In this paper we study the Nirenberg problem on standard half spheres $(\mathbb{S}^n_+,g), \, n \geq 5$, which consists of finding conformal metrics of prescribed scalar curvature and zero boundary mean curvature on the boundary. This problem amounts to solve the following boundary value problem involving the critical Sobolev exponent: \begin{equation*} (\mathcal{P}) \quad \begin{cases}
-\D_{g} u \, + \, \frac{n(n-2)}{4} u \, = K \, u^{\frac{n+2}{n-2}},\, u > 0 & \mbox{in } \mathbb{S}^n_+,
\frac{\partial u}{\partial ν}\, =\, 0 & \mbox{on } \partial \mathbb{S}^n_+. \end{cases} \end{equation*}
where $K \in C^3(\mathbb{S}^n_+)$ is a positive function.
This problem has a variational structure but the related Euler-Lagrange functional $J_K$ lacks compactness. Indeed it admits \emph{critical points at infinity}, which are \emph{limits} of non compact orbits of the (negative) gradient flow. Through the construction of an appropriate \emph{pseudogradient} in the \emph{neighborhood at infinity}, we characterize these \emph{critical points at infinity}, associate to them an index, perform a \emph{Morse type reduction} of the functional $J_K$ in their neighborhood and compute their contribution to the difference of topology between the level sets of $J_K$, hence extending the full Morse theoretical approach to this \emph{non compact variational problem}. Such an approach is used to prove, under various pinching conditions, some existence results for $(\mathcal{P})$ on half spheres of dimension $n \geq 5$.
We study metrics on conic 2-spheres when no Einstein metrics exist. In particular, when the curvature of a conic metric is positive, we obtain the best curvature pinching constant. We also show that when this best pinching constant is approached, the conic 2-sphere has an explicit Gromov-Hausdorff limit. This is a generalization of the previous results of Chen-Lin and Bartolucci for 2-spheres with one or two conic points.
In this work, we develop a study involving some nonlinear partial differential equations on spheres and hemispheres, with the zero Neumann boundary condition, which are so-called Brezis-Nirenberg type problems, and we give conditions on which such equations have only constant solutions. We also extend these results for some nonlinear partial differential systems.
In this paper we perform a refined blow up analysis of finite energy approximated solutions to a Nirenberg type problem on half spheres. The later consists of prescribing, under minimal boundary conditions, the scalar curvature to be a given function. In particular we give a precise location of blow up points and blow up rates. Such an analysis shows that the blow up picture of the Nirenberg problem on half spheres is far more complicated that in the case of closed spheres. Indeed besides the combination of interior and boundary blow ups, there are non simple blow up points for subcritical sol…
In this paper, we prove convergence of the high codimension mean curvature flow in the sphere to either a round point or a totally geodesic sphere assuming a pinching condition between the norm squared of the second fundamental form and the norm squared of the mean curvature and the background curvature of the sphere. We show that this pinching is sharp for dimension $n\geq 4$ but is not sharp for dimension $n=2,3$. For dimension $n=2$ and codimension $2$, we consider an alternative pinching condition which includes the normal curvature of the normal bundle. Finally, we sharpen the Chern-do Ca…
In this paper we study a Nirenberg type problem on standard half spheres $(\mathbb{S}^n_+,g_0)$ consisting of finding conformal metrics of prescribed scalar curvature and zero boundary mean curvature on the boundary $\partial \mathbb{S}^n_+$. This problem amounts to solve the following boundary value problem involving the critical Sobolev exponent: \begin{equation*} (\mathcal{P}) \quad \begin{cases} -\D_{g_0} u \, + \, \frac{n(n-2)}{4} u \, = K \, u^{\frac{n+2}{n-2}},\, u > 0 & \mbox{in } \mathbb{S}^n_+, \frac{\partial u}{\partial ν}\, =\, 0 & \mbox{on } \partial \mathbb{S}^n_+. \end{cases} \e…
We consider the fractional Nirenberg problem on the standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ with $n\geq 4$. Using the theory of critical points at infinity, we establish an Euler-Hopf type formula and obtain some existence results for curvature satisfying assumptions of Bahri-Coron type.
We prove in this article that the local image of each conformal $Q$-curvature operator of arbitrary order on the sphere admits no scalar constraint. However, we prove that identities of Kazdan--Warner type hold for its graph.
Making use of integral representations, we develop a unified approach to establish blow up profiles, compactness and existence of positive solutions of the conformally invariant equations $P_σ(v)= Kv^{\frac{n+2σ}{n-2σ}}$ on the standard unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ for all $σ\in (0,n/2)$, where $P_σ$ is the intertwining operator of order $2σ$. Finding positive solutions of these equations is equivalent to seeking metrics in the conformal class of the standard metric on spheres with prescribed certain curvatures. When $σ=1$, it is the prescribing scalar curvature problem or the Nirenberg problem,…
We consider the problem of prescribing the $σ_k$-curvature on the standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ with $n \geq 3$. We prove existence and compactness theorems when $k \geq n/2$. This extends an earlier result of Chang, Han and Yang for $n = 4$ and $k = 2$.
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.
In this paper we study the prescribed fractional $Q$-curvatures problem of order $2 σ$ on the $n$-dimensional standard sphere $(\mathbb{S}^{n}, g_0)$, where $n\geq3$, $σ\in(0,\frac{n-2}{2})$. By combining critical points at infinity approach with Morse theory we obtain new existence results under suitable pinching conditions.
We establish theorems on the existence and compactness of solutions to the $σ_2$-Nirenberg problem on the standard sphere $\mathbb S^2$. A first significant ingredient, a Liouville type theorem for the associated fully nonlinear Möbius invariant elliptic equations, was established in an earlier paper of ours. Our proof of the existence and compactness results requires a number of additional crucial ingredients which we prove in this paper: A Liouville type theorem for the associated fully nonlinear Möbius invariant degenerate elliptic equations, a priori estimates of first and second order der…
Our first objective in this paper is to give a natural formulation of the Christoffel problem for hypersurfaces in $H^{n+1}$, by means of the hyperbolic Gauss map and the notion of hyperbolic curvature radii for hypersurfaces. Our second objective is to provide an explicit equivalence of this Christoffel problem with the famous problem of prescribing scalar curvature on $§^n$ for conformal metrics, posed by Nirenberg and Kazdan-Warner. This construction lets us translate into the hyperbolic setting the known results for the scalar curvature problem, and also provides a hypersurface theory inte…
In this paper we study the problem, posed by Troyanov, of prescribing the Gaussian curvature under a conformal change of the metric on surfaces with conical singularities. Such geometrical problem can be reduced to the solvability of a nonlinear PDE with exponential type non-linearity admitting a variational structure. In particular, we are concerned with the case where the prescribed function $K$ changes sign. When the surface is the standard sphere, namely for the singular Nirenberg problem, by a min-max approach and a new compactness argument we give sufficient conditions on $K$, concerning…
We study the problem of prescribing $σ_k$-curvature for a conformal metric on the standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ with $2 \leq k < n/2$ and $n \geq 5$ in axisymmetry. Compactness, non-compactness, existence and non-existence results are proved in terms of the behaviors of the prescribed curvature function $K$ near the north and the south poles. For example, consider the case when the north and the south poles are local maximum points of $K$ of flatness order $β\in [2,n)$. We prove among other things the following statements. (1) When $β>n-2k$, the solution set is compact, has a nonzero total de…
For a connected $n$-dimensional compact smooth hypersurface $M$ without boundary embedded in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, a classical result of Aleksandrov shows that it must be a sphere if it has constant mean curvature. Li and Nirenberg studied a one-directional analog of this result: if every pair of points $(x',a), (x',b)\in M$ with $a<b$ has ordered mean curvature $H(x',b)\leq H(x',a)$, then $M$ is symmetric about some hyperplane $x_{n+1}=c$ under some additional conditions. Their proof was done by the moving plane method and some variations of the Hopf Lemma. We obtain the symmetry of $M$ under s…
We prove some basic inequalities relating the Gagliardo-Nirenberg seminorms of a symmetric function $u$ on $\mathbb R^n$ and of its perturbation $uφ_μ$, where $φ_μ$ is a suitably chosen eigenfunction of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the sphere $\mathbb S^{n-1}$, thus providing a technical but rather powerful tool to detect symmetry breaking and multiplicity phenomena in variational equations driven by the fractional Laplace operator. A concrete application to a problem related to the fractional Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg inequality is given.
The carré du champ method is a powerful technique for proving interpolation inequalities with explicit constants in presence of a non-trivial metric on a manifold. The method applies to some classical Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequalities on the sphere, with optimal constants. Very nonlinear regimes close to the critical Sobolev exponent can be covered using nonlinear parabolic flows of porous medium or fast diffusion type. Considering power law weights is a natural question in relation with symmetry breaking issues for Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg inequalities, but regularity estimates for a …
This paper is devoted to one-dimensional interpolation Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequalities. We study how various notions of duality, transport and monotonicity of functionals along flows defined by some nonlinear diffusion equations apply. We start by reducing the inequality to a much simpler dual variational problem using mass transportation theory. Our second main result is devoted to the construction of a Lyapunov functional associated with a nonlinear diffusion equation, that provides an alternative proof of the inequality. The key observation is that the inequality on the line is equ…
For all $N \geq 9$, we find smooth entire epigraphs in $\R^N$, namely smooth domains of the form $Ω: = \{x\in \R^N\ / \ x_N > F (x_1,\ldots, x_{N-1})\}$, which are not half-spaces and in which a problem of the form $Δu + f(u) = 0 $ in $Ω$ has a positive, bounded solution with 0 Dirichlet boundary data and constant Neumann boundary data on $\partial Ω$. This answers negatively for large dimensions a question by Berestycki, Caffarelli and Nirenberg \cite{bcn2}. In 1971, Serrin \cite{serrin} proved that a bounded domain where such an overdetermined problem is solvable must be a ball, in analogy t…
We show uniqueness for overdetermined elliptic problems defined on topological disks $Ω$ with $C^2$ boundary, i.e., positive solutions $u$ to $Δu + f(u)=0$ in $Ω\subset (M^2,g)$ so that $u = 0$ and $\frac{\partial u}{\partial \vecη} = cte $ along $\partial Ω$, $\vecη$ the unit outward normal along $\partialΩ$ under the assumption of the existence of a candidate family. To do so, we adapt the Gálvez-Mira generalized Hopf-type Theorem to the realm of overdetermined elliptic problem. When $(M^2,g)$ is the standard sphere $\mathbb S^2$ and $f$ is a $C^1$ function so that $f(x)>0$ and $f(x)\ge x \,…
We study the existence and nonexistence of maximizers for variational problem concerning to the Moser--Trudinger inequality of Adimurthi--Druet type in $W^{1,N}(\mathbb R^N)$ \[ MT(N,β, α) =\sup_{u\in W^{1,N}(\mathbb R^N), \|\nabla u\|_N^N + \|u\|_N^N\leq 1} \int_{\mathbb R^N} Φ_N(β(1+α\|u\|_N^N)^{\frac1{N-1}} |u|^{\frac N{N-1}}) dx, \] where $Φ_N(t) =e^{t} -\sum_{k=0}^{N-2} \frac{t^k}{k!}$, $0\leq α< 1$ both in the subcritical case $β< β_N$ and critical case $β=β_N$ with $β_N = N ω_{N-1}^{\frac1{N-1}}$ and $ω_{N-1}$ denotes the surface area of the unit sphere in $\mathbb R^N$. We will show th…
