In the context of geodesic flows of noncompact negatively curved manifolds, we propose three different definitions of entropy and pressure at infinity, through growth of periodic orbits, critical exponents of Poincaré series, and entropy (pressure) of invariant measures. We show that these notions coincide. Thanks to these entropy and pressure at infinity, we investigate thoroughly the notion of strong positive recurrence in this geometric context. A potential is said strongly positively recurrent when its pressure at infinity is strictly smaller than the full topological pressure. We show in particular that if a potential is strongly positively recurrent, then it admits a finite Gibbs measure. We also provide easy criteria allowing to build such strong positively recurrent potentials and many examples.
In this paper we construct and study isoperimetric functions at infinity for Hadamard manifolds. These quasi-isometry invariants give a measure of the spread of geodesics in such a manifold.
We point out that Ecker's local integral quantity agrees with Huisken's global integral quantity at infinity for ancient mean curvature flows if Huisken's one is finite on each time-slice. In particular, this means that the finiteness of Ecker's integral quantity at infinity implies the finiteness of the entropy at infinity.
In this paper, we construct a complete n-dim Riemannian manifold with positive Ricci curvature, quadratically nonnegatively curved infinity and infinite topological type. This gives a negative answer to a conjecture by Jiping Sha and Zhongmin Shen in the case of n greater than or equal to 6.
In this paper we obtain rigidity results and obstructions on the topology at infinity of translating solitons of the mean curvature flow in the Euclidean space. Our approach relies on the theory of f-minimal hypersurfaces.
We study the fundamental group of an open $n$-manifold $M$ of nonnegative Ricci curvature. We show that if there is an integer $k$ such that any tangent cone at infinity of the Riemannian universal cover of $M$ is a metric cone, whose maximal Euclidean factor has dimension $k$, then $π_1(M)$ is finitely generated. In particular, this confirms the Milnor conjecture for a manifold whose universal cover has Euclidean volume growth and the unique tangent cone at infinity.
We study constant mean curvature 1/2 surfaces in H2xR that admit a compactification of the mean curvature operator. We show that a particular family of complete entire graphs over H2 admits a structure of infinite dimensional manifold with local control on the behaviors at infinity. These graphs also appear to have a half-space property and we deduce a uniqueness result at infinity. Deforming non degenerate constant mean curvature 1/2 annuli, we provide a large class of (non rotational) examples and construct (possibly embedded) annuli without axis, i.e. with two vertical, asymptotically rotat…
We will generalize a Maximum Principle at Infinity in the parabolic case given by De Lima [Ann. Global Anal. Geom. ${\bf 20}$, 325-343 2001] and De Lima and Meeks [Indiana Univ. Math. Journal ${\bf 53}$ 5, 1211-1223 2004], for disjoints hypersurfaces of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with bounded mean curvature without restrictions on the Gaussian curvature. We will also extend for hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ a generalization of Hopf's Maximum Principle for hypersurfaces that get close asymptotically.
We shall prove that under some volume growth condition, the essential spectrum of the Laplacian contains the interval $[(n-1)^2K/4, \infty)$ if an $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold has an end and the average of the part of the Ricci curvature on the end which lies below a nonpositive constant $(n-1)K$ converges to zero at infinity.
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.
We consider a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold M and give conditions on a compact submanifold K of M so that the outward normal exponential map off of the boundary of K is a diffeomorphism onto M\K. We use this to compactify M and show that pinched negative sectional curvature outside K implies M has a compactification with a well defined Hölder structure independent of K. The Hölder constant depends on the ratio of the curvature pinching. This extends and generalizes a 1985 result of Anderson and Schoen.
We look at complete minimal surfaces of finite total curvature in $\mathbb{R}^4$. Similarly to the case of complex curves in $\mathbb{C}^2$ we introduce their {\it link at infinity}; we derive the {\it writhe number at infinity} which gives a formula for the total normal curvature of the surface. The knowledge of the link at infinity can sometimes help us determine if a surface has self-intersection and we illustrate this idea by looking at genus zero surfaces of small total curvature.
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.
We develop the scattering theory of general conformally compact metrics. For low frequencies, the domain of the scattering matrix is shown to be frequency dependent. In particular, generalized eigenfunctions exhibit L^2 decay in directions where the asymptotic curvature is sufficiently negative. The scattering matrix is shown to be a pseudodifferential operator. For generic frequency in this part of the continuous spectrum, we give an explicit construction of the resolvent kernel.
The total curvature of complex hypersurfaces in $\bC^{n+1}$ and its variation in families appear to depend not only on singularities but also on the behaviour in the neighbourhood of infinity. We find the asymptotic loss of total curvature towards infinity and we express the total curvature and the Gauss-Bonnet defect in terms of singularities and tangencies at infinity.
We compute the series expansions for the normal curvatures of hyperspheres, the Finsler and Rund curvatures of circles in Funk geometry as the radii tend to infinity. These three curvatures are different at infinity in Funk geometry.
In this paper, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of convex, entire, spacelike hypersurfaces of constant $σ_k$ curvature with prescribed set of lightlike directions $\mathcal{F}\subset\mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ and perturbation $q$ on $\mathcal{F}$. We prove that given a closed set $\mathcal{F}$ in the ideal boundary at infinity of hyperbolic space and a perturbation $q$ that satisfies some mild conditions, there exists a complete entire spacelike constant $σ_k$ curvature hypersurface $\mathcal{M}_u$ with prescribed set of lightlike directions $\mathcal{F}$ satisfying when $\frac{x}{|x|}\in\ma…
We study the resonant prescribed T-curvature problem on a compact 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold with boundary. We derive sharp energy and gradient estimates of the associated Euler-Lagrange functional to characterize the critical points at infinity of the associated variational problem under a non-degeneracy on a naturally associated Hamiltonian function. Using this, we derive a Morse type lemma around the critical points at infinity. Using the Morse lemma at infinity, we prove new existence results of Morse theoretical type. Combining the Morse lemma at infinity and the Liouville version …
Given a smooth, symmetric, homogeneous of degree one function $f=f\left(λ_{1},\cdots,\,λ_{n}\right)$ satisfying $\partial_{i}f>0$ for all $i=1,\cdots,\, n$, and an oriented, properly embedded smooth cone $\mathcal{C}^n$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, we show that under some suitable conditions on $f$ and the covariant derivatives of the second fundamental form of $\mathcal{C}$, there is at most one $f$ self-shrinker (i.e. an oriented hypersurface $Σ^n$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ for which $f\left(κ_{1},\cdots,\,κ_{n}\right)+\frac{1}{2}X\cdot N=0$ holds, where $X$ is the position vector, $N$ is the unit nor…
We mainly study 3-dimensional complete gradient Ricci solitons with positive sectional curvature, whose scalar curvature attains its maximum at some point. In section 2, we estimate the area growth of level sets and the volume growth of sublevel sets of a Ricci potential. In section 3, we show that the scalar curvature of such solitons approaches zero at infinity. In section 4, we investigate the geometry of such solitons at infinity, e.g., the tangent cone, the asymptotic behavior, etc.
The paper mainly concerns the structure at infinity for complete gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. It is shown that for such a soliton with bounded curvature, if the round cylinder $\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{S}^{n-1}/Γ$ occurs as a limit for a sequence of points going to infinity along an end, then the end is asymptotic to the same round cylinder at infinity. The result is then applied to obtain structural results at infinity for four dimensional gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. It is previously known that such solitons with scalar curvature approaching zero at infinity must be smoothly asym…
This paper concerns complete noncompact manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. Roughly, we say that M has the loops to infinity property if given any noncontractible closed curve, C, and given any compact set, K, there exists a closed curve contained in M\K which is homotopic to C. The main theorems in this paper are the following. Theorem I: If M has positive Ricci curvature then it has the loops to infinity property. Theorem II: If M has nonnegative Ricci curvature then it either has the loops to infinity property or it is isometric to a flat normal bundle over a compact totally geodesi…
We study the problem of prescribing the Paneitz curvature on higher dimensional spheres. Particular attention is paid to the blow-up points, i.e. the critical points at infinity of the corresponding variational problem. Using topological tools and a careful analysis of the gradient flow lines in the neighborhood of such critical points at infinity, we prove some existence results.
After recalling the Dirichlet problem at infinity on a Cartan-Hadamard manifold, we discuss what is known and the difference between the two-dimensional and higher-dimensional cases. Turning our attention to the two-dimensional case, we prove that the Dirichlet problem at infinity on a two-dimensional Cartan-Hadamard manifold is solvable under the curvature condition $K\leq (1+ε)/(r^2 \log r)$, outside of a compact set, for some $ε>0$ in polar coordinates around some pole. This condition on the curvature is sharp, and improves upon the previously known case of quadratic curvature decay. Finall…
Let (M, g) be an (n + 1)-dimensional asymptotically locally hyperbolic (ALH) manifold with a conformal compactification whose conformal infinity is ($\partial$M, [$γ$]). We will first observe that Ch(M, g) $\le$ n, where Ch(M, g) is the Cheeger constant of M. We then prove that, if the Ricci curvature of M is bounded from below by --n and its scalar curvature approaches --n(n+1) fast enough at infinity, then Ch(M, g) = n if and only Y($\partial$M, [$γ$]) $\ge$ 0, where Y($\partial$M, [$γ$]) denotes the Yamabe invariant of the conformal infinity. This gives an answer to a question raised by J. …
In this paper, by combining techniques from Ricci flow and algebraic geometry, we prove the following generalization of the classical uniformization theorem of Riemann surfaces. Given a complete noncompact complex two dimensional Kähler manifold $M$ of positive and bounded holomorphic bisectional curvature, suppose its geodesic balls have Euclidean volume growth and its scalar curvature decays to zero at infinity in the average sense, then $M$ is biholomorphic to $\C^2$. During the proof, we also discover an interesting gap phenomenon which says that a Kähler manifold as above automatically ha…
We define a generalized mass for asymptotically flat manifolds using some higher order symmetric function of the curvature tensor. This mass is non-negative when the manifold is locally conformally flat and the $σ_k$ curvature vanishes at infinity. In addition, with the above assumptions, if the mass is zero, then, near infinity, the manifold is isometric to a Euclidean end.
We study the evolution of strictly mean-convex entire graphs over $R^n$ by Inverse Mean Curvature flow. First we establish the global existence of starshaped entire graphs with superlinear growth at infinity. The main result in this work concerns the critical case of asymptotically conical entire convex graphs. In this case we show that there exists a time $ T < +\infty$, which depends on the growth at infinity of the initial data, such that the unique solution of the flow exists for all $t < T$. Moreover, as $t \to T$ the solution converges to a flat plane. Our techniques exploit the ultra-fa…
We construct a $T$-axisymmetric, spacelike, spherically symmetric, constant mean curvature hypersurfaces foliation in the Kruskal extension with properties that the mean curvature varies in each slice and ranges from minus infinity to plus infinity. This family of hypersurfaces extends the CMC foliation discussions posted by Malec and Ó Murchadha in 2009.
We show precompactness results for solutions to parabolic fourth order geometric evolution equations. As part of the proof we obtain smoothing estimates for these flows in the presence of a curvature bound, an improvement on prior results which also require a Sobolev constant bound. As consequences of these results we show that for any solution with a finite time singularity, the $L^{\infty}$ norm of the curvature must go to infinity. Furthermore, we characterize the behavior at infinity of solutions with bounded curvature.
We consider self-similar solutions to mean curvature evolution of entire Lagrangian graphs. When the Hessian of the potential function $u$ has eigenvalues strictly uniformly between -1 and 1, we show that on the potential level all the shrinking solitons are quadratic polynomials while the expanding solitons are in one-to-one correspondence to functions of homogenous of degree 2 with the Hessian bound. We also show that if the initial potential function is cone-like at infinity then the scaled flow converges to an expanding soliton as time goes to infinity.
We prove an existence result for the Poisson equation on non-compact Riemannian manifolds satisfying weighted Poincaré inequalities outside compact sets. Our result applies to a large class of manifolds including, for instance, all non-parabolic manifolds with minimal positive Green's function vanishing at infinity. On the source function we assume a sharp pointwise decay depending on the weight appearing in the Poincaré inequality and on the behavior of the Ricci curvature at infinity. We do not require any curvature or spectral assumptions on the manifold.
Recently, B.Chow and R.S.Hamilton introduced the cross curvature flow on 3-manifolds. In this paper, we analyze two interesting examples for this new flow. One is on a square torus bundle over a circle, and the other is on a $S^{2}$ bundle over a circle. We show that the global flow exist in both cases. But on the former the flow diverges at time infinity, and on the latter the flow converges at time infinity.
The Martin boundary of a Cartan-Hadamard manifold describes a fine geometric structure at infinity, which is a sub-space of positive harmonic functions. We describe conditions which ensure that some points of the sphere at infinity belong to the Martin boundary as well. In the case of the universal cover of a compact manifold with Ballmann rank one, we show that Martin points are generic and of full harmonic measure. The result of this paper provides a partial answer to an open problem of S. T. Yau.
We consider complete spacelike hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature in the open region of de Sitter space known as the steady state space. We prove that if the hypersurface is bounded away from the infinity of the ambient space, then the mean curvature must be H=1. Moreover, in the 2-dimensional case we obtain that the only complete spacelike surfaces with constant mean curvature which are bounded away from the infinity are the totally umbilical flat surfaces. We also derive some other consequences for hypersurfaces which are bounded away from the future infinity. Finally, using an isome…
We prove that a spacelike spherical symmetric constant mean curvature (SSCMC) surface and a general spacelike constant mean curvature (CMC) surface with certain boundary condition at the future null-infinity in Schwarzschild spacetime are asymptotically hyperbolic in the sense of Wang \cite{Wang2001} and Chruściel-Herzlich \cite{ChruscielHerzlich} respectively. Near the future null-infinity ($s=0$), we derive that the boundary data of spacelike CMC surfaces can be expressed as those on $\mathbb{S}^{2}$ up to three order and obtain a compatibility condition for fourth order derivatives near $s=…
We study the asymptotic Dirichlet and Plateau problems on Cartan-Hadamard manifolds satisfying the so-called Strict Convexity (abbr. SC) condition. The main part of the paper consists in studying the SC condition on a manifold whose sectional curvatures are bounded from above and below by certain functions depending on the distance to a fixed point. In particular, we are able to verify the SC condition on manifolds whose curvature lower bound can go to -infinity and upper bound to 0 simultaneously at certain rates, or on some manifolds whose sectional curvatures go to -infinity faster than any…
