The doubling conjecture predicts that a manifold admits positive scalar curvature with mean convex boundary if and only if its double admits positive scalar curvature. We show that it holds true for manifolds where the inclusion of the boundary satisfies a certain split-condition on fundamental groups. Our proof is based on surgery-techniques for positive scalar and mean curvature. If the boundary is non-connected, we use existence of area-minimizing hypersurfaces and the monotonicity-formula. Furthermore, we investigate if a psc-metric on a closed manifold can be adjusted so that a given embedded hypersurface is minimal, stable minimal or totally geodesic. While not true in general, such an adjustment is possible in many cases.
In a 2013 paper, Gromov proves that if smooth Riemannian metrics $g_i$ converge to a smooth Riemannian metric $g$ uniformly, and $g_i$ have scalar curvature uniformly bounded below, then $g$ shares the same scalar curvature lower bound. In some places in the paper, the proofs are only sketched. In this paper we explain one of those sketched steps in detail. Specifically, we prove that a cube (the product $[0,1]^n$) cannot have a Riemannian metric with positive scalar curvature, such that the faces are mean convex, and such that the dihedral angles along the edges are all acute. The proof is ac…
Let $\mathbb{M}$ be a smooth connected manifold endowed with a smooth measure $μ$ and a smooth locally subelliptic diffusion operator $L$ satisfying $L1=0$, and which is symmetric with respect to $μ$. We show that if $L$ satisfies, with a non negative curvature parameter, the generalized curvature inequality introduced by the first and third named authors in \cite{BG}, then the following properties hold: 1 The volume doubling property; 2 The Poincaré inequality; 3 The parabolic Harnack inequality. The key ingredient is the study of dimensional reverse log-Sobolev inequalities for the heat semi…
By studying the heat semigroup, we prove Li-Yau type estimates for bounded and positive solutions of the heat equation on graphs, under the assumption of the curvature-dimension inequality $CDE'(n,0)$, which can be consider as a notion of curvature for graphs. Furthermore, we derive that if a graph has non-negative curvature then it has the volume doubling property, from this we can prove the Gaussian estimate for heat kernel, and then Poincaré inequality and Harnack inequality. As a consequence, we obtain that the dimension of space of harmonic functions on graphs with polynomial growth is fi…
The Clifford tori in the 3-sphere are a one-parameter family of flat, two-dimensional, constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces. This paper demonstrates that new, topologically non-trivial CMC surfaces resembling a pair of neighbouring Clifford tori connected at a sub-lattice consisting of at least two points by small catenoidal bridges can be constructed by perturbative PDE methods. That is, one can create an approximate solution by gluing a rescaled catenoid into the neighbourhood of each sub-lattice point; and then one can show that a perturbation of this approximate submanifold exists which …
The (n+1)-sphere contains a simple family of constant mean curvature (CMC) hypersurfaces which are products of lower-dimensional spheres called the generalized Clifford hypersurfaces. This paper demonstrates that new, topologically non-trivial CMC hypersurfaces resembling a pair of neighbouring generalized Clifford tori connected to each other by small catenoidal bridges at a sufficiently symmetric configuration of points can be constructed by perturbative PDE methods. That is, one can create an approximate solution by gluing a rescaled catenoid into the neighbourhood of each point; and then o…
Building on previous works of H. L. Bray, of P. Miao, and of S. Almaraz, E. Barbosa, and L. L. de Lima, we develop a doubling procedure for asymptotically flat half-spaces $(M,g)$ with horizon boundary $Σ\subset M$ and mass $m\in\mathbb{R}$. If $3\leq \dim(M)\leq 7$, $(M,g)$ has non-negative scalar curvature, and the boundary $\partial M$ is mean-convex, we obtain the Riemannian Penrose-type inequality $$ m\geq\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{\frac{n}{n-1}}\,\left(\frac{|Σ|}{ω_{n-1}}\right)^{\frac{n-2}{n-1}} $$ as a corollary. Moreover, in the case where $\partial M$ is not totally geodesic, we show …
The purpose of this work is to study some monotone functionals of the heat kernel on a complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. In particular, we show that on these manifolds, the gradient estimate of Li and Yau, the gradient estimate of Ni, the monotonicity of the Perelman's entropy and the volume doubling property are all consequences of an entropy inequality recently discovered by Baudoin-Garofalo. The latter is a linearized version of a logarithmic Sobolev inequality that is due to D. Bakry and M. Ledoux.
In this paper, we proved the Normal Scalar Curvature Conjecture and the Bottcher-Wenzel Conjecture. We also established some new pinching theorems for minimal submanifolds in spheres.
We prove a criterion of existence of solutions conjectured by C. C. Chen and C. S. Lin [20] for the prescribed scalar curvature problem on the standard n-dimensional sphere.
We prove a uniqueness theorem for immersed spheres of prescribed (non-constant) mean curvature in homogeneous three-manifolds. In particular, this uniqueness theorem proves a conjecture by A.D. Alexandrov about immersed spheres of prescribed Weingarten curvature in R3 for the special but important case of prescribed mean curvature. As a consequence, we extend the classical Hopf uniqueness theorem for constant mean curvature spheres to the case of immersed spheres of prescribed antipodally symmetric mean curvature in R3.
In this paper, we show that if the mean curvature of a closed smooth embedded mean curvature flow in R^3 is of type-I, then the rescaled flow at the first finite singular time converges smoothly to a self-shrinker flow with multiplicity one. This result confirms Ilmanen's multiplicity-one conjecture under the assumption that the mean curvature is of type-I. As a corollary, we show that the mean curvature at the first singular time of a closed smooth embedded mean curvature flow in R^3 is at least of type-I.
We show that Caratheodory's conjecture, on umbilical points of closed convex surfaces, may be reformulated in terms of the existence of at least one umbilic in the graphs of functions f: R^2-->R whose gradient decays uniformly faster than 1/r. The divergence theorem then yields a pair of integral equations for the normal curvatures of these graphs, which establish some weaker forms of the conjecture. In particular, we show that there are uncountably many principal lines in the graph of f whose projection into R^2 are parallel to any given direction.
In this paper angular curvature measures are investigated. Our first result is a complete classification of translation-invariant angular smooth curvature measures on $\mathbb{R}^n$. Subsequently, we use this result to show that the class of angular curvature measures on a Riemannian manifold is preserved by both the pullback by isometric immersions and the action of the Lipschitz-Killing algebra. The latter confirms the angularity conjecture formulated by A. Bernig, J.H.G. Fu, and G. Solanes.
We prove the inequality $$ \dim_{mc}\Wi M\le n-2$$ for the macroscopic dimension of the universal covers $\Wi M$ of almost spin $n$-manifolds $M$ with positive scalar curvature whose fundamental group $π_1(M)$ is a virtual duality group that satisfies the coarse Baum-Connes conjecture.
In this short note we review some known results on the structure and regularity of spaces with lower Ricci curvature bounds. We present some known and new open questions about next steps.
The critical point equation arises as a critical point of the total scalar curvature functional defined on the space of constant scalar curvature metrics of a unit volume on a compact manifold. In this equation, there exists a function $f$ on the manifold that satisfies the following $$ (1+f){\rm Ric} = Ddf + \frac{nf +n-1}{n(n-1)}sg. $$ It has been conjectured that if $(g, f)$ is a solution of the critical point equation, then $g$ is Einstein and so $(M, g)$ is isometric to a standard sphere. In this paper, we show that this conjecture is true if the given Riemannian metric has positive isotr…
The Willmore conjecture states that any immersion F:T^2 -> R^n of a 2-torus into flat euclidean space satisfies $\int_{T^2} H^2\geq 2π^2$. We prove it under the condition that the L^p-norm of the Gaussian curvature is sufficiently small.
We give the first examples of rationally inessential but macroscopically large manifolds. Our manifolds are counterexamples to the Dranishnikov rationality conjecture. For some of them we prove that they do not admit a metric of positive scalar curvature, thus satisfy the Gromov positive scalar curvature conjecture. Fundamental groups of our manifolds are finite index subgroups of right angled Coxeter groups. The construction uses small covers of convex polyhedrons (or alternatively Davis complexes) and surgery.
We formulate several conjectures on mean convex domains in the Euclidean spaces, as well as in more general spaces with lower bonds on their scalar curvatures, and prove a few theorems motivating these conjectures.
We collect a few guesses on possible implications of a lower bound on the scalar curvature of a Riemannian manifold on the size and shape of this manifold.
The Han-Li conjecture states that: Let $(M,g_0)$ be an $n$-dimensional $(n\geq 3)$ smooth compact Riemannian manifold with boundary having positive (generalized) Yamabe constant and $c$ be any real number, then there exists a conformal metric of $g_0$ with scalar curvature $1$ and boundary mean curvature $c$. Combining with Z. C. Han and Y. Y. Li's results, we answer this conjecture affirmatively except for the case that $n\geq 8$, the boundary is umbilic, the Weyl tensor of $M$ vanishes on the boundary and has a non-zero interior point.
The Besse's conjecture was posted on the well-known book Einstein manifolds by Arthur L. Besse, which describes the critical point of Hilbert-Einstein functional with constraint of unit volume and constant scalar curvature. In this article, we show that there is an interesting connection between Besse's conjecture and positive mass theorem for Brown-York mass. With the aid of positive mass theorem, we investigate the geometric structure of the so-called CPE manifolds, which provides us further understanding of Besse's conjecture. As a related topic, we also have a discussion of corresponding r…
The Hopf sign conjecture states that a compact Riemannian 2d-manifold M of positive curvature has Euler characteristic X(M)>0 and that in the case of negative curvature X(M) (-1)^d >0. The Hopf product conjecture asks whether a positive curvature metric can exist on product manifolds like S^2 x S^2. By formulating curvature integral geometrically, these questions can be explored for finite simple graphs, where it leads to linear programming problems. In this more expository document we aim to explore also a bit of the history of the Hopf conjecture and mention some strategies of attacks which …
For biharmonic maps, there is a famous conjecture named Chen's conjecture. In later paper, Wang and Ou gave an affirmative partial answer to submersion version of Chen's conjecture. In this paper, we give an affirmative partial answer to submersion version of generalized Chen's conjecture, that is, triharmonic Riemannian submersions from a 3-dimensional space form into a surface is harmonic.
A Counterexample to Yau's Conjectured Asymptotic Scalar-Curvature Integral Bound
Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research, Peking University（北京大学北京国际数学研究中心）；Institute for Theoretical Sciences, Westlake University（西湖大学理论科学研究所）
On a compact $n$-dimensional manifold, it is well known that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with unit volume is Einstein. It has been conjectured that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with constant scalar curvature of unit volume, will be Einstein. This conjecture was proposed in 1987 by Besse, but has yet to be proved. In this paper, we prove the Besse conjecture with a weaker condition than harmonic curvature for $n\geq 3$.
In this paper, we give a proof of the DDVV conjecture which is a pointwise inequality involving the scalar curvature, the normal scalar curvature and the mean curvature on a submanifold of a real space form. Furthermore we solved the problem of its equality case.
We construct higher-dimensional analogues of the $\mathcal{I}^\prime$-curvature of Case and Gover in all CR dimensions $n\geq2$. Our $\mathcal{I}^\prime$-curvatures all transform by a first-order linear differential operator under a change of contact form and their total integrals are independent of the choice of pseudo-Einstein contact form on a closed CR manifold. We exhibit examples where these total integrals depend on the choice of general contact form, and thereby produce counterexamples to the Hirachi conjecture in all CR dimensions $n\geq2$.
We propose a new approach to the study of compact Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature and strictly convex boundary or positive Ricci curvature and convex boundary. Several conjectures are formulated. Some partial results that support these conjectures are established.
In this paper, we study the following conjecture of Hamilton: Any compact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton with positive curvature operator must be Einstein. We first derive several identities. Then we show that the conjecture is true under an additional condition. Furthermore, such a soliton must be of constant curvature.
It has long been conjectured that starting at a generic smooth closed embedded surface in R^3, the mean curvature flow remains smooth until it arrives at a singularity in a neighborhood of which the flow looks like concentric spheres or cylinders. That is, the only singularities of a generic flow are spherical or cylindrical. We will address this conjecture here and in a sequel. The higher dimensional case will be addressed elsewhere. The key in showing this conjecture is to show that shrinking spheres, cylinders and planes are the only stable self-shrinkers under the mean curvature flow. We p…
On a compact $n$-dimensional manifold $M$, it is well known that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with unit volume, is Einstein. It has been conjectured that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with constant scalar curvature of unit volume, will also be Einstein. It was shown that this conjecture is true when $M$ together with a critical metric has harmonic curvature or the metric is Bach flat. In this paper, we tried to prove this conjecture with a divergence-free Bach tensor.
On a compact n-dimensional manifold, it has been conjectured that a critical point metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with constant scalar curvature of unit volume, will be Einstein. This conjecture was proposed in 1984 by Besse, but has yet to be proved. In this paper, we prove that if the manifold with the critical point metric has harmonic curvature, then it is isometric to a standard sphere.
A well known conjecture in complex geometry states that a compact Hermitian manifold with constant holomorphic sectional curvature must be Kähler if the constant is non-zero and must be Chern flat if the constant is zero. The conjecture is confirmed in complex dimension $2$, by the work of Balas-Gauduchon in 1985 (when the constant is zero or negative) and by Apostolov-Davidov-Muskarov in 1996 (when the constant is positive). For higher dimensions, the conjecture is still largely unknown. In this article, we restrict ourselves to the class of complex nilmanifolds and confirm the conjecture in …
We present a proof of the generalized Nitsche's conjecture proposed by W.H.Meeks III and H. Rosenberg: For $t\ge 0$, let $P_t$ denote the horizontal plane of height $t$ over the $x_1,x_2$ plane. Suppose that $M \subset R^3$ is a minimal annulus with the boundary contains in $P_0$ and that $M$ intersects every $P_t$ in a simple closed curve. Then $M$ has finite total curvature. As a consequence, we show that every properly embedded minimal surface of finite topology in $R^3$ with more than one end has finite total curvature.
In the first part of this paper, we prove the extensibility of an arbitrary boundary metric to a positive scalar curvature (PSC) metric inside for a compact manifold with boundary, which completely solves an open problem due to Gromov (see Question \ref{extension1}). Then we introduce a fill-in invariant (see Definition \ref{fillininvariant}) and discuss its relationship with the positive mass theorems for asymptotically flat (AF) and asymptotically hyperbolic (AH) manifolds. Moreover, we prove that the positive mass theorem for AH manifolds implies that for AF manifolds. In the end, we give s…
