Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian $3$-manifold that is asymptotic to Schwarzschild with positive mass and whose scalar curvature vanishes. We \textsl{unconditionally} characterize the large, embedded stable constant mean curvature spheres in $(M, g)$.
We apply the Riemannian Penrose inequality and the Riemannian positive mass theorem to derive inequalities on the boundary of a class of compact Riemannian $3$-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature. The boundary of such a manifold has a CMC component, i.e. a $2$-sphere with positive constant mean curvature; and the rest of the boundary, if nonempty, consists of closed minimal surfaces. A key step in our proof is the construction of a collar extension that is inspired by the method of Mantoulidis-Schoen \cite{M-S}.
We extend the Lyapunov-Schmidt analysis of outlying stable CMC spheres in the work of S. Brendle and the second-named author to the "far-off-center" regime and to include general Schwarzschild asymptotics. We obtain sharp existence and non-existence results for large stable CMC spheres that depend very delicately on the behavior of scalar curvature at infinity.
We find out upper bounds for the first eigenvalue of the stability operator for compact constant mean curvature orientable surfaces immersed in a Riemannian Killing submersion. As a consequence, the strong stability of such surfaces is studied. We also characterize constant mean curvature Hopf tori as the only ones attaining the bound in certain cases.
We establish existence and uniqueness of compact graphs of constant mean curvature in MxR over bounded multiply connected domains of Mx{0} with boundary lying in two parallel horizontal slices of MxR
In 1996, Huisken-Yau proved that every three-dimensional Riemannian manifold can be uniquely foliated near infinity by stable closed surfaces of constant mean curvature (CMC) if it is asymptotically equal to the (spatial) Schwarzschild solution. Using their method, Rigger proved the same theorem for Riemannian manifolds being asymptotically equal to the (spatial) (Schwarzschild-)Anti-de Sitter solution. This was generalized to asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds by Neves-Tian, Chodosh, and the author at a later stage. In this work, we prove the reverse implication as the author already did in …
In this paper we consider the uniqueness problem of the constant mean curvature spheres in asymptotically flat 3-manifolds. We require the metric have the form g_{ij}=δ_{ij}+h_{ij} with h_{ij}=O_{4}(r^{-1}) and R=O(r^{-3-τ}),τ>0. We do not require the metric to be close to Schwarzschild metric in any sense or to satisfy RT conditions. We prove that, when the mass is not 0, stable CMC spheres that separate a certain compact part from infinity satisfy the radius pinching estimate r_{1}\leq Cr_{0} , which in many cases is critical to prove the uniqueness of the CMC spheres. As applications of thi…
We study a family of spheres with constant mean curvature (CMC) in the Riemannian Heisenberg group $H^1$. These spheres are conjectured to be the isoperimetric sets of $H^1$. We prove several results supporting this conjecture. We also focus our attention on the sub-Riemannian limit.
In 1996, Huisen-Yau proved that every three-dimensional, asymptotically Schwarzschilden manifold with positive mass is uniquely foliated by stable spheres of constant mean curvature and they defined the center of mass using this CMC-foliation. Rigger and Neves-Tian showed in 2004 and 2009/10 analogous existence and uniqueness theorems for three-dimensional, asymptotically Anti-de Sitter and asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds with positive mass aspect function, respectively. Last year, Cederbaum-Cortier-Sakovich proved that the CMC-foliation characterizes the center of mass in the hyperbolic s…
In this paper, we study the geometry of a connected oriented cmc Riemannian hypersurface $M$ of a semi-Riemannian group $G$ of Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ and index 0 or 1. If $G$ is Riemannian and $M$ is compact and transversal to an element of $\mathfrak g$, we show that it is a lateral class of a closed embedded Lie subgroup of $G$; we also do this if $G$ is Lorentzian, provided $M$ has sufficiently large mean curvature. If $G$ is Riemannian semisimple and $M$ is compact, we prove that $M$ has degenerate Gauss map and minimal relative nullity at least 1. We also extend the above results to th…
This paper explains the construction of all hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature -- cmc -- and exactly two principal curvatures on any space form endowed with a semi-riemannian metric. Here we will consider riemannian hypersurfaces as well as hypersurfaces with semi-riemannian metrics induced by the ambient space. We show explicit immersions for all these hypersurfaces. We will see that for any given ambient space, the family of cmc hypersurfaces with two principal curvatures depends on two parameters, $H$ and $C$. We describe the range for all possible $(H,C)$ associated with complete c…
For constant mean curvature surfaces of class $C^2$ immersed inside Sasakian sub-Riemannian 3-manifolds we obtain a formula for the second derivative of the area which involves horizontal analytical terms, the Webster scalar curvature of the ambient manifold, and the extrinsic shape of the surface. Then we prove classification results for complete surfaces with empty singular set which are stable, i.e., second order minima of the area under a volume constraint, inside the 3-dimensional sub-Riemannian space forms. In the first Heisenberg group we show that such a surface is a vertical plane. In…
In this paper, we introduce a non linear ODE method to construct CMC surfaces in Riemannian manifolds with symmetry. As an application we construct unstable CMC spheres and outlying CMC spheres in asymptotically Schwarzschild manifolds with metrics like $g_{ij}=(1+\frac{1}{l})^{2}δ_{ij}+O(l^{-2})$. The existence of unstable CMC spheres tells us that the stability condition in Qing-Tian's work [Qing-Tian-CMC] can not be removed generally.
In this paper we prove existence and uniqueness of a CMC foliation in asymptotically cuspidal manifolds. Moreover, we study the isoperimetric problem in this case. Our proof does not require any curvature assumption and it holds for any dimension.
In this paper we generalize the Local Removable Singularity Theorem in [16] for minimal laminations to the case of weak $H$-laminations (with $H\in \mathbb{R}$ constant) in a punctured ball of a Riemannian three-manifold. We also obtain a curvature estimate for any weak CMC foliation (with possibly varying constant mean curvature from leaf to leaf) of a compact Riemannian three-manifold $N$ with boundary solely in terms of a bound of the absolute sectional curvature of $N$ and of the distance to the boundary of $N$. We then apply these results to classify weak CMC foliations of $\mathbb{R}^3$ …
We study the classification of immersed constant mean curvature (CMC) spheres in the homogeneous Riemannian 3-manifold Sol_3, i.e., the only Thurston 3-dimensional geometry where this problem remains open. Our main result states that, for every H>1/(\sqrt{3}), there exists a unique (up to left translations) immersed CMC H sphere S_H in Sol_3 (Hopf-type theorem). Moreover, this sphere S_H is embedded, and is therefore the unique (up to left translations) compact embedded CMC H surface in Sol_3 (Alexandrov-type theorem). The uniqueness parts of these results are also obtained for all real number…
We prove the existence and uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem for spacelike, spherically symmetric, constant mean curvature equation with symmetric boundary data in the extended Schwarzschild spacetime. As an application, we completely solve the CMC foliation conjecture which is posted by Malec and O Murchadha in 2003.
A sequence of constant mean curvature surfaces $Σ_j$ with mean curvature $H_j \to \infty$ in a three-dimensional manifold $M$ condenses to a compact and connected graph $Γ$ consisting of a finite union of curves if $Σ_j$ is contained in a tubular neighbourhood of $Γ$ of size $\mathcal O(1/H_j)$ for every $j \in \N$. This paper gives sufficient conditions on $Γ$ for the existence of a sequence of compact, embedded constant mean curvature surfaces condensing to $Γ$. The conditions are: each curve in $γ$ is a critical point of a functional involving the scalar curvature of $M$ along $γ$; and each…
In 1996, Huisken-Yau proved that every three-dimensional Riemannian manifold can be uniquely foliated near infinity by stable closed surfaces of constant mean curvature (CMC) if it is asymptotically equal to the (spatial) Schwarzschild solution. Later, their decay assumptions were weakened by Metzger, Huang, Eichmair-Metzger, and the author. In this work, we prove the reverse implication, i.e. any three-dimensional Riemannian manifold is asymptotically flat if it possesses a CMC-cover satisfying certain geometric curvature estimates, a uniqueness property, a weak foliation property, and each s…
A triharmonic map is a critical point of the tri-energy in the space of smooth maps between two Riemannian manifolds. In this paper, we prove that if $M^n (n\ge 4)$ is a CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface in a space form $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}(c)$ with four distinct principal curvatures and the multiplicity of the zero principal curvature is at most one, then $M$ has constant scalar curvature. In particular, we obtain any CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^5(c)$ is minimal when $c\le 0$, which supports the generalized Chen's conjecture. We also give some characterizations of CMC pr…
We compute a Simons' type formula for the stress-energy tensor of biharmonic maps from surfaces. Specializing to Riemannian immersions, we prove several rigidity results for biharmonic CMC surfaces, putting in evidence the influence of the Gaussian curvature on pseudo-umbilicity. Finally, the condition of biharmonicity is shown to enable an extension of the classical Hopf theorem to CMC surfaces in any ambient Riemannian manifold.
In this paper, we can prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the constant mean curvature (CMC for short) equation with nonzero Neumann boundary data in product manifold $M^{n}\times\mathbb{R}$, where $M^{n}$ is an $n$-dimensional ($n\geq2$) complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, and $\mathbb{R}$ is the Euclidean $1$-space. Equivalently, this conclusion gives the existence of CMC graphic hypersurfaces defined over a compact strictly convex domain $Ω\subset M^{n}$ and having arbitrary contact angle.
A surface of constant mean curvature (CMC) equal to $H$ in a sub-Riemannian $3$-manifold is strongly stable if it minimizes the functional $\text{area}+2H\,\text{volume}$ up to second order. In this paper we obtain some criteria ensuring strong stability of surfaces in Sasakian $3$-manifolds. We also produce new examples of $C^1$ complete CMC surfaces with empty singular set in the sub-Riemannian $3$-space forms by studying those ones containing a vertical line. As a consequence, we are able to find complete strongly stable non-vertical surfaces with empty singular set in the sub-Riemannian hy…
We prove that every closed, smooth $n$-manifold $X$ admits a Riemannian metric together with a smooth, transversely oriented CMC foliation if and only if its Euler characteristic is zero, where by CMC foliation we mean a codimension-one, transversely oriented foliation with leaves of constant mean curvature and where the value of the constant mean curvature can vary from leaf to leaf. Furthermore, we prove that this CMC foliation of $X$ can be chosen so that the constant values of the mean curvatures of its leaves change sign. We also prove a general structure theorem for any such non-minimal …
In this paper we examine different aspects of the geometry of closed conformal vector fields on Riemannian manifolds. We begin by getting obstructions to the existence of closed conformal and nonparallel vector fields on complete manifolds with nonpositive Ricci curvature, thus generalizing a theorem of T. K. Pan. Then we explain why it is so difficult to find examples, other than trivial ones, of spaces having at least two closed, conformal and homothetic vector fields. We then focus on isometric immersions, firstly generalizing a theorem of J. Simons on cones with parallel mean curvature to …
A $k$-harmonic map is a critical point of the $k$-energy in the space of smooth maps between two Riemannian manifolds. In this paper, we prove that if $M^{n} (n\ge 3)$ is a CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface with at most three distinct principal curvatures in a space form $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}(c)$, then $M$ has constant scalar curvature. This supports the generalized Chen's conjecture when $c\le 0$. When $c=1$, we give an optimal upper bound of the mean curvature $H$ for a non-totally umbilical proper CMC $k$-harmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature in a sphere. As an application, we …
In this note we discuss graphs over a domain $Ω\subset N^2$ in the product manifold $N^2\times \mathbb{R}$. Here $N^2$ is a complete Riemannian surface and $Ω$ has peice-wise smooth boundary. Let $γ\subset\partialΩ$ be a smooth connected arc and $Σ$ be a complete graph in $N^2\times \mathbb{R}$ over $Ω$. We show that if $Σ$ is a minimal or translating graph, then $γ$ is a geodesic in $N^2$. Moreover if $Σ$ is a CMC graph, then $γ$ has constant principle curvature in $N^2$. This explains the infinity value boundary condition upon domains having Jenkins-Serrin theorems on minimal and CMC graphs …
The (relativistic) center of mass of an asymptotically flat Riemannian manifold is often defined by certain surface integral expressions evaluated along a foliation of the manifold near infinity, e. g. by Arnowitt, Deser, and Misner (ADM). There are also what we call 'abstract' definitions of the center of mass in terms of a foliation near infinity itself, going back to the constant mean curvature (CMC-) foliation studied by Huisken and Yau; these give rise to surface integral expressions when equipped with suitable systems of coordinates. We discuss subtle asymptotic convergence issues regard…
We prove the existence of nontrivial closed surfaces with constant anisotropic mean curvature with respect to elliptic integrands in closed smooth $3$-dimensional Riemannian manifolds. The constructed min-max surfaces are smooth with at most one singular point. The constant anisotropic mean curvature can be fixed to be any real number. In particular, we partially solve a conjecture of Allard [Invent. Math.,1983] in dimension $3$.
The study of minimal surfaces has a long history, due to the important applications. Given a fixed boundary, one wants to minimise the surface area: this can be used, for example, to minimise the area of the roof of a building. Similarly, looking for constant mean curvature (CMC) provides us with many interesting applications in physics: one of the easiest examples are soap bubbles. In this work however we occupy ourselves with minimal and constant mean curvature surfaces in the three-dimensional sphere $S^3$ and its dual space $Σ^3$. In Chapter 1 we give a brief overview of the tools of Riema…
We revisit and generalize a recent result of Cederbaum [C2, C3] concerning the rigidity of the Schwarzschild manifold for spin manifolds. This includes the classical black hole uniqueness theorems [BM, GIS, Hw] as well as the more recent uniqueness theorems for pho-ton spheres [C1, CG1, CG2].
We prove some uniqueness result for solutions to the heat equation on Riemannian manifolds. In particular, we prove the uniqueness of $L^p$ solutions with $0< p< 1$, and improves the $L^1$ uniqueness result of P. Li by weakening the curvature assumption.
We study the uniqueness of complete biconservative surfaces in the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^3$, and prove that the only complete biconservative regular surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ are either $CMC$ or certain surfaces of revolution. In particular, any compact biconservative regular surface in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is a round sphere.
Given $\varepsilon_0>0$, $I\in \mathbb{N}\cup \{0\}$ and $K_0,H_0\geq0$, let $X$ be a complete Riemannian $3$-manifold with injectivity radius $\mbox{Inj}(X)\geq \varepsilon_0$ and with the supremum of absolute sectional curvature at most $K_0$, and let $M \looparrowright X$ be a complete immersed surface of constant mean curvature $H\in [0,H_0]$ with index at most $I$. For such $M \looparrowright X$, we prove Structure Theorem 1.2 which describes how the interesting ambient geometry of the immersion is organized locally around at most $I$ points of $M$ where the norm of the second fundamental…
We prove that on a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension $3$ or higher, with positive Ricci curvature, the Allen--Cahn min-max scheme (implemented by the first author and N. Wickramasekera in 2020), with prescribing function taken to be a non-zero constant $λ$, produces an embedded hypersurface of constant mean curvature $λ$ ($λ$-CMC). More precisely, we prove that the interface arising from said min-max contains no even-multiplicity minimal hypersurface and no quasi-embedded points (both of these occurrences are in principle possible in the conclusions of the aforementioned work by the fir…
Let $M$ be a Riemannian 3-manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature, Ric $\geq 0.$ We suppose that $M$ is conformally flat and simply connected or more generally that it admits a conformal immersion into the standard 3-sphere. Let $Σ$ be a compact connected and orientable surface immersed in $M$ which is a stable constant mean curvature (CMC) surface or an index one minimal surface. We prove that $Σ$ is homeomorphic either to a sphere or to a torus. Moreover, in case $Σ$ is homeomorphic to a torus, then it is embedded, minimal, conformal to a flat square torus and Ric$(N)=0$ where $N$ is a unit …
Biconservative surfaces are surfaces with divergence-free stress-bienergy tensor. Simply connected, complete, non-$CMC$ biconservative surfaces in $3$-dimensional space forms were constructed working in extrinsic and intrinsic ways. Then, one raises the question of the uniqueness of such surfaces. In this paper we give a positive answer to this question.
We study half-spheres with small radii sitting on the boundary of a smooth bounded domain while meeting it orthogonally. Even though it is known that there exist families of CMC and Willmore type half-spheres near a nondegenerate critical point p of the domains boundaries mean curvature, it is unknown in both cases whether these provide a foliation of any deleted neighborhood of p. We prove that this is not guaranteed and establish a criterion in terms of the boundaries geometry that ensures or prevents the respective surfaces from providing such a foliation. This perhaps surprising phenomenon…
Let $g$ be a smooth Riemannian metric on $\mathbb{S}^2$ and $H>0$ a constant. We establish an upper bound for the corresponding Bartnik mass $\mathfrak m_B(\mathbb{S}^2, g, H)$ assuming that the Gauss curvature $K_g$ is non-negative. Our upper bound approaches the Hawking mass $\mathfrak m_H(\mathbb{S}^2, g, H)$ when either $g$ becomes round or else $H\to 0$, the bound is zero for $H$ sufficiently large, and in any case the bound is not more than $r/2=\mathfrak m_H(\mathbb{S}^2, g, 0)$. We obtain upper bounds on $\mathfrak m_B(\mathbb{S}^2, g, H)$ as well in the case when $g$ is arbitrary and …
The recently introduced Lipschitz-Killing curvature measures on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds satisfy a Weyl principle, i.e. are invariant under isometric embeddings. We show that they are uniquely characterized by this property. We apply this characterization to prove a Künneth-type formula for Lipschitz-Killing curvature measures, and to classify the invariant generalized valuations and curvature measures on all isotropic pseudo-Riemannian space forms.
The Bartnik mass is a quasi-local mass tailored to asymptotically flat Riemannian manifolds with non-negative scalar curvature. From the perspective of general relativity, these model time-symmetric domains obeying the dominant energy condition without a cosmological constant. There is a natural analogue of the Bartnik mass for asymptotically hyperbolic Riemannian manifolds with a negative lower bound on scalar curvature which model time-symmetric domains obeying the dominant energy condition in the presence of a negative cosmological constant. Following the ideas of Mantoulidis and Schoen [20…
In 1996, Huisken-Yau showed that every three-dimensional Riemannian manifold can be uniquely foliated near infinity by stable closed CMC-surfaces if it is asymptotically equal to the (spatial) Schwarzschild solution and has positive mass. Their assumptions were later weakened by Metzger, Huang, Eichmair-Metzger and others. We further generalize these existence results in dimension three by proving that it is sufficient to assume asymptotic flatness and non-vanishing mass to conclude the existence and uniqueness of the CMC-foliation and explain why this seems to be the conceptually optimal resu…
In this paper we prove that any immersed stable capillary hypersurfaces in a ball in space forms are totally umbilical. This solves completely a long-standing open problem. In the proof one of crucial ingredients is a new Minkowski type formula. We also prove a Heintze-Karcher-Ros type inequality for hypersurfaces in a ball, which, together with the new Minkowski formula, yields a new proof of Alexandrov's Theorem for embedded CMC hypersurfaces in a ball with free boundary.