In this paper, we first investigate the flow of convex surfaces in the space form $\mathbb{R}^3(κ)~(κ=0,1,-1)$ expanding by $F^{-α}$, where $F$ is a smooth, symmetric, increasing and homogeneous of degree one function of the principal curvatures of the surfaces and the power $α\in(0,1]$ for $κ=0,-1$ and $α=1$ for $κ=1$. By deriving that the pinching ratio of the flow surface $M_t$ is no greater than that of the initial surface $M_0$, we prove the long time existence and the convergence of the flow. No concavity assumption of $F$ is required. We also show that for the flow in $\mathbb{H}^3$ with $α\in (0,1)$, the limit shape may not be necessarily round after rescaling.
A convex surface contracting by a strictly monotone, homogeneous degree one function of curvature remains smooth until it contracts to a point in finite time, and is asymptotically spherical in shape. No assumptions are made on the concavity of the speed as a function of principal curvatures.
We consider curvature flows in hyperbolic space with a monotone, symmetric, homogeneous of degree 1 curvature function F. Furthermore we assume F to be either concave and inverse concave or convex. For compact initial hypersurfaces, which are strictly convex by horospheres, we show the long time existence of mixed volume preserving curvature flows. Furthermore we show that these flows converge exponentially in the C-infinity topology to a geodesic sphere.
We study fully nonlinear geometric flows that deform strictly $k$-convex hypersurfaces in Euclidean space with pointwise normal speed given by a concave function of the principal curvatures. Specifically, the speeds we consider are obtained by performing a nonlinear interpolation between the mean and the $k$-harmonic mean of the principal curvatures. Our main result is a convexity estimate showing that, on compact solutions, regions of high curvature are approximately convex. In contrast to the mean curvature flow, the fully nonlinear flows considered here preserve $k$-convexity in a Riemannia…
We show that strictly convex surfaces expanding by the inverse Gauss curvature flow converge to infinity in finite time. After appropriate rescaling, they converge to spheres. We describe the algorithm to find our main test function.
We consider embedded hypersurfaces evolving by fully nonlinear flows in which the normal speed of motion is a homogeneous degree one, concave or convex function of the principal curvatures, and prove a non-collapsing estimate: Precisely, the function which gives the curvature of the largest interior sphere touching the hypersurface at each point is a subsolution of the linearized flow equation if the speed is concave. If the speed is convex then there is an analogous statement for exterior spheres. In particular, if the hypersurface moves with positive speed and the speed is concave in the pri…
In this paper, we study self-expanding solutions for mean curvature flows and their relationship to minimal cones in Euclidean space. In [18], Ilmanen proved the existence of self-expanding hypersurfaces with prescribed tangent cones at infinity. If the cone is $C^{3,α}$-regular and mean convex (but not area-minimizing), we can prove that the corresponding self-expanding hypersurfaces are smooth, embedded, and have positive mean curvature everywhere (see Theorem 1.1). As a result, for regular minimal but not area-minimizing cones we can give an affirmative answer to a problem arisen by Lawson …
A recent article Li and Lv considered contraction of convex hypersurfaces by certain nonhomogeneous functions of curvature, showing convergence to points in finite time in certain cases where the speed is a function of a degree-one homogeneous, concave and inverse concave function of the principle curvatures. In this article we extend the result to various other cases that are analogous to those considered in other earlier work, and we show that in all cases, where sufficient pinching conditions are assumed on the initial hypersurface, then under suitable rescaling the final point is asymptoti…
In this paper, we prove that expanding gradient Ricci solitons with (positively) pinched Ricci curvature are trivial ones. Namely, they are either compact or flat.
We prove an inequality for the curvature of level sets of minimal graphs having vanishing boundary values and show that if the boundary is concave, then all the level sets are concave.
We derive a sharp lower bound for the scalar curvature of non-flat and non-compact expanding gradient Ricci soliton provided that the scalar curvature is non-negative and the potential function is proper. We also give an upper bound for the scalar curvature of noncompact expander when the Ricci curvature is nonpositive and the potential function is proper. We then provide a sufficient condition for the scalar curvature of expanding soliton being nonnegative. We also estimate the curvature of expanding soliton in dimensions three and four. As an application, we prove a gap theorem on three dime…
The main result of this paper is a convexity estimate for translating solitons of extrinsic geometric flows which evolve under a $1$-homogeneous concave function in the principal curvatures. In addition, we show examples of these hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ for particular functions.
We consider graphical solutions to mean curvature flow and obtain a stability result for homothetically expanding solutions coming out of cones of positive mean curvature: If another solution is initially close to the cone at infinity, then the difference to the homothetically expanding solution becomes small for large times. The proof involves the construction of appropriate barriers.
In this paper we prove that two-dimensional translating solitons in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with finite $L$-index are homeomorphic to a plane or a cylinder and that a two-dimensional self-expander with finite $L$-index and sub exponential weighted volume growth has finite topology. We also prove that translating solitons and self-expanders have finite topology, provided the bottom of the spectrum of the $L$-stability operator is bounded from below and their weighted volume have subexponential growth.
In this paper we prove new classification results for nonnegatively curved gradient expanding and steady Ricci solitons in dimension three and above, under suitable integral assumptions on the scalar curvature of the underlying Riemannian manifold. In particular we show that the only complete expanding solitons with nonnegative sectional curvature and integrable scalar curvature are quotients of the Gaussian soliton, while in the steady case we prove rigidity results under sharp integral scalar curvature decay. As a corollary, we obtain that the only three dimensional steady solitons with less…
We investigate the algebraic structure of complex Lie groups equipped with left-invariant metrics which are expanding semi-algebraic solitons to the Hermitian curvature flow (HCF). We show that the Lie algebras of such Lie groups decompose in the semidirect product of a reductive Lie subalgebra with their nilradicals. Furthermore, we give a structural result concerning expanding semi-algebraic solitons on complex Lie groups. It turns out that the restriction of the soliton metric to the nilradical is also an expanding algebraic soliton and we explain how to construct expanding solitons on comp…
We consider an expanding flow of smooth, closed, uniformly convex hypersurfaces in (n+1)-dimensional Euclidean space with speed fu^{alpha}{sigma}_k^{beta}, where u is the support function of the hypersurface, alpha, beta are two constants, and beta>0, sigma_k is the k-th symmetric polynomial of the principle curvature radii of the hypersurface, k is an integer and 1<= k<= n. We prove that the flow has a unique smooth and uniformly convex solution for all time, and converges smoothly after normalisation, to a soliton which is a solution of a elliptic equation, when the constants alpha, beta bel…
We prove the global existence of Dirac-wave maps with curvature term with small initial data on globally hyperbolic manifolds of arbitrary dimension which satisfy a suitable growth condition. In addition, we also prove a global existence result for wave maps under similar assumptions.
We consider Ricci flow of complete Riemannian manifolds which have bounded non-negative curvature operator, non-zero asymptotic volume ratio and no boundary. We prove scale invariant estimates for these solutions. Using these estimates, we show that there is a limit solution, obtained by scaling down this solution at a fixed point in space. This limit solution is an expanding soliton coming out of the asymptotic cone at infinity.
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.
In this paper, we study gradient Ricci expanding solitons $(X,g)$ satisfying $$ Rc=cg+D^2f, $$ where $Rc$ is the Ricci curvature, $c<0$ is a constant, and $D^2f$ is the Hessian of the potential function $f$ on $X$. We show that for a gradient expanding soliton $(X,g)$ with non-negative Ricci curvature, the scalar curvature $R$ has at least one maximum point on $X$, which is the only minimum point of the potential function $f$. Furthermore, $R>0$ on $X$ unless $(X,g)$ is Ricci flat. We also show that there is exponentially decay for scalar curvature for $ε$-pinched complete non-compact expandin…
In this paper, we study a class of fully nonlinear contracting curvature flows of closed, uniformly convex hypersurfaces in the Euclidean space $\mathbb R^{n+1}$ with the normal speed $Φ$ given by $r^αF^β$ or $u^αF^β$, where $F$ is a monotone, symmetric, inverse-concave, homogeneous of degree one function of the principal curvatures, $r$ is the distance from the hypersurface to the origin and $u$ is the support function of hypersurface. If $α\geq β+1$ when $Φ=r^αF^β$ or $α> β+1$ when $Φ=u^αF^β$, we prove that the flow exists for all times and converges to the origin. After proper rescaling, we…
It was recently proved that embedded solutions of Euclidean hypersurface flows with speeds given by concave (convex), degree one homogeneous functions of the Weingarten map are interior (exterior) non-collapsing. These results were subsequently extended to hypersurface flows in the sphere and hyperbolic space. In the first part of the paper, we show that locally convex solutions are exterior non-collapsing for a larger class of speed functions than previously considered; more precisely, we show that the previous results hold when convexity of the speed function is relaxed to inverse-concavity.…
We study the geometry at infinity of expanding gradient Ricci solitons of dimension greater than two with finite asymptotic curvature ratio without curvature sign assumptions. We mainly prove that they have a cone structure at infinity.
In this note we show that, under certain curvature positivity conditions (the weak $\operatorname{PIC}-2$ condition or the nonnegative bisectional curvature condition), a complete and noncompact expanding breather of the Ricci flow is also an expanding gradient Ricci soliton. This is the first no expanding breather theorem in the noncompact category.
We consider geometric flows of hypersurfaces expanding by a function of the extrinsic curvature and we show that the homothethic sphere is the unique solution of the flow which converges to a point at the initial time. The result does not require assumptions on the speed other than positivity and monotonicity and it is proved using a reflection argument. Our theorem shows that expanding flows exhibit stronger spherical rigidity, if compared with the classification results of ancient solutions in the contractive case.
This paper concerns the evolution of complete noncompact locally uniformly convex hypersurface in Euclidean space by curvature flow, for which the normal speed $Φ$ is given by a power $β\geq 1$ of a monotone symmetric and homogeneous of degree one function $F$ of the principal curvatures. Under the assumption that $F$ is inverse concave and its dual function approaches zero on the boundary of positive cone, we prove that the complete smooth strictly convex solution exists and remains a graph until the maximal time of existence. In particular, if $F=K^{s/n}G^{1-s}$ for any $s\in(0, 1]$, where $…
This paper is motivated by the non-linear stability problem for the expanding region of Kerr de Sitter cosmologies in the context of Einstein's equations with positive cosmological constant. We show that under dynamically realistic assumptions the conformal Weyl curvature of the spacetime decays towards future null infinity. More precisely we establish decay estimates for Weyl fields which are (i) uniform (with respect to a global time function) (ii) optimal (with respect to the rate) and (iii) consistent with a global existence proof (in terms of regularity). The proof relies on a geometric p…
We consider the motion by mean curvature of an $n$-dimensional graph over a time-dependent domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$, intersecting $\mathbb{R}^n$ at a constant angle. In the general case, we prove local existence for the corresponding quasilinear parabolic equation with a free boundary, and derive a continuation criterion based on the second fundamental form. If the initial graph is concave, we show this is preserved, and that the solution exists only for finite time. This corresponds to a symmetric version of triple junction motion of hypersurfaces by mean curvature, with constant angles at th…
We study the asymptotic behavior of convex Cauchy hypersurfaces on maximal globally hyperbolic spatially compact space-times of constant curvature. We generalise the result of [11] to the (2+1) de Sitter and anti de Sitter cases. We prove that in these cases the level sets of quasi-concave times converge in the Gromov equivariant topology, when time goes to 0, to a real tree. Moreover, this limit does not depend on the choice of the time function. We also consider the problem of asymptotic behavior in the flat (n+1) dimensional case. We prove that the level sets of quasi-concave times converge…
We prove new pinching estimate for the inverse curvature flow of strictly convex hypersurfaces in the space form $N$ of constant sectional curvature $K_N$ with speed given by $F^{-α}$, where $α\in (0,1]$ for $K_N=0,-1$ and $α=1$ for $K_N=1$, $F$ is a smooth, symmetric homogeneous of degree one function which is inverse concave and has dual $F_*$ approaching zero on the boundary of the positive cone $Γ_+$. We show that the ratio of the largest principal curvature to the smallest principal curvature of the flow hypersurface is controlled by its initial value. This can be used to prove the smooth…
In this paper, we give a delay estimate of scalar curvature for a complete non-compact expanding (or steady) gradient Ricci soliton with nonnegative Ricci curvature. As an application, we prove that any complete non-compact expanding (or steady) gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons with positively pinched Ricci curvature should be Ricci flat. The result answers a question in case of Kähler-Ricci solitons proposed by Chow, Lu and Ni in a book.
We prove curvature estimates for general curvature functions. As an application we show the existence of closed, strictly convex hypersurfaces with prescribed curvature $F$, where the defining cone of $F$ is $\C_+$. $F$ is only assumed to be monotone, symmetric, homogeneous of degree 1, concave and of class $C^{m,\al}$, $m\ge4$.
In this paper, we study self-expanders for mean curvature flows. First we show the discreteness of the spectrum of the drifted Laplacian on them. Next we give a universal lower bound of the bottom of the spectrum of the drifted Laplacian and prove that this lower bound is achieved if and only if the self-expander is the Euclidian subspace through the origin. Further, for self-expanders of codimension $1$, we prove an inequality between the bottom of the spectrum of the drifted Laplacian and the bottom of the spectrum of weighted stability operator and that the hyperplane through the origin is …
We consider the quermassintegral preserving flow of closed \emph{h-convex} hypersurfaces in hyperbolic space with the speed given by any positive power of a smooth symmetric, strictly increasing, and homogeneous of degree one function $f$ of the principal curvatures which is inverse concave and has dual $f_*$ approaching zero on the boundary of the positive cone. We prove that if the initial hypersurface is \emph{h-convex}, then the solution of the flow becomes strictly \emph{h-convex} for $t>0$, the flow exists for all time and converges to a geodesic sphere exponentially in the smooth topolo…
We prove that any smooth Riemannian manifold of non-negative scalar curvature and with a strictly mean convex and compact boundary component can be (C^2) extended beyond the component to have non-negative scalar curvature and to enjoy anyone of the following three types of (new) boundary: strictly convex, totally geodesic or strictly concave. The extension procedure can be applied for instance to "positive mass" type of theorems.
We construct an expanding gradient Ricci soliton in dimension three over the topological manifold R x T^2 (the product of a line and a torus) that aproaches asymptotically a constant curvature cusp at one end, and a flat manifold on the other end. We prove that this is the only gradient soliton with this topology, provided the curvature is negatively pinched, -1/4 < sec < 0, at the time-zero manifold (normalizing the soliton to be born at time -1).
We study self-expanding solutions $M^m\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}$ of the mean curvature flow. One of our main results is, that complete mean convex self-expanding hypersurfaces are products of self-expanding curves and flat subspaces, if and only if the function $|A|^2/|H|^2$ attains a local maximum, where $A$ denotes the second fundamental form and $H$ the mean curvature vector of $M$. If the pricipal normal $ξ=H/|H|$ is parallel in the normal bundle, then a similar result holds in higher codimension for the function $|A^ξ|^2/|H|^2$, where $A^ξ$ is the second fundamental form with respect to $ξ$. …
We produce new examples of non-Kähler complete expanding gradient Ricci solitons on trivial vector bundles over a product of Einstein manifolds with positive scalar curvature.
We show that every convex ancient solution of mean curvature flow with Type I curvature growth is either spherical, cylindrical, or planar. We then prove the corresponding statement for flows by a natural class of curvature functions which are convex or concave in the second fundamental form. Neither of these results assumes interior noncollapsing.
We consider two types of $p$-centro affine flows on smooth, centrally symmetric, closed convex planar curves, $p$-contracting, respectively, $p$-expanding. Here $p$ is an arbitrary real number greater than 1. We show that, under any $p$-contracting flow, the evolving curves shrink to a point in finite time and the only homothetic solutions of the flow are ellipses centered at the origin. Furthermore, the normalized curves with enclosed area $π$ converge, in the Hausdorff metric, to the unit circle modulo SL(2). As a $p$-expanding flow is, in a certain way, dual to a contracting one, we prove t…
We prove the existence of self-similar expanding solutions of the curvature flow on planar networks where the initial configuration is any number of half-lines meeting at the origin. This generalizes recent work by Schnürer and Schulze which treats the case of three half-lines. There are multiple solutions, and these are parametrized by combinatorial objects, namely Steiner trees with respect to a complete negatively curved metric on the unit ball which span $k$ specified points on the boundary at infinity. We also provide a sharp formulation of the regularity of these solutions at $t=0$.
The central object of study of this thesis is inverse mean curvature vector flow of two-dimensional surfaces in four-dimensional spacetimes. Being a system of forward-backward parabolic PDEs, inverse mean curvature vector flow equation lacks a general existence theory. Our main contribution is proving that there exist infinitely many spacetimes, not necessarily spherically symmetric or static, that admit smooth global solutions to inverse mean curvature vector flow. Prior to our work, such solutions were only known in spherically symmetric and static spacetimes. The technique used in this thes…
The long-time existence and umbilicity estimates for compact, graphical solutions to expanding curvature flows are deduced in Riemannian warped products of a real interval with a compact fibre. Notably we do not assume the ambient manifold to be rotationally symmetric, nor the radial curvature to converge, nor a lower bound on the ambient sectional curvature. The inverse speeds are given by powers $p\leq 1$ of a curvature function satisfying few common properties.
These notes arose from a mini lecture series the author gave at the Early Career Researchers Workshop on Geometric Analysis and PDEs, held in January 2020 at the Matrix institute of the University of Melbourne. We discussed some classical aspects of expanding curvature flows and obtained first applications. In these notes we will give a detailed account on what was covered during the lectures.
