has to be a circle or a line segment with diameter, $π$. This completely characterizes the equality in Zhong-Yang type sharp spectral gap estimates in the metric measure setting with Riemannian lower Ricci bounds. Among such spaces, are the familiar Riemannian manifolds with $\Ric \ge 0$, $(0,N)-$ Bakry-Émery manifolds, $(0,n)-$ Ricci limit spac…
In the first part of this paper, we prove local interior and boundary gradient estimates for p-harmonic functions on general Riemannian manifolds. With these estimates, following the strategy in recent work of R. Moser, we prove an existence theorem for weak solutions to the level set formulation of the 1/H (inverse mean curvature) flow for hypersurfaces in ambient manifolds satisfying a sharp volume growth assumption. In the second part of this paper, we consider two parabolic analogues of the p-Laplace equation and prove sharp Li-Yau type gradient estimates for positive solutions to these eq…
We prove Li-Yau-Kröger type bounds for Neumann-type eigenvalues of the poly-harmonic operator and of the biharmonic operator on bounded domains in a Euclidean space. We also prove sharp estimates for lower order eigenvalues of a biharmonic Steklov problem and of the Laplacian, which directly implies two sharp Reilly-type inequalities for the corresponding first nonzero eigenvalue.
A Cheng-Yau type estimate for positive biharmonic functions
School of Mathematics, Shandong University（山东大学数学学院）；Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University（香港理工大学应用数学系）；School of Sciences, Great Bay University（大湾区大学理学院）
The regularity theory for pluriclosed flow hinges on obtaining $C^α$ regularity for the metric assuming uniform equivalence to a background metric. This estimate was established in \cite{StreetsPCFBI} by an adaptation of ideas from Evans-Krylov, the key input being a sharp differential inequality satisfied by the associated `generalized metric' defined on $T \oplus T^*$. In this work we give a sharpened form of this estimate with a simplified proof. To begin we show that the generalized metric itself evolves by a natural curvature quantity, which leads quickly to an estimate on the associated …
