We study a variant of the mean curvature flow for closed, convex hypersurfaces where the normal velocity is a nonhomogeneous function of the principal curvatures. We show that if the initial hypersurface satisfies a certain pinching condition, then this is preserved and the flow converges to a sphere under rescaling.
Second derivative pinching estimates are proved for a class of elliptic and parabolic equations, including motion of hypersurfaces by curvature functions such as quotients of elementary symmetric functions of curvature. The estimates imply convergence of convex hypersurfaces to spheres under these flows, improving earlier results of B. Chow and the author. The result is obtained via a detailed analysis of gradient terms in the equations satisfied by second derivatives.
We prove stability results associated with upper bounds for the first eigenvalue of certain second order differential operators of divergence-type on hypersurfaces of the Euclidean space. We deduce some applications to $r$-stability as well as to almost-Einstein hypersurfaces.
A recent article by Li and Lv considered fully nonlinear contraction of convex hypersurfaces by certain nonhomogeneous functions of curvature, showing convergence to points in finite time in 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 consider self-similar solutions to these and related curvature flows that are not homogeneous in the principle curvatures, finding various situations where closed, convex curvature-pinched hypersurfaces contracting self-similarly are necessarily spheres.
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…
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…
We prove rigidity theorems for ancient solutions of geometric flows of immersed submanifolds. Specifically, we find pinching conditions on the second fundamental form that characterize the shrinking sphere among compact ancient solutions for the mean curvature flow in codimension greater than one, and for some nonlinear curvature flows of hypersurfaces.
We prove convergence results for expanding curvature flows in the Euclidean and hyperbolic space. The flow speeds have the form $F^{-p}$, where $p>1$ and $F$ is a positive, strictly monotone and 1-homogeneous curvature function. In particular this class includes the mean curvature $F=H$. We prove that a certain initial pinching condition is preserved and the properly rescaled hypersurfaces converge smoothly to the unit sphere. We show that an example due to Andrews-McCoy-Zheng can be used to construct strictly convex initial hypersurfaces, for which the inverse mean curvature flow to the power…
We consider inverse curvature flows in the $(n+1)$-dimensional Euclidean space, $n\geq 2,$ expanding by arbitrary negative powers of a 1-homogeneous, monotone curvature function $F$ with some concavity properties. We obtain asymptotical roundness, meaning that circumradius minus inradius of the flow hypersurfaces decays to zero and that the flow becomes close to a flow of spheres.
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.
We prove gradient estimates for hypersurfaces in the hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^{n+1},$ expanding by negative powers of a certain class of homogeneous curvature functions. We obtain optimal gradient estimates for hypersurfaces evolving by certain powers $p>1$ of $F^{-1}$ and smooth convergence of the properly rescaled hypersurfaces. In particular, the full convergence result holds for the inverse Gauss curvature flow of surfaces without any further pinching condition besides convexity of the initial hypersurface.
We consider the flow of closed convex hypersurfaces in Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with speed given by a power of the $k$-th mean curvature $E_k$ plus a global term chosen to impose a constraint involving the enclosed volume $V_{n+1}$ and the mixed volume $V_{n+1-k}$ of the evolving hypersurface. We prove that if the initial hypersurface is strictly convex, then the solution of the flow exists for all time and converges to a round sphere smoothly. No curvature pinching assumption is required on the initial hypersurface.
We consider the evolution of a closed convex hypersurface under a volume preserving curvature flow. The speed is given by a power of the m-th mean curvature plus a volume preserving term, including the case of powers of the mean curvature or of the Gauss curvature. We prove that if the initial hypersurface satisfies a suitable pinching condition, the solution exists for all times and converges to a round sphere.
In this paper we study the geometry of first time singularities of the mean curvature flow. By the curvature pinching estimate of Huisken and Sinestrari, we prove that a mean curvature flow of hypersurfaces in the Euclidean space $\R^{n+1}$ with positive mean curvature is $κ$-noncollapsing, and a blow-up sequence converges locally smoothly along a subsequence to a smooth, convex blow-up solution. As a consequence we obtain a local Harnack inequality for the mean convex flow.
We consider the mean curvature flow of compact convex surfaces in Euclidean $3$-space with free boundary lying on an arbitrary convex barrier surface with bounded geometry. When the initial surface is sufficiently convex, depending only on the geometry of the barrier, the flow contracts the surface to a point in finite time. Moreover, the solution is asymptotic to a shrinking half-sphere lying in a half space. This extends, in dimension two, the convergence result of Stahl for umbilic barriers to general convex barriers. We introduce a new perturbation argument to establish fundamental convexi…