We address the classification of ancient solutions to the Gauss curvature flow under the assumption that the solutions are contained in a cylinder of bounded cross section. For each cylinder of convex bounded cross-section, we show that there are only two ancient solutions which are asymptotic to this cylinder: the non-compact translating soliton and the compact oval solution obtained by gluing two translating solitons approaching each other from time $-\infty$ from two opposite ends.
In this paper we generalize the neck-stability theorem of Kleiner-Lott to a special class of four-dimensional nonnegatively curved Type I $κ$-solutions, namely, those whose asymptotic shrinkers are the standard cylinder $\mathbb{S}^3\times\mathbb{R}$. We use this stability result to prove a rigidity theorem: if a four-dimensional Type I $κ$-solution with nonnegative curvature operator has the standard cylinder $\mathbb{S}^3\times\mathbb{R}$ as its asymptotic shrinker, then it is exactly the cylinder with its standard shrinking metric.
In this paper, we study $κ$-noncollapsed ancient solutions to the Ricci flow with nonnegative curvature operator in higher dimensions. We impose one further assumption: one of the asymptotic shrinking gradient Ricci solitons is the standard cylinder $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\times\mathbb{R}$. By making use of the properties of such ancient solutions, we generalize part one of Brendle \cite{brendle2018ancient} to higher dimensions, that is, every noncompact $κ$-noncollapsed rotationally symmetric ancient solution to the Ricci flow with bounded positive curvature operator must be the Bryant soliton.
In this paper, we prove the mean-convex neighborhood conjecture for neck singularities of the mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ for all $n\geq 3$: we show that if a mean curvature flow $\{M_t\}$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ has an $S^{n-1}\times \mathbb{R}$ singularity at $(x_0,t_0)$, then there exists an $\varepsilon=\varepsilon(x_0,t_0)>0$ such that $M_t\cap B(x_0,\varepsilon)$ is mean-convex for all $t\in(t_0-\varepsilon^2,t_0+\varepsilon^2)$. As in the case $n=2$, which was resolved by the first three authors in arXiv:1810.08467, the existence of such a mean-convex neighborhood follows fr…
We first bound the codimension of an ancient mean curvature flow by the entropy. As a consequence, all blowups lie in a Euclidean subspace whose dimension is bounded by the entropy and dimension of the evolving submanifolds. This drastically reduces the complexity of the system. Combined with \cite{CM12}, this gives the first general bounds on generic singularities of surfaces in arbitrary codimension. We also show sharp bounds for codimension in arguably some of the most important situations of ancient flows. Namely, we prove that in any dimension and codimension any ancient flow that is cyli…
It is known from work of Perelman that any finite-time singularity of the Ricci flow on a compact three-manifold is modeled on an ancient $κ$-solution. We prove that the every noncompact ancient $κ$-solution in dimension $3$ is isometric to either the shrinking cylinders (or a quotient thereof), or the Bryant soliton.
Motivated by the limiting behavior of an explicit class of compact ancient curve shortening flows, we prove codimension bounds for ancient mean curvature flows by their tangent flow at $-\infty$, generalizing a theorem for cylinders in [CM19b]. In the case of the $m$-covered circle, we apply this bound to prove a strong rigidity theorem. Furthermore, we extend this paradigm by showing that under the assumption of sufficiently rapid convergence, a compact ancient mean curvature flow is identical to its tangent flow at $-\infty$.
In [4], we proved that every noncompact ancient $κ$-solution to the Ricci flow in dimension $3$ is either locally isometric to a family of shrinking cylinders, or isometric to the Bryant soliton. In the same paper, we announced that the same method implies that compact ancient $κ$-solutions are rotationally symmetric. In this note we provide the details of this argument.
We show that every $n$-dimensional, $κ$-noncollapsed, noncompact, complete ancient solution to the Ricci flow with uniformly PIC for $n=4$ or $n\ge 12$ has weakly PIC$_2$ and bounded curvature. Combining this with earlier results, we prove that any such solution is isometric to either a family of shrinking cylinders (or a quotient thereof) or the Bryant soliton. Also, we classify all complex 2-dimensional, $κ$-noncollapsed, complete ancient solutions to the Kähler Ricci flow with weakly PIC.
We consider ancient noncollapsed mean curvature flows in $\mathbb{R}^4$ whose tangent flow at $-\infty$ is a bubble-sheet. We carry out a fine spectral analysis for the bubble-sheet function $u$ that measures the deviation of the renormalized flow from the round cylinder $\mathbb{R}^2 \times S^1(\sqrt{2})$ and prove that for $τ\to -\infty$ we have the fine asymptotics $u(y,θ,τ)= (y^\top Qy -2\textrm{tr}(Q))/|τ| + o(|τ|^{-1})$, where $Q=Q(τ)$ is a symmetric $2\times 2$-matrix whose eigenvalues are quantized to be either 0 or $-1/\sqrt{8}$. This naturally breaks up the classification problem for…
Ancient solutions arise in the study of parabolic blow-ups. If we can categorize ancient solutions, we can better understand blow-up limits. Based on an argument of Giga and Kohn, we give a Liouville-type theorem restricting ancient, type-I, non-collapsing two- dimensional mean curvature flows to either spheres or cylinders.
In this short article, we prove the existence of ancient solutions of the mean curvature flow that for t -> 0 collapse to a round point, but for t -> -infinity become more and more oval: near the center they have asymptotic shrinkers modeled on round cylinders S^j x R^n-j and near the tips they have asymptotic translators modeled on Bowl^j+1 x R^n-j-1. We also give a characterization of the round shrinking sphere among ancient alpha-Andrews flows. Our proofs are based on the recent estimates of Haslhofer-Kleiner.
We construct the ancient solutions of the hypersurface flows in Euclidean spaces studied by B. Andrews in 1994. As time $t \rightarrow 0^-$ the solutions collapse to a round point where $0$ is the singular time. But as $t\rightarrow-\infty$ the solutions become more and more oval. Near the center the appropriately-rescaled pointed Cheeger-Gromov limits are round cylinder solutions $S^J \times \mathbb{R}^{n-J}$, $1 \leq J \leq n-1$. These results are the analog of the corresponding results in Ricci flow ($J=n-1$) and mean curvature flow.
In this paper we study the classification of ancient convex solutions to the mean curvature flow in $\R^{n+1}$. An open problem related to the classification of type II singularities is whether a convex translating solution is $k$-rotationally symmetric for some integer $2\le k\le n$, namely whether its level set is a sphere or cylinder $S^{k-1}\times \R^{n-k}$. In this paper we give an affirmative answer for entire solutions in dimension 2. In high dimensions we prove that there exist non-rotationally symmetric, entire convex translating solutions, but the blow-down in space of any entire con…
In this article, we prove the mean convex neighborhood conjecture for the mean curvature flow of surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Namely, if the flow has a spherical or cylindrical singularity at a space-time point $X=(x,t)$, then there exists a positive $\varepsilon=\varepsilon(X)>0$ such that the flow is mean convex in a space-time neighborhood of size $\varepsilon$ around $X$. The major difficulty is to promote the infinitesimal information about the singularity to a conclusion of macroscopic size. In fact, we prove a more general classification result for all ancient low entropy flows that aris…
We study ancient mean curvature flows in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ whose tangent flow at $-\infty$ is a shrinking cylinder $\mathbb{R}^{k}\times S^{n-k}(\sqrt{2(n-k)|t|})$, where $1\leq k\leq n-1$. We prove that the cylindrical profile function $u$ of these flows have the asymptotics $u(y,ω,τ)= (y^\top Qy -2\textrm{tr}(Q))/|τ| + o(|τ|^{-1})$ as $τ\to -\infty$, where the cylindrical matrix $Q$ is a constant symmetric $k\times k$ matrix whose eigenvalues are quantized to be either 0 or $-\frac{\sqrt{2(n-k)}}{4}$. Compared with the bubble-sheet quantization theorem in $\mathbb{R}^{4}$ obtained by Haslho…
We prove that the only closed, embedded ancient solutions to the curve shortening flow on $\mathbb{S}^2$ are equators or shrinking circles, starting at an equator at time $t=-\infty$ and collapsing to the north pole at time $t=0$. To obtain the result, we first prove a Harnack inequality for the curve shortening flow on the sphere. Then an application of the Gauss-Bonnet, easily allows us to obtain curvature bounds for ancient solutions leading to backwards smooth convergence to an equator. To complete the proof, we use an Aleksandrov reflection argument to show that maximal symmetry is preser…
We prove Gaussian type bounds for the fundamental solution of the conjugate heat equation evolving under the Ricci flow. As a consequence, for dimension 4 and higher, we show that the backward limit of type I $κ$-solutions of the Ricci flow must be a non-flat gradient shrinking Ricci soliton. This extends Perelman's previous result on backward limits of $κ$-solutions in dimension 3, in which case that the curvature operator is nonnegative (follows from Hamilton-Ivey curvature pinching estimate). The Gaussian bounds that we obtain on the fundamental solution of the conjugate heat equation under…
We address the asymptotic behavior of the $α$-Gauss curvature flow, for $α>1/2$, with initial data a complete non-compact convex hypersurface which is contained in a cylinder of bounded cross section. We show that the flow converges, as $t \to +\infty$, locally smoothly to a translating soliton which is uniquely determined by the asymptotic cylinder of the initial hypersurface.
We prove a sharp pinching estimate for immersed mean convex solutions of mean curvature flow which unifies and improves all previously known pinching estimates, including the umbilic estimate of Huisken, the convexity estimates of Huisken--Sinestrari and the cylindrical estimate of Huisken--Sinestrari. Namely, we show that the curvature of the solution pinches onto the convex cone generated by the curvatures of any shrinking cylinder solutions admitted by the initial data. For example, if the initial data is $(m+1)$-convex, then the curvature of the solution pinches onto the convex hull of the…
Consider a surface $M^2$ with Gaussian curvature either $< 0$ or $> 0$. We prove that in $M^2\times \mathbb{R}^n$ cylinders are characterized as the hypersurfaces with both the extrinsic and intrinsic curvatures equal to zero.
We study the geometry of complete immersed surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with constant anisotropic mean curvature (CAMC). Assuming that the anisotropic functional is uniformly elliptic, we prove that: (1) planes and CAMC cylinders are the only complete surfaces with CAMC whose Gauss map image is contained in a closed hemisphere of $\mathbb{S}^2$; (2) Any complete surface with non-zero CAMC and whose Gaussian curvature does not change sign is either a CAMC cylinder or the Wulff shape, up to a homothety of $\mathbb{R}^3$; and (3) if the Wulff shape $W$ of the anisotropic functional is invariant wit…
We consider ancient solutions to the mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ ($n \geq 3$) that are weakly convex, uniformly two-convex, and satisfy derivative estimates $|\nabla A| \leq γ_1 |H|^2, |\nabla^2 A| \leq γ_2 |H|^3$. We show that such solutions are noncollapsed. As an application, in arbitrary codimension, we consider compact $n$-dimensional ($n \geq 5$) solutions to the mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^N$ that satisfy the pinching condition $|H| > 0$ and $|A|^2 < c(n) |H|^2$, $c(n) = \min\{\frac{1}{n-2}, \frac{3(n+1)}{2n(n+2)}\}$. We conclude that any blow-up model at the first …
In this paper, we show that any ancient solution to the Ricci flow with the reduced volume whose asymptotic limit is sufficiently close to that of the Gaussian soliton is isometric to the Euclidean space for all time. This is a generalization of Anderson's result for Ricci-flat manifolds. As a corollary, a gap theorem for gradient shrinking Ricci solitons is also obtained.
In this work, we consider the model of $\mathbb{S}^2\times\mathbb{R}$ isometric to $\mathbb{R}^3\setminus \{0\}$, endowed with a metric conformally equivalent to the Euclidean metric of $\mathbb{R}^3$, and we define a Gauss map for surfaces in this model likewise in the $3-$Euclidean space. We show as a main result that any two minimal conformal immersions in $\mathbb{S}^2\times\mathbb{R}$ with the same non-constant Gauss map differ by only two types of ambient isometries: either $f=(\mathrm{id},T)$, where $T$ is a translation on $\mathbb{R}$, or $f=(\mathcal{A},T)$, where $\mathcal{A}$ denote…
We verify if Gausssian curvature of surfaces and normal curvature of curves in surfaces introduced by Diniz-Veloso arXiv:1210.7110 and by Balogh-Tyson-Vecchi arXiv:1604.00180 to prove Gauss-Bonnet theorems in Heisenberg space $\mathbb H^1$ are equal. The authors in arXiv:1604.00180 utilize a limit of Gaussian and normal curvatures defined in the Riemannian approximations scheme $(\mathbb R^3,g_L)$ introduced by Gromov to study sub-Riemannian spaces. They show that these limits exist (unlike the limit of Riemannian surface area form or length form), and they obtain Gauss-Bonnet theorem in $\mat…
