We show that the cylindrical tangent cone $C\times \mathbf{R}$ for an area-minimizing hypersurface is unique, where $C$ is the Simons cone $C_S= C(S^3\times S^3)$. Previously Simon proved a uniqueness result for cylindrical tangent cones that applies to a large class of cones $C$, however not to the Simons cone. The main new difficulty is that the cylindrical cone $C_S\times \mathbf{R}$ is not integrable, and we need to develop a suitable replacement for Simon's infinite dimensional Lojasiewicz inequality in the setting of tangent cones with non-isolated singularities.
We show that if an exact special Lagrangian $N\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ has a multiplicity one, cylindrical tangent cone of the form $\mathbb{R}^{k}\times \mathbf{C}$ where $\mathbf{C}$ is a special Lagrangian cone with smooth, connected link, then this tangent cone is unique provided $\mathbf{C}$ satisfies an integrability condition. This applies, for example, when $\mathbf{C}= \mathbf{C}_{HL}^{m}$ is the Harvey-Lawson $T^{m-1}$ cone for $m\ne 8,9$.
In this paper we consider $4$-dimensional steady soliton singularity models, i.e., complete steady gradient Ricci solitons that arise as the rescaled limit of a finite time singular solution of the Ricci flow on a closed $4$-manifold. In particular, we study the geometry at infinity of such Ricci solitons under the assumption that their tangent flow at infinity is the product of $\mathbb{R}$ with a $3$-dimensional spherical space form. We also classify the tangent flows at infinity of $4$-dimensional steady soliton singularity models in general.
First we construct minimal hypersurfaces $M\subset\mathbf{R}^{n+1}$ in a neighborhood of the origin, with an isolated singularity but cylindrical tangent cone $C\times \mathbf{R}$, for any strictly minimizing strictly stable cone $C$ in $\mathbf{R}^n$. We show that many of these hypersurfaces are area minimizing. Next, we prove a strong unique continuation result for minimal hypersurfaces $V$ with such a cylindrical tangent cone, stating that if the blowups of $V$ centered at the origin approach $C\times \mathbf{R}$ at infinite order, then $V = C\times\mathbf{R}$ in a neighborhood of the origi…
We prove that a shrinking gradient Ricci soliton which agrees to infinite order at spatial infinity with one of the standard cylindrical metrics on $S^k\times \RR^{n-k}$ for $k\geq 2$ along some end must be isometric to the cylinder on that end. When the underlying manifold is complete, it must be globally isometric either to the cylinder or (when $k=n-1$) to its $\ZZ_2$-quotient.
In this note, we combine the work of Ilmanen and of Colding-Ilmanen-Minicozzi to observe a uniqueness property for tangent flows at the first singular time of a smooth mean curvature flow of a closed surface in 3-dimensional Euclidean space. Specifically, if, at a fixed singular point, one tangent flow is a positive integer multiple of a shrinking plane, cylinder or sphere, then, modulo rotations, all tangent flows at the point are the same.
Let $(X, L)$ be a polarized Calabi Yau variety (or canonical polarized variety) with crepant singularity. Suppose $ω_{KE} \in c_1(L)$ (or $ω_{KE} \in c_1(K_X)$) is the unique Ricci flat current (or Kahler Einstein current with negative scalar curvature) with local bounded potential constructed in [18], we show that the local tangent at any point $p \in X$ of metric $ω_{KE}$ is unique
We establish various existence and uniqueness results for the Yang-Mills flow on cylindrical end 4-manifolds. We also show long-time existence and infinite-time convergence under certain hypotheses on the underlying data.
We prove that tangent cones to 2-dimensional calibrated cycles are unique. Using this result we prove a rate of convergence for the mass of the blow-up of a calibrated integral 2-cycle towards the limiting density. With the same techniques, we can also prove such a rate for J-holomorphic maps between almost complex manifolds and deduce the uniqueness of their tangent maps.
We prove that tangent cones at singular boundary points of a two-dimensional current almost area minimizing are unique. Following the ideas exposed by White in [8], the result is achieved by combining a suitable epiperimetric inequality and an almost-monotonicity formula for the mass at boundary points.
We show that for any Ricci-flat manifold with Euclidean volume growth the tangent cone at infinity is unique if one tangent cone has a smooth cross-section. Similarly, for any noncollapsing limit of Einstein manifolds with uniformly bounded Einstein constants, we show that local tangent cones are unique if one tangent cone has a smooth cross-section.
We consider $2$-dimensional integer rectifiable currents which are almost area minimizing and show that their tangent cones are everywhere unique. Our argument unifies a few uniqueness theorems of the same flavor, which are all obtained by a suitable modification of White's original theorem for area minimizing currents in the euclidean space. This note is also the first step in a regularity program for semicalibrated $2$-dimensional currents and spherical cross sections of $3$-dimensional area minimizing cones.
We consider the Calabi-Yau metrics on $\mathbf{C}^n$ constructed recently by Yang Li, Conlon-Rochon, and the author, that have tangent cone $\mathbf{C}\times A_1$ at infinity for the $(n-1)$-dimensional Stenzel cone $A_1$. We show that up to scaling and isometry this Calabi-Yau metric on $\mathbf{C}^n$ is unique. We also discuss possible generalizations to other manifolds and tangent cones.
We proved a uniqueness theorem of tangent connections for a Yang-Mills connection with an isolated singularity with a quadratic growth of the curvature at the singularity. We also obtained controls over the rate of the asymptotic convergence of the connection to the tangent connection under assumptions that the connection is stationary or the tangent connection is integrable. There are parallel results for the cones at infinity of a Yang-Mills connection on an asymptotically flat manifold. We also gave an application of our methods to the Yang-Mills flow and proved that the Yang-Mills flow exi…
Singularities of the mean curvature flow of an embedded surface in R^3 are expected to be modelled on self-shrinkers that are compact, cylindrical, or asymptotically conical. In order to understand the flow before and after the singular time, it is crucial to know the uniqueness of tangent flows at the singularity. In all dimensions, assuming the singularity is multiplicity one, uniqueness in the compact case has been established by the second-named author, and in the cylindrical case by Colding-Minicozzi. We show here the uniqueness of multiplicity-one asymptotically conical tangent flows for…
This part II of the paper is concerned with questions of existence and uniqueness of tangents in the special case of G-plurisubharmonic functions, where G is a compact subset of the Grassmannian of p-planes in ${\mathbb R}^n$. An upper semi-continuous function u on an open set $Ω$ in ${\mathbb R}^n$ is G-plurisubharmonic if its restriction to $Ω\cap W$ is subharmonic for every affine G-plane $W$. Here G is assumed to be invariant under a subgroup K of O(n) which acts transitively on the sphere $S^{n-1}$. Tangents to u at a point x are the cluster points of u under a natural flow (or blow-up) a…
There is an interesting potential theory associated to each degenerate elliptic, fully nonlinear equation $f(D^2u) = 0$. These include all the potential theories attached to calibrated geometries. This paper begins the study of tangents to the subsolutions in these theories, a topic inspired by the results of Kiselman in the classical plurisubharmonic case. Fundamental to this study is a new invariant of the equation, called the "Riesz characteristic", which governs asymptotic structures. The existence of tangents to subsolutions is established in general, as is the existence of an upper semi-…
Let $(M, \om)$ be a symplectic manifold, endowed with a compatible almost complex structure J and the associated metric g . For any p \in {1, 2, ... (dim M)/2} the form $\Om := \frac{\om^p}{p!}$ is a calibration. More generally, dropping the closedness assumption on $\om$, we get an almost hermitian manifold $(M, \om, J, g)$ and then $\Om$ is a so-called semi-calibration. We prove that integral cycles of dimension 2p (semi-)calibrated by $\Om$ possess at every point a unique tangent cone. The argument relies on an algebraic blow up perturbed in order to face the analysis issues of this problem…
We give a simple direct proof of uniqueness of tangent cones for singular projectively Hermitian Yang-Mills connections on reflexive sheaves at isolated singularities modelled on $μ$-polystable holomorphic bundles over $\mathbf{P}^{n-1}$.
We show, for mean curvature flows in Euclidean space, that if one of the tangent flows at a given space-time point consists of a closed, multiplicity-one, smoothly embedded self-similar shrinker, then it is the unique tangent flow at that point. That is the limit of the parabolic rescalings does not depend on the chosen sequence of rescalings. Furthermore, given such a closed, multiplicity-one, smoothly embedded self-similarly shrinker $Σ$, we show that any solution of the rescaled flow, which is sufficiently close to $Σ$, with Gaussian density ratios greater or equal to that of $Σ$, stays for…
The Fine Structure of the Singular Set of Area-Minimizing Integral Currents III: Frequency 1 Flat Singular Points and $\mathcal{H}^{m-2}$-a.e. Uniqueness of Tangent Cones
We show uniqueness of cylindrical blowups for mean curvature flow in all dimension and all codimension. Cylindrical singularities are known to be the most important; they are the most prevalent in any codimension. Mean curvature flow in higher codimension is a nonlinear parabolic system where many of the methods used for hypersurfaces do not apply and uniqueness of cylindrical blowups remained a major open problem. Our results imply regularity of the singular set for the system.
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 consider positive-(1,1) De Rham currents in arbitrary almost complex manifolds and prove the uniqueness of the tangent cone at any point where the density does not have a jump with respect to all of its values in a neighbourhood. Without this assumption, counterexamples to the uniqueness of tangent cones can be produced already in C^n, hence our result is optimal. The key idea is an implementation, for currents in an almost complex setting, of the classical blow up of curves in algebraic or symplectic geometry. Unlike the classical approach in C^n, we cannot rely on plurisubharmonic potenti…
It is shown by Colding and Minicozzi the uniqueness of the tangent cone at infinity of Ricci-flat manifolds with Euclidean volume growth which has at least one tangent cone at infinity with a smooth cross section. In this article we raise an example of the Ricci-flat manifold implying that the assumption for the volume growth in the above result is essential. More precisely, we construct a complete Ricci-flat manifold of dimension 4 with non-Euclidean volume growth who has at least two distinct tangent cones at infinity and one of them has a smooth cross section.
In this paper, we prove the uniqueness of asymptotically conical tangent flows in all codimensions. This is based on an early work of Chodosh-Schulze, who proved the uniqueness in the hypersurface case.
Analysis of singularities of area-minimizing currents, Part II: a uniform height bound, estimates away from branch points of rapid decay, and uniqueness of tangent cones
We investigate the maximal open domain $\mathscr{E}(M)$ on which the orthogonal projection map $p$ onto a subset $M\subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ can be defined and study essential properties of $p$. We prove that if $M$ is a $C^1$ submanifold of $\mathbb{R}^d$ satisfying a Lipschitz condition on the tangent spaces, then $\mathscr{E}(M)$ can be described by a lower semi-continuous frontier function. We show that this frontier function is continuous if $M$ is $C^2$ or if the topological skeleton of $M^c$ is closed and we provide an example showing that the frontier function need not be continuous in g…
We study the notion of algebraic tangent cones at singularities of reflexive sheaves. These correspond to extensions of reflexive sheaves across a negative divisor. We show the existence of optimal extensions in a constructive manner, and we prove the uniqueness in a suitable sense. The results here are an algebro-geometric counterpart of our previous study on singularities of Hermitian-Yang-Mills connections.
We consider a projection from the center of the unit sphere to a tangent space of it, the central projection, and study two area minimizing problems of the image of a closed subset in the sphere. One of the problems is the uniqueness of the tangent plane that minimizes the area for an arbitrary fixed subset. The other is the shape of the subset that minimizes the minimum value of the area. We also study the similar problems for the hyperbolic space.
We prove that for closed surfaces $M$ with Riemannian metrics without conjugate points and genus $\geq 2$ the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle $T^1M$ has a unique measure of maximal entropy. Furthermore, this measure is fully supported on $T^1M$ and the flow is mixing with respect to this measure. We formulate conditions under which this result extends to higher dimensions.
We give examples illustrating the fact that the different space/time splittings of the tangent bundle of a semi-Riemannian spin manifold give rise to non-equivalent norms on the space of compactly supported sections of the spinor bundle, and as a result, to different completions. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for two space/time splittings to define equivalent norms in terms of a generalized Doppler shift between maximal negative definite subspaces. We explore some consequences for the Noncommutative Geometry program.
