Let $\mathbb Q^{n+1}_c$ be the complete simply-connected $(n+1)$-dimensional space form of curvature $c$. In this paper we obtain a new characterization of geodesic spheres in $\mathbb Q^{n+1}_c$ in terms of the higher order mean curvatures. In particular, we prove that the geodesic sphere is the only complete bounded immersed hypersurface in $\mathbb Q^{n+1}_c,\;c\leq 0,$ with constant mean curvature and constant scalar curvature. The proof relies on the well known Omori-Yau maximum principle, a formula of Walter for the Laplacian of the $r$-th mean curvature of a hypersurface in a space form, and a classical inequality of Gårding for hyperbolic polynomials.
We discuss the integrability of orthogonal almost complex structures on Riemannian products of even-dimensional round spheres and give a partial answer to the question raised by E. Calabi concerning the existence of complex structures on a product manifold of a round 2-sphere and a round 4-sphere.
A half-geodesic is a closed geodesic realizing the distance between any pair of its points. All geodesics in a round sphere are half-geodesics. Conversely, this note establishes that Riemannian spheres with all geodesics closed and sufficiently many half-geodesics are round.
In this paper we prove that under a lower bound on the Ricci curvature and an asymptotic assumption on the scalar curvature, a complete conformally compact manifold $(M^{n+1},g)$, with a pole $p$ and with the conformal infinity in the conformal class of the round sphere, has to be the hyperbolic space.
I review several proofs for non-existence of orthogonal complex structures on the six-sphere, most notably by G. Bor and L. Hernandez-Lamoneda, but also by K. Sekigawa and L. Vanhecke that we generalize for metrics close to the round one. Invited talk at MAM-1 workshop, 27-30 March 2017, Marburg.
The question of whether a closed Riemannian manifold has infinitely many geometrically distinct closed geodesics has a long history. Though unsolved in general, it is well understood in the case of surfaces. For surfaces of revolution diffeomorphic to the sphere, a refinement of this problem was introduced by Borzellino, Jordan-Squire, Petrics, and Sullivan. In this article, we quantify their result by counting distinct geodesics of bounded length. In addition, we reframe these results to obtain a couple of characterizations of the round two-sphere.
We construct closed embedded minimal surfaces in the round three-sphere, resembling two parallel copies of the equatorial two-sphere, joined by small catenoidal bridges symmetrically arranged either along two parallel circles of the equator, or along the equatorial circle and the poles. To carry out these constructions we refine and reorganize the doubling methodology in ways which we expect to apply also to further constructions. In particular we introduce what we call linearized doubling, which is an intermediate step where singular solutions to the linearized equation are constructed subjec…
We show that if the entropy of any closed hypersurface is close to that of a round hyper-sphere, then it is close to a round sphere in Hausdorff distance. Generalizing the result of \cite{BW1} to higher dimensions.
We show that if a closed surface in $\mathbb{R}^3$ has entropy near to that of the unit two-sphere, then the surface is close to a round two-sphere in the Hausdorff distance.
We study biharmonic maps and f-biharmonic maps from a round sphere $(S^2, g_0)$, the latter maps are equivalent to biharmonic maps from Riemann spheres $(S^2, f^{-1}g_0)$. We proved that for rotationally symmetric maps between rotationally symmetric spaces, both biharmonicity and f-biharmonicity reduce to a 2nd order linear ordinary differential equation. As applications, we give a method to produce biharmonic maps and f-biharmonic maps from given biharmonic maps and we construct many examples of biharmonic and f-biharmonic maps from a round sphere $S^2$ and between two round spheres. Our exam…
We consider the conformal class of the Riemannian product $g_0 + g$, where $g_0$ is the constant curvature metric on $S^m$ and $g$ is a metric of constant scalar curvature on some closed manifold. We show that the number of metrics of constant scalar curvature in the conformal class grows at least linearly with respect to the square root of the scalar curvature of $g$. This is obtained by studying radial solutions of the equation $Δu -λu + λu^p =0$ on $S^m$, and the number of solutions in terms of $λ$.
We consider a class of overdetermined problems in rotationally symmetric spaces, which reduce to the classical Serrin's overdetermined problem in the case of the Euclidean space. We prove some general integral identities for rotationally symmetric spaces which imply a rigidity result in the case of the round sphere.
We consider generalized Hodge-Laplace operators $αd δ+ βδd$ for $α, β> 0$ on $p$-forms on compact Riemannian manifolds. In the case of flat tori and round spheres of different radii, we explicitly calculate the spectrum of these operators. Furthermore, we investigate under which circumstances they are isospectral.
For a surface in 3-sphere, by identifying the conformal round 3-sphere as the projectivized positive light cone in Minkowski 5-spacetime, we use the conformal Gauss map and the conformal transform to construct the associate homogeneous 4-surface in Minkowski 5-spacetime. We then derive the local fundamental theorem for a surface in conformal round 3-sphere from that of the associate 4-surface in Minkowski 5-spacetime. More importantly, following the idea of Fefferman and Graham, we construct local scalar invariants for a surface in conformal round 3-sphere. One distinct feature of our construc…
In earlier work of NK new closed embedded smooth minimal surfaces in the round three-sphere $\mathbb{S}^3(1)$ were constructed, each resembling two parallel copies of the equatorial two-sphere $\mathbb{S}^2_{eq}$ joined by small catenoidal bridges, with the catenoidal bridges concentrating along two parallel circles, or the equatorial circle and the poles. In this sequel we generalize those constructions so that the catenoidal bridges can concentrate along an arbitrary number of parallel circles, with the further option to include bridges at the poles. The current constructions follow the Line…
In this paper the regularity of optimal transportation potentials defined on round spheres is investigated. Specifically, this research generalises the calculations done by Loeper, where he showed that the strong (A3) condition of Trudinger and Wang is satisfied on the round sphere, when the cost-function is the geodesic distance squared. In order to generalise Loeper's calculation to a broader class of cost-functions, the (A3) condition is reformulated via a stereographic projection that maps charts of the sphere into Euclidean space. This reformulation subsequently allows one to verify the (…
A closed Riemannian manifold is said to have cross blocking if whenever distinct points p and q are at distance less than the diameter, all light rays from p can be shaded away from q with at most two point shades. Similarly, a closed Riemannian manifold is said to have sphere blocking if for each point p, all the light rays from p are shaded away from p by a single point shade. We prove that Riemannian manifolds with cross and sphere blocking are isometric to round spheres.
Consider an analytic map of a neighborhood of 0 in a vector space to a Euclidean space. Suppose that this map takes all germs of lines passing through 0 to germs of circles. Such a map is called rounding. We introduce a natural equivalence relation on roundings and prove that any rounding, whose differential at 0 has rank at least 2, is equivalent to a fractional quadratic rounding. A fractional quadratic map is just the ratio of a quadratic map and a quadratic polynomial. We also show that any rounding gives rise to a quadratic map between spheres. The known results on quadratic maps between …
We investigate the low-energy behavior of the gradient flow of the $L^2$ norm of the Riemannian curvature on four-manifolds. Specifically, we show long time existence and exponential convergence to a metric of constant sectional curvature when the initial metric has positive Yamabe constant and small initial energy.
In this article we study the shape of a compact surface of constant mean curvature of Euclidean space whose boundary is contained in a round sphere. We consider the case that the boundary is prescribed or that the surface meets the sphere with a constant angle. We study under what geometric conditions the surface must be spherical. Our results apply in many scenarios in physics where in absence of gravity a liquid drop is deposited on a round solid ball and the air-liquid interface is a critical point for area under all variations that preserve the enclosed volume.
The entropy of a hypersurface is a geometric invariant that measures complexity and is invariant under rigid motions and dilations. It is given by the supremum over all Gaussian integrals with varying centers and scales. It is monotone under mean curvature flow, thus giving a Lyapunov functional. Therefore, the entropy of the initial hypersurface bounds the entropy at all future singularities. We show here that not only does the round sphere have the lowest entropy of any closed singularity, but there is a gap to the second lowest.
We introduce cosymplectic circles and cosymplectic spheres, which are the analogues in the cosymplectic setting of contact circles and contact spheres. We provide a complete classification of compact 3-manifolds that admit a cosymplectic circle. The properties of tautness and roundness for a cosymplectic $p$-sphere are studied. To any taut cosymplectic circle on a three-dimensional manifold $M$ we are able to canonically associate a complex structure and a conformal symplectic couple on $M \times \mathbb{R}$. We prove that a cosymplectic circle in dimension three is round if and only if it is …
We obtain uncountably many periodic solutions to the singular Yamabe problem on a round sphere, that blow up along a great circle. These are (complete) constant scalar curvature metrics on the complement of $S^1$ inside $S^m$, $m\geq 5$, that are conformal to the round (incomplete) metric and "periodic" in the sense of being invariant under a discrete group of conformal transformations. These solutions come from bifurcating branches of constant scalar curvature metrics on compact quotients of $S^m \setminus S^1\cong S^{m-2}\times H^2$.
This note is about the interplay between the almost-hermitian and Riemannian geometries of a manifold. These geometries can be seen to interact through curvature. The main result is an obstruction equation to the integrability of almost-complex structures orthogonal with respect to Riemannian metrics with constrained sectional curvature. Several geometric consequences ensue, such as a formula for the norm of the Levi-Civita covariant derivative of a hypothetical orthogonal complex structure. Our results lead to a partial recovery of the well-known fact that the round $6$-sphere $S^6$ is not he…
We extend to higher dimensions earlier sharp bounds for the area of two dimensional free boundary minimal surfaces contained in a geodesic ball of the round sphere. This follows work of Brendle and Fraser-Schoen in the euclidean case.
It is a well known fact that, if $Σ$ is an Einstein hypersurface with positive scalar curvature, then it is a round sphere. We give a stable version of this result showing that if a hypersurface is almost Einstein in a $L^p$-sense, then it is $W^{2, \, p}$ - close to the round sphere. The result is given in a quantitative way.
The key condition A3w of Ma, Trudinger and Wang for regularity of optimal transportation maps is implied by the nonnegativity of a pseudo-Riemannian curvature -- which we call cross-curvature -- induced by the transportation cost. For the Riemannian distance squared cost, it is shown that (1) cross-curvature nonnegativity is preserved for products of two manifolds; (2) both A3w and cross-curvature nonnegativity are inherited by Riemannian submersions; and (3) the $n$-dimensional round sphere satisfies cross-curvature nonnegativity. From these results, a large new class of Riemannian manifolds …
We consider mean-convex Alexandrov embedded surfaces in the round unit 3-sphere, and show under which conditions it is possible to continuously deform these preserving mean-convex Alexandrov embeddedness.
We prove that the round metric on the sphere has the largest first eigenvalue of the Dirac operator among all metrics that are larger than it. As a corollary, this gives an alternative proof of an extremality result for scalar curvature due to M. Llarull.
In the round 6-sphere, null-torsion holomorphic curves are fundamental examples of minimal surfaces. This class of minimal surfaces is quite rich: By a theorem of Bryant, extended by Rowland, every closed Riemann surface may be conformally embedded in the round 6-sphere as a null-torsion holomorphic curve. In this work, we study the second variation of area for compact null-torsion holomorphic curves $Σ$ of genus $g$ and area $4πd$, focusing on the spectrum of the Jacobi operator. We show that if $g \leq 6$, then the multiplicity of the lowest eigenvalue $λ_1 = -2$ is exactly equal to $4d$. Mo…
A fibration of a Riemannian manifold is fiberwise homogeneous if there are isometries of the manifold onto itself, taking any given fiber to any other one, and preserving fibers. Examples are fibrations of Euclidean n-space by parallel n-planes, and the Hopf fibrations of the round n-sphere by great n-spheres. In this paper, we describe all the fiberwise homogeneous fibrations of Euclidean and hyperbolic 3-space by geodesics. Our main result is that, up to fiber-preserving isometries, there is precisely a one-parameter family of such fibrations of Euclidean 3-space, and a two-parameter family …
A spacelike surface in four-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski spacetime through the lightcone has a meaningful lightlike normal vector field $η$. Several sufficient assumptions on such a surface with non-degenerate $η$-second fundamental form are established to prove that it must be a totally umbilical round sphere. With this aim, a new formula which relates the Gauss curvatures of the induced metric and of the $η$-second fundamental form is developed. Then, totally umbilical round spheres are characterized as the only compact spacelike surfaces through the lightcone such that its $η$-second funda…
In the 1950's Hopf gave examples of non-round convex 2-spheres in Euclidean 3-space with rotational symmetry that satisfy a linear relationship between their principal curvatures. In this paper we investigate conditions under which evolving a smooth rotationally symmetric sphere by a linear combination of its radii of curvature yields a Hopf sphere. When the coefficients of the flow have certain integer values, the fate of an initial sphere is entirely determined by the local geometry of its isolated umbilic points. A surprising variety of behaviours is uncovered: convergence to round spheres …
We show that in dimensions $n \geq 12$, a non-flat complete gradient shrinking solitons with uniformly positive isotropic curvature (PIC) must be a quotient of either the round sphere $S^n$ or the cylinder $S^{n-1} \times \mathbb{R}$. We also observe that in dimensions $n \geq 5$, a complete gradient shrinking soliton that is strictly PIC and weakly PIC2 must be a quotient of either the round sphere $S^n$ or the cylinder $S^{n-1} \times \mathbb{R}$.
We prove a semi-global result on the existence of conformal embeddings of the two-sphere into the round three-sphere S^3(1) with prescribed mean curvature.
In the 1-parameter family of Berger spheres S^3(a), a > 0 (S^3(1) is the round 3-sphere of radius 1) we classify the stable constant mean curvature spheres, showing that in some Berger spheres (a close to 0) there are unstable constant mean curvature spheres. Also, we classify the orientable compact stable constant mean curvature surfaces in S^3(a), 1/3 <= a < 1 proving that they are spheres or the minimal Clifford torus in S^3(1/3). This allows to solve the isoperimetric problem in these Berger spheres.
We describe the curves of constant (geodesic) curvature and torsion in the three-dimensional round sphere. These curves are the trajectory of a point whose motion is the superposition of two circular motions in orthogonal planes. The global behavior may be periodic or the curve may be dense in a Clifford torus embedded in the three-sphere. This behavior is very different from that of helices in three-dimensional Euclidean space, which also have constant curvature and torsion.
We study quiver gauge theories on the round and squashed seven-spheres, and orbifolds thereof. They arise by imposing $G$-equivariance on the homogeneous space $G/H=\mathrm{SU}(4)/\mathrm{SU}(3)$ endowed with its Sasaki-Einstein structure, and $G/H=\mathrm{Sp}(2)/\mathrm{Sp}(1)$ as a 3-Sasakian manifold. In both cases we describe the equivariance conditions and the resulting quivers. We further study the moduli spaces of instantons on the metric cones over these spaces by using the known description for Hermitian Yang-Mills instantons on Calabi-Yau cones. It is shown that the moduli space of i…
We introduce the moduli space of spectral curves of constant mean curvature (\cmc\hspace{-5pt}) cylinders of finite type in the round unit 3-sphere. The subset of spectral curves of mean-convex Alexandrov embedded cylinders is explicitly determined using a combination of integrable systems and geometric analysis techniques. We prove that these cylinders are surfaces of revolution. As a consequence all mean-convex Alexandrov embedded {\sc{cmc}} tori in the 3-sphere are surfaces of revolution.
We prove that if the initial hypersurface of the mean curvature flow in spheres satisfies a sharp pinching condition, then the solution of the flow converges to a round point or a totally geodesic sphere. Our result improves the famous convergence theorem due to Huisken [9]. Moreover, we prove a convergence theorem under the weakly pinching condition. In particular, we obtain a classification theorem for weakly pinched hypersurfaces. It should be emphasized that our pinching condition implies that the Ricci curvature of the initial hypersurface is positive, but does not imply positivity of the…
