We use the bracket flow/algebraic soliton approach to study the Laplacian flow of $G_2$-structures and its solitons in the homogeneous case. We prove that any homogeneous Laplacian soliton is equivalent to a semi-algebraic soliton (i.e.\ a $G$-invariant $G_2$-structure on a homogeneous space $G/K$ that flows by pull-back of automorphisms of $G$ up to scaling). Algebraic solitons are geometrically characterized among Laplacian solitons as those with a `diagonal' evolution. Unlike the Ricci flow case, where any homogeneous Ricci soliton is isometric to an algebraic soliton, we have found, as an application of the above characterization, an example of a left-invariant closed semi-algebraic soliton on a nilpotent Lie group which is not equivalent to any algebraic soliton. The (normalized) bracket flow evolution of such a soliton is periodic. In the context of solvable Lie groups with a codimension-one abelian normal subgroup, we obtain long time existence for any closed Laplacian flow solution; furthermore, the norm of the torsion is strictly decreasing and converges to zero. We also classify algebraic solitons in this class and exhibit several explicit examples of closed expanding Laplacian solitons.
We investigate the existence of closed $G_2$-structures which are solitons for the Laplacian flow on nilpotent Lie groups. We obtain that seven of the twelve Lie algebras admitting a closed $G_2$-structure do admit a Laplacian soliton. Moreover, one of them admits a continuous family of Laplacian solitons which are pairwise non-homothetic and the Laplacian flow evolution of four of them is not diagonal.
We give the first examples of closed Laplacian solitons which are shrinking, and in particular produce closed Laplacian flow solutions with a finite-time singularity. Extremally Ricci pinched G2-structures (introduced by Bryant) which are steady Laplacian solitons have also been found. All the examples are left-invariant G2-structures on solvable Lie groups.
We prove a structure theorem for homogeneous closed gradient Laplacian solitons and use it to show some examples of closed Laplacian solitons cannot be made gradient. More specifically, we show that the Laplacian solitons on nilpotent Lie groups found by Nicolini are not gradient up to homothetic $G_2$-structures except for $N_1$, where $f$ must be a Gaussian. We also show that the closed $G_2$-structure $φ_{12}$ on $N_{12}$ constructed by Fernández-Fino-Manero cannot be a gradient soliton. We further show that closed non-torsion-free gradient Laplacian solitons on almost abelian solvmanifolds…
We show the existence of expanding solitons of the G$_2$-Laplacian flow on non-solvable Lie groups, and we give the first example of a steady soliton that is not an extremally Ricci pinched G$_2$-structure.
We give a one-parameter family of examples of shrinking Laplacian solitons, which are the second known solutions to the closed $G_2$-Laplacian flow with a finite-time singularity. The torsion forms and the Laplacian and Ricci operators of a large family of $G_2$-structures on different Lie groups are also studied. We apply these formulas to prove that, under a suitable extra condition, there is no closed eigenform for the Laplacian on such family.
We apply the general Ansatz in geometric flows on homogeneous spaces proposed by Jorge Lauret for the Laplacian co-flow of invariant $G_2$-structures on a Lie group, finding an explicit soliton on a particular almost Abelian $7$-manifold.
We prove a lower bound estimate for the first non-zero eigenvalue of the Witten-Laplacian on compact Riemannian manifolds. As an application, we derive a lower bound estimate for the diameter of compact gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. Our results improve some previous estimates which were obtained by the first author and Y. Sano in [12], and by B. Andrews and L. Ni in [1]. Moreover, we extend the diameter estimate to compact self-similar shrinkers of mean curvature flow.
We find explicit solutions of the Laplacian coflow of $G_2-$structures on seven-dimensional almost-abelian Lie groups. Moreover, we construct new examples of solitons for the Laplacian coflow which are not eigenforms of the Laplacian and we exhibit a solution, which is not a soliton, having a bounded interval of existence.
We consider the Laplacian "co-flow" of $G_2$-structures: $\frac{d}{dt} ψ= - Δ_d ψ$ where $ψ$ is the dual 4-form of a $G_2$-structure $ϕ$ and $Δ_d$ is the Hodge Laplacian on forms. This flow preserves the condition of the $G_2$-structure being coclosed ($dψ=0$). We study this flow for two explicit examples of coclosed $G_2$-structures with symmetry. These are given by warped products of an interval or a circle with a compact 6-manifold $N$ which is taken to be either a nearly Kähler manifold or a Calabi-Yau manifold. In both cases, we derive the flow equations and also the equations for soliton…
It is shown that the diameter of a compact shrinking Ricci soliton has a universal lower bound. This is proved by extending universal estimates for the first non-zero eigenvalue of Laplacian on compact Riemannian manifolds with lower Ricci curvature bound to a twisted Laplacian on compact shrinking Ricci solitons.
Left-invariant Cotton solitons on homogeneous manifolds are determined. Moreover, algebraic Cotton solitons are studied providing examples of non-invariant Cotton solitons, both in the Riemannian and Lorentzian homogeneous settings.
In this paper we consider connections between Ricci solitons and Einstein metrics on homogeneous spaces. We show that a semi-algebraic Ricci soliton admits an Einstein one-dimensional extension if the soliton derivation can be chosen to be normal. Using our previous work on warped product Einstein metrics, we show that every normal semi-algebraic Ricci soliton also admits a $k$-dimensional Einstein extension for any $k\geq 2$. We also prove converse theorems for these constructions and some geometric and topological structure results for homogeneous warped product Einstein metrics. In the appe…
We prove a uniqueness result for asymptotically conical (AC) gradient shrinking solitons for the Laplacian flow of closed G_2-structures: If two gradient shrinking solitons to Laplacian flow are asymptotic to the same closed G_2-cone, then their G_2-structures are equivalent, and in particular, the two solitons are isometric. The proof extends Kotschwar and Wang's argument for uniqueness of AC gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. We additionally show that the symmetries of the G_2-structure of an AC shrinker end are inherited from its asymptotic cone; under a mild assumption on the fundamental g…
We consider four-dimensional homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with non-trivial isotropy and completely classify the cases giving rise to non-trivial homogeneous Ricci solitons. In particular, we show the existence of non-compact homogeneous (and also invariant) pseudo-Riemannian Ricci solitons which are not isometric to solvmanifolds, and of conformally flat homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian Ricci solitons which are not symmetric.
We study three-dimensional generalized Ricci solitons, both in Riemannian and Lorentzian settings. We shall determine their homogeneous models, classifying left-invariant generalized Ricci solitons on three-dimensional Lie groups.
We examine homogeneous solitons of the ambient obstruction flow and, in particular, prove that any compact ambient obstruction soliton with constant scalar curvature is trivial. Focusing on dimension 4, we show that any homogeneous gradient Bach soliton that is steady must be Bach flat, and that the only non-Bach-flat shrinking gradient solitons are product metrics on $\mathbb{R}^2\times S^2$ and $\mathbb{R}^2 \times H^2$. We also construct a non-Bach-flat expanding homogeneous gradient Bach soliton. We also establish a number of results for solitons to the geometric flow by a general tensor $…
We study the evolution of homogeneous Ricci solitons under the bracket flow, a dynamical system on the space of all homogeneous spaces of dimension n with a q-dimensional isotropy, which is equivalent to the Ricci flow for homogeneous manifolds. We prove that algebraic solitons (i.e. the Ricci operator is a multiple of the identity plus a derivation) are precisely the fixed points of the system, and that a homogeneous Ricci soliton is isometric to an algebraic soliton if and only if the corresponding bracket flow solution is not chaotic, in the sense that its omega-limit set consists of a sing…
We discuss the geometry of homogeneous Ricci solitons. After showing the nonexistence of compact homogeneous and noncompact steady homogeneous solitons, we concentrate on the study of left invariant Ricci solitons. We show that, in the unimodular case, the Ricci soliton equation does not admit solutions in the set of left invariant vector fields. We prove that a left invariant soliton of gradient type must be a Riemannian product with a nontrivial Euclidean de Rham factor. As an application of our results we prove that any generalized metric Heisenberg Lie group is a nongradient left invariant…
It is shown that a locally homogeneous proper Ricci almost soliton is either of constant sectional curvature or a product $\mathbb{R}\times N(c)$, where $N(c)$ is a space of constant curvature.
We consider four dimensional conformally flat homogeneous pseudo Riemannian manifolds. According to forms (Seger types) of the Ricci operator, we provide a full classification of four dimensional pseudo Riemannian conformally flat homogeneous Ricci solitons.
The concept of soliton, in its most general version, allows us to find canonical or distinguished elements on any set provided with an equivalence relation and an `optimal' tangent direction at each point. We study in this paper solitons on homogeneous spaces, which have consolidated its role as a quite useful tool to find soliton geometric structures in Riemannian, pseudo-Riemannian, complex, symplectic and G2 geometries.
In this short note, we show that homogeneous Ricci solitons are algebraic. As an application, we see that the generalized Alekseevskii conjecture is equivalent to the Alekseevskii conjecture.
It is proved that an homogeneous toric bundles over a flag manifold G^\C/P admits a Kaehler-Ricci solitonic metric if and only if it is Fano. In particular, an homogeneous toric bundle of this kind is Kaehler-Einstein if and only if it is Fano and its Futaki invariant vanishes identically.
We describe the structure of the Ricci tensor on a locally homogeneous Lorentzian gradient Ricci soliton. In the non-steady case, we show the soliton is rigid in dimensions three and four. In the steady case, we give a complete classification in dimension three.
A Lie hypersurface in the complex hyperbolic space is an orbit of a cohomogeneity one action without singular orbit. In this paper, we classify Ricci soliton Lie hypersurfaces in the complex hyperbolic spaces.
In this article we classify expanding homogeneous Ricci solitons up to dimension 5, according to their presentation as homogeneous spaces. We obtain that they are all isometric to solvsolitons, and this in particular implies that the generalized Alekseevskii conjecture holds in these dimensions. In addition, we prove that the conjecture holds in dimension 6 provided the transitive group is not semisimple.
We prove structure results for homogeneous spaces that support a non-constant solution to two general classes of equations involving the Hessian of a function and an invariant 2-tensor. We also consider trace-free versions of these systems. Our results generalize earlier rigidity results for gradient Ricci solitons and warped product Einstein metrics. In particular, our results apply to homogeneous gradient solitons of any invariant curvature flow and give a new structure result for homogeneous conformally Einstein metrics.
In this work, we study metrics which are both homogeneous and Ricci soliton. If there exists a transitive solvable group of isometries on a Ricci soliton, we show that it is isometric to a solvsoliton. Moreover, unless the manifold is flat, it is necessarily simply-connected and diffeomorphic to $\mathbb R^n$. In the general case, we prove that homogeneous Ricci solitons must be semi-algebraic Ricci solitons in the sense that they evolve under the Ricci flow by dilation and pullback by automorphisms of the isometry group. In the special case that there exists a transitive semi-simple group of …
In this paper, it is shown that (with no additional assumptions) on a compact 7-dimensional manifold which admits a $G_2$-structure soliton solutions to the Laplacian flow of R. Bryant can only be shrinking or steady. We also show that the space of symmetries (vector fields that annihilate via the Lie derivative) of a torsion-free $G_2$-structure on a compact 7-manifold is canonically isomorphic to $H^1(M,\mathbb{R})$. Some comparisons with Ricci solitons are also discussed, along with some future directions of exploration.
In this paper, we prove the characterization of the $(K, \infty)$-super Perelman Ricci flows by various functional inequalities and gradient estimate for the heat semigroup generated by the Witten Laplacian on manifolds equipped with time dependent metrics and potentials. As a byproduct, we derive the Hamilton type dimension free Harnack inequality on manifolds with $(K, \infty)$-super Perelman Ricci flows. Based on a new second order differential inequality on the Boltzmann-Shannon entropy for the heat equation of the Witten Laplacian, we introduce a new $W$-entropy quantity and prove its mon…
In this paper we investigate the behavior of three-dimensional homogeneous solutions of the cross curvature flow using Riemannian groupoids. The Riemannian groupoid technique, introduced by John Lott, allows us to investigate the long term behavior of collapsing solutions of the flow, producing soliton solutions in the limit. We also review Lott's results on the long term behavior of three-dimensional homogeneous solutions of Ricci flow, demonstrating the coordinates we choose and reviewing the groupoid technique. We find cross curvature soliton metrics on Sol and Nil, and show that the cross …
The homogeneous affine surfaces have been classified by Opozda. They may be grouped into 3 families, which are not disjoint. The connections which arise as the Levi-Civita connection of a surface with a metric of constant Gauss curvature form one family; there are, however, two other families. For a surface in one of these other two families, we examine the Lie algebra of affine Killing vector fields and we give a complete classification of the homogeneous affine gradient Ricci solitons. The rank of the Ricci tensor plays a central role in our analysis.
We study both function theoretic and spectral properties of the weighted Laplacian $Δ_f$ on complete smooth metric measure space $(M,g,e^{-f}dv)$ with its Bakry-Émery curvature $Ric_f$ bounded from below by a constant. In particular, we establish a gradient estimate for positive $f-$harmonic functions and a sharp upper bound of the bottom spectrum of $Δ_f$ in terms of the lower bound of $Ric_{f}$ and the linear growth rate of $f.$ We also address the rigidity issue when the bottom spectrum achieves its optimal upper bound under a slightly stronger assumption that the gradient of $f$ is bounded…
We bring new insights into the long-standing Alekseevskii conjecture, namely that any connected homogeneous Einstein manifold of negative scalar curvature is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean space, by proving structural results which are actually valid for any homogeneous expanding Ricci soliton, and generalize many well-known results on Einstein solvmanifolds, solvsolitons and nilsolitons. We obtain that any homogeneous expanding Ricci soliton M=G/K is diffeomorphic to a product U/K x N, where U is a maximal reductive Lie subgroup of G and N is the maximal nilpotent normal subgroup of G, such tha…
This is the first of a sequence of two papers. Here, a simple algebraic characterization of the Fano manifolds in the class of homogeneous toric bundles over a flag manifold G^C/P is provided in terms of symplectic data. The result of this paper is used in the second paper, where it is proved that an homogeneous toric bundle over a flag manifold admits a Kaehler-Ricci solitonic metric if and only if it is Fano.
We consider $G_{2}$-structures on $7$-manifolds that are warped products of an interval and a six-manifold, which is either a Calabi-Yau manifold, or a nearly Kähler manifold. We show that in these cases the $G_{2}$-structures are determined by their torsion components up to a phase factor. We then study the modified Laplacian coflow $\frac{dψ}{dt}=Δ_{ψ}ψ+2d\left( \left( C-Tr T\right) φ\right) $ of these $G_{2}$-structures, where $φ$ and $ψ$ are the fundamental $3$-form and $4 $-form which define the $G_{2}$-structure and $Δ_{ψ}$ is the Hodge Laplacian associated with the $G_{2}$-structure. Th…
In this article we study homogeneous warped product Einstein metrics and its connections with homogeneous Ricci solitons. We show that homogeneous $(λ,n+m)$-Einstein manifolds (which are the bases of homogeneous warped product Einstein metrics) are one-dimensional extensions of algebraic solitons. This answers a question from a paper of C. He, P. Petersen and W. Wylie, where they prove the converse statement. Our proof is strongly based on their results, but it also makes use of sharp tools from the theory of homogeneous Ricci solitons. As an application, we obtain that any homogeneous warped …
We develop a general approach to study geometric flows on homogeneous spaces. Our main tool will be a dynamical system defined on the variety of Lie algebras called the bracket flow, which coincides with the original geometric flow after a natural change of variables. The advantage of using this method relies on the fact that the possible pointed (or Cheeger-Gromov) limits of solutions, as well as self-similar solutions or soliton structures, can be much better visualized. The approach has already been worked out in the Ricci flow case and for general curvature flows of almost-hermitian struct…
In this survey article, we discuss some topics on self-similar solutions to the Ricci flow and the mean curvature flow. Self-similar solutions to the Ricci flow are known as Ricci solitons. In the first part of this paper we discuss a lower diameter bound for compact manifolds with shrinking Ricci solitons. Such a bound can be obtained from an eigenvalue estimate for a twisted Laplacian, called the Witten-Laplacian. In the second part we discuss self-similar solutions to the mean curvature flow on cone manifolds. Many results have been obtained for solutions in $\bfR^n$ or $\bfC^n$. We see tha…
In this paper we prove some spectral properties of the drifted Laplacian of self-shrinkers properly immersed in gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. Then we use these results to prove some geometric properties of self-shrinkers. For example, we describe a collection of domains in the ambient space that cannot contain self-shrinkers.
Any expanding homogeneous Ricci soliton (in particular any homogeneous Einstein manifold of negative scalar curvature) can be obtained, up to isometry, from a Lie subgroup of a nilpotent Iwasawa group $N$ whose induced metric is a Ricci soliton. By nilpotent Iwasawa group we mean the nilpotent Lie group $N$ of the Iwasawa decomposition associated with a symmetric space of non-compact type. Motivated by this fact, in this paper we classify codimension one Lie subgroups of any nilpotent Iwasawa group $N$ whose induced metric is a Ricci soliton.
In this paper, by slightly modifying Li-Yau's technique so that we can handle drifting Laplacians, we were able to find three different gradient estimates for the warping function, one for each sign of the Einstein constant of the fiber manifold. As an application, we exhibit a nonexistence theorem for gradient almost Ricci solitons possessing certain metric properties on the base of the warped product.
We study invariant solutions to the Positive Hermitian Curvature Flow, introduced by Ustinovskiy, on complex Lie groups. We show in particular that the canonical scale-static metrics on the special linear groups, arising from the Killing form, are dynamically unstable. This disproves a conjecture of Ustinovskiy. We also construct certain perfect Lie groups that admit at least two distinct invariant solitons for the flow, only one of which is algebraic. This is the second known example of a geometric flow with non-algebraic, homogeneous solitons. The first being the G2-Laplacian flow.
We describe three-dimensional Lorentzian homogeneous Ricci solitons, showing that all types (i.e. shrinking, expanding and steady) exist. Moreover, all non-trivial examples have non-diagonalizable Ricci operator with one only eigenvalue.
This paper provides a study of algebraic Ricci solitons in the pseudo-Riemannian case. In the Riemannian case, all nontrivial homogeneous algebraic Ricci solitons are expanding algebraic Ricci solitons. In this paper, we obtain a steady algebraic Ricci soliton and a shrinking algebraic Ricci soliton in the Lorentzian setting.
We consider sub-Laplacians in open bounded sets in a homogeneous Carnot group and study their spectral properties. We prove that these operators have a pure point spectrum, and prove the existence of the spectral gap. In addition, we give applications to the small ball problem for a hypoelliptic Brownian motion and the large time behavior of the heat content in a regular domain.
As a step toward understanding the analytic behavior of Type-III Ricci flow singularities, i.e. immortal solutions that exhibit |Rm|<C/t curvature decay, we examine the linearization of an equivalent flow at fixed points discovered recently by Baird--Danielo and Lott: nongradient homogeneous expanding Ricci solitons on nilpotent or solvable Lie groups. For all explicitly known nonproduct examples, we demonstrate linear stability of the flow at these fixed points and prove that the linearizations generate strongly continuous semigroups.
We study the existence of left invariant closed $G_2$-structures defining a Ricci soliton metric on simply connected nonabelian nilpotent Lie groups. For each one of these $G_2$-structures, we show long time existence and uniqueness of solution for the Laplacian flow on the noncompact manifold. Moreover, considering the Laplacian flow on the associated Lie algebra as a bracket flow on $\R^7$ in a similar way as in [23] we prove that the underlying metrics $g(t)$ of the solution converge smoothly, up to pull-back by time-dependent diffeomorphisms, to a flat metric, uniformly on compact sets in …
