CR invariant differential operators on densities with leading part a power of the sub-Laplacian are derived. One family of such operators is constructed from the ``conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian'' via the Fefferman metric; the powers which arise for these operators are bounded in terms of the dimension. A second family is derived from a CR tractor calculus which is developed here; this family includes operators for every positive power of the sub-Laplacian. This result together with work of Cap, Slovak and Soucek imply in three dimensions the existence of a curved analogue of each such operator in flat space.
Given a compact boundaryless Riemannian manifold $Y$ on which a compact Lie group $G$ acts, there is always a metric on $Y$ such that the action is by isometries. Assuming $Y$ is equipped with such a metric, recall that the $G$-invariant Laplacian is the restriction of the ordinary Laplacian to the space of functions which are constant along the orbits of $G$. In this paper, the author analyzes the wave trace of the $G$-invariant Laplacian and shows that the singularities of this wave trace occur at the lengths of certain geodesic arcs--those that are orthogonal to the orbits and whose endpoin…
We show that on conformal manifolds of even dimension $n\geq 4$ there is no conformally invariant natural differential operator between density bundles with leading part a power of the Laplacian $Δ^{k}$ for $k>n/2$. This shows that a large class of invariant operators on conformally flat manifolds do not generalise to arbitrarily curved manifolds and that the theorem of Graham, Jenne, Mason and Sparling, asserting the existence of curved version of $Δ^k$ for $1\le k\le n/2$, is sharp.
In this note we partially answer a question posed by Colbois, Dryden, and El Soufi. Consider the space of constant-volume Riemannian metrics on a connected manifold M which are invariant under the action of a discrete Lie group G. We show that the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian is not bounded above on this space, provided M = S^n, G acts freely, and S^n/G with the round metric admits a Killing vector field of constant length, or provided M is a compact Lie group not equal to T^n, and G is a discrete subgroup of M.
We introduce a differential topological invariant for compact differentiable manifolds by counting the small eigenvalues of the Conformal Laplace operator. This invariant vanishes if and only if the manifold has a metric of positive scalar curvature. We show that the invariant does not increase under surgery of codimension at least three and we give lower and upper bounds in terms of the $α$-genus.
A new derivation is given of Branson's factorization formula for the conformally invariant operator on the sphere whose principal part is the k-th power of the scalar Laplacian. The derivation deduces Branson's formula from knowledge of the corresponding conformally invariant operator on Euclidean space (the k-th power of the Euclidean Laplacian) via conjugation by the stereographic projection mapping.
We give the first examples of closed Laplacian solitons which are shrinking, and in particular produce closed Laplacian flow solutions with a finite-time singularity. Extremally Ricci pinched G2-structures (introduced by Bryant) which are steady Laplacian solitons have also been found. All the examples are left-invariant G2-structures on solvable Lie groups.
In this paper, we compute the first two equivariant heat kernel coefficients of the Bochner Laplacian on differential forms. The first two equivariant heat kernel coefficients of the Bochner Laplacian with torsion are also given. We also study the equivariant heat kernel coefficients of nonmininmal operators on differential forms and get the equivariant Gilkey-Branson-Fulling formula.
On locally conformally flat manifolds we describe a construction which maps generalised conformal Killing tensors to differential operators which may act on any conformally weighted tensor bundle; the operators in the range have the property that they are symmetries of any natural conformally invariant differential operator between such bundles. These are used to construct all symmetries of the conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian (often called the GJMS operators) on manifolds of dimension at least 3. In particular this yields all symmetries of the powers of the Laplacian $Δ^k$, $k\in…
The Novikov-Shubin invariants for a non-compact Riemannian manifold M can be defined in terms of the large time decay of the heat operator of the Laplacian on square integrable p-forms on M. For the (2n+1)-dimensional Heisenberg group H, the Laplacian can be decomposed into operators in the conjugate of the generalised Bargmann representations which, when restricted to the centre of H, are characters. The representation space is an anti-Fock space of anti-holomorphic functions on complex n-space which are square integrable with respect to a Gaussian measure. In this paper, the eigenvalues of d…
$H$-type foliations $(\mathbb{M},\mathcal{H},g_{\mathcal{H}})$ are studied in the framework of sub-Riemannian geometry with bracket generating distribution defined as the bundle transversal to the fibers. Equipping $\mathbb{M}$ with the Bott connection we consider the scalar horizontal curvature $κ_{\mathcal{H}}$ as well as a new local invariant $τ_{\mathcal{V}}$ induced from the vertical distribution. We extend recent results on the small-time asymptotics of the sub-Riemannanian heat kernel on quaternion-contact (qc-)manifolds due to A. Laaroussi and we express the second heat invariant in su…
The purpose of this paper is to give a new proof of results of Moscovici and Stanton on the orbital integrals associated with eta invariants on compact locally symmetric spaces. Moscovici and Stanton used methods of harmonic analysis on reductive groups. Here, we combine our approach to orbital integrals using the hypoelliptic Laplacian, with the introduction of a rotation on certain Clifford algebras. Probabilistic methods play an important role in establishing key estimates. In particular, we construct the proper It{ô} calculus associated with certain hypoelliptic diffusions.
Manifold submetries of the round sphere are a class of partitions of the round sphere that generalizes both singular Riemannian foliations, and the orbit decompositions by the orthogonal representations of compact groups. We exhibit a one-to-one correspondence between such manifold submetries and maximal Laplacian algebras, thus solving the Inverse Invariant Theory problem for this class of partitions. Moreover, a solution to the analogous problem is provided for two smaller classes, namely orthogonal representations of finite groups, and transnormal systems with closed leaves.
Given a (possibly singular) Riemannian foliation $\mathcal{F}$ with closed leaves on a compact manifold $M$ with an adapted metric, we investigate the wave trace invariants for the basic Laplacian about a non-zero period. We compare them to the wave invariants of the underlying Riemannian orbifold that exists when the leaves in the regular region are identified to points, equipped with the metric that is transverse to the leaves of the foliation. Recalling that the basic Laplacian differs from the underlying orbifold Laplacian by a term that is the mean curvature vector field associated to the…
The study of extremal properties of the spectrum often involves restricting the metrics under consideration. Motivated by the work of Abreu and Freitas in the case of the sphere $S^2$ endowed with $S^1$-invariant metrics, we consider the subsequence $λ_k^G$ of the spectrum of a Riemannian manifold $M$ which corresponds to metrics and functions invariant under the action of a compact Lie group $G$. If $G$ has dimension at least 1, we show that the functional $λ_k^G$ admits no extremal metric under volume-preserving $G$-invariant deformations. If, moreover, $M$ has dimension at least three, then…
We discuss a general scheme for a construction of linear conformally invariant differential operators from curved Casimir operators; we then explicitly carry this out for several examples. Apart from demonstrating the efficacy of the approach via curved Casimirs, this shows that this method applies both in regular and in singular infinitesimal character, and also that it can be used to construct standard as well as non--standard operators. The examples treated include conformally invariant operators with leading term, in one case, a square of the Laplacian, and in another case, a cube of the L…
We extend the results given by Colbois, Dryden and El Soufi on the relationships between the eigenvalues of the Laplacian and an extrinsic invariant called intersection index, in two directions. First, we replace this intersection index by invariants of the same nature which are stable under small perturbations. Second, we consider complex submanifolds of the complex projective space $\mathbb{C} P^N$ instead of submanifolds of $\mathbb{R}^N$ and we obtain an eigenvalue upper bound depending only on the dimension of the submanifold which is sharp for the first non-zero eigenvalue.
We consider the $SL(2,R)$ action on moduli spaces of quadratic differentials. If $μ$ is an $SL(2,R)$-invariant probability measure, crucial information about the associated representation on $L^2(μ)$ (and in particular, fine asymptotics for decay of correlations of the diagonal action, the Teichmüller flow) is encoded in the part of the spectrum of the corresponding foliated hyperbolic Laplacian that lies in $(0,1/4)$ (which controls the contribution of the complementary series). Here we prove that the essential spectrum of an invariant algebraic measure is contained in $[1/4,\infty)$, i.e., f…
Let $X=G/H$ be a symmetric space for a real simple Lie group $G$, equipped with a $G$-invariant complex structure. Then, $X$ is a pseudo-Hermitian manifold, and in this geometric setting, higher Laplacians $L_m$ are defined for each positive integer $m$, which generalize the ordinary Laplace-Beltrami operator. We show that $L_1,L_3,\ldots, L_{2r-1}$ form a set of algebraically independent generators for the algebra $\mathbb{D}_G(X)$ of $G$-invariant differential operators on $X$, where $r$ denotes the rank of $X$. This confirms a conjecture of Engliš and Peetre, originally stated for the class…
In this paper we study some new von Neumann spectral invariants associated to the Laplacian acting on L^2 differential forms on the universal cover of a closed manifold. These invariants coincide with the Novikov-Shubin invariants whenever there is no spectral gap in the spectrum of the Laplacian, and are homotopy invariants in this case. In the presence of a spectral gap, they differ in character and value from the Novikov-Shubin invariants. Under a positivity assumption on these invariants, we prove that certain L^2 theta and L^2 zeta functions defined by metric dependent combinatorial Lapla…
Let $Δ_φ= Δ-\nabla φ\nabla$ be a symmetric diffusion operator with an invariant weighted volume measure $dμ= e^{-φ} dv$ on an $n$-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$, where $g=g(t)$ solves the extended Ricci flow. In this article we study the evolution and monotonicty of the first nonzero eigenvalue of $Δ_φ$ and we obatin several monotone quantities along the extended Ricci flow and its volume preserving version under some technical assumption. We also show that the eigenvalues diverge in a finite time for the case $n\geq 3$. Our results are natural extension of some known results …
We define a CR structure on a distinguished hyperplane in $\mathbb{C}^{n+1}$ and the CR sub-Laplacian on this CR manifold. We also define symmetries of the CR sub-Laplacian in general and for this special case construct all of them using the ambient construction. Then we investigate the algebra structure of the symmetry algebra of the sub-Laplacian. For this purpose we derive the decomposition of $S^{k}_{0}\mathfrak{sl}(V)$ under the action of $SL(V)$.
We show that the conformally invariant fractional powers of the sub-Laplacian on the Heisenberg group are given in terms of the scattering operator for an extension problem to the Siegel upper halfspace. Remarkably, this extension problem is different from the one studied, among others, by Caffarelli and Silvestre.
In [LS], it is shown shown that the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian restricted to the space of invariant functions on a toric Kähler manifold (i.e. $λ_1^\mathbb{T}$, the invariant first eigenvalue) is an unbounded function of the toric Kähler metric. In this note we show that, seen as a function on the space of toric Kähler metrics on a fixed toric manifold, $λ_1^\mathbb{T}$ admits no analytic critical points. We also show that on $S^2$, the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian restricted to the space of $S^1$-equivariant functions of any given integer weight admits no critical points.
We consider different sub-Laplacians on a sub-Riemannian manifold $M$. Namely, we compare different natural choices for such operators, and give conditions under which they coincide. One of these operators is a sub-Laplacian we constructed previously in \cite{GordinaLaetsch2014a}. This operator is canonical with respect to the horizontal Brownian motion, we are able to define the sub-Laplacian without some a priori choice of measure. The other operator is $\operatorname{div}^ω \operatorname{grad}_{\mathcal{H}}$ for some volume form $ω$ on $M$. We illustrate our results by examples of three Lie…
We describe an elementary algorithm for expressing, as explicit formulae in tractor calculus, the conformally invariant GJMS operators due to C.R. Graham et alia. These differential operators have leading part a power of the Laplacian. Conformal tractor calculus is the natural induced bundle calculus associated to the conformal Cartan connection. Applications discussed include standard formulae for these operators in terms of the Levi-Civita connection and its curvature and a direct definition and formula for T. Branson's so-called Q-curvature (which integrates to a global conformal invariant)…
We prove that the first positive eigenvalue, normalized by the volume, of the sub-Laplacian associated with a strictly pseudoconvex pseudo-Hermitian structure $\θ$ on the CR sphere S 2n+1 $\subset$ C n+1 , achieves its maximum when $\θ$ is the standard contact form.
We develop a new approach, based on quantization methods, to study higher symmetries of invariant differential operators. We focus here on conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian over a conformally flat manifold and recover results of Eastwood, Leistner, Gover and Šilhan. In particular, conformally equivariant quantization establishes a correspondence between the algebra of Hamiltonian symmetries of the null geodesic flow and the algebra of higher symmetries of the conformal Laplacian. Combined with a symplectic reduction, this leads to a quantization of the minimal nilpotent coadjoint o…
We study the behavior of the heat kernel of the Hodge Laplacian on a contact manifold endowed with a family of Riemannian metrics that blow-up the directions transverse to the contact distribution. We apply this to analyze the behavior of global spectral invariants such as the eta-invariant and the determinant of the Laplacian. In particular we prove that contact versions of the relative eta-invariant and the relative analytic torsion are equal to their Riemannian analogues and hence topological.
Green functions play an important role in conformal geometry. In this paper, we explain how to compute explicitly the logarithmic singularities of the Green functions of the conformal powers of the Laplacian. These operators include the Yamabe and Paneitz operators, as well as the conformal fractional powers of the Laplacian arising from scattering theory for Poincaré-Einstein metrics. The results are formulated in terms of Weyl conformal invariants arising from the ambient metric of Fefferman-Graham. As applications we obtain "Green function" characterizations of locally conformally flat mani…
For a compact homogeneous space $G/K$, we study the problem of existence of $G$-invariant Riemannian metrics such that each eigenspace of the Laplacian is a real irreducible representation of $G$. We prove that the normal metric of a compact irreducible symmetric space has this property only in rank one. Furthermore, we provide existence results for such metrics on certain isotropy reducible spaces.
We construct continuously parametrised families of conformally invariant boundary operators on densities. These may also be viewed as conformally covariant boundary operators on functions and generalise to higher orders the first-order conformal Robin operator and an analogous third-order operator of Chang-Qing. Our families include operators of critical order on odd-dimensional boundaries. Combined with the (conformal Laplacian power) GJMS operators, a suitable selection of the boundary operators yields formally self-adjoint elliptic conformal boundary problems. Working on a conformal manifol…
Let (M,g) be an arbitrary pseudo-Riemannian manifold of dimension at least 3. We determine the form of all the conformal symmetries of the conformal (or Yamabe) Laplacian on (M,g), which are given by differential operators of second order. They are constructed from conformal Killing 2-tensors satisfying a natural and conformally invariant condition. As a consequence, we get also the classification of the second order symmetries of the conformal Laplacian. Our results generalize the ones of Eastwood and Carter, which hold on conformally flat and Einstein manifolds respectively. We illustrate ou…
For any $G$-invariant metric on a compact homogeneous space $M=G/K$, we give a formula for the Lichnerowicz Laplacian restricted to the space of all $G$-invariant symmetric $2$-tensors in terms of the structural constants of $G/K$. As an application, we compute the $G$-invariant spectrum of the Lichnerowicz Laplacian for all the Einstein metrics on most generalized Wallach spaces and any flag manifold with $b_2(M)=1$. This allows to deduce the $G$-stability and critical point types of each of such Einstein metrics as a critical point of the scalar curvature functional.
A new definition of canonical conformal differential operators $P_k$ ($k=1,2,...)$, with leading term a $k^{\rm th}$ power of the Laplacian, is given for conformally Einstein manifolds of any signature. These act between density bundles and, more generally, between weighted tractor bundles of any rank. By construction these factor into a power of a fundamental Laplacian associated to Einstein metrics. There are natural conformal Laplacian operators on density bundles due to Graham-Jenne-Mason-Sparling (GJMS). It is shown that on conformally Einstein manifolds these agree with the $P_k$ operato…
We study the behaviour of Laplace-type operators H on a complex vector bundle E $\rightarrow$ M in the adiabatic limit of the base space. This space is a fibre bundle M $\rightarrow$ B with compact fibres and the limit corresponds to blowing up directions perpendicular to the fibres by a factor 1/$ε$. Under a gap condition on the fibre-wise eigenvalues we prove existence of effective operators that provide asymptotics to any order in $ε$ for H (with Dirichlet boundary conditions), on an appropriate almost-invariant subspace of L${}^2$(E).
We show that the residue density of the logarithm of a generalised Laplacian on a closed manifold defines an invariant polynomial valued differential form. We express it in terms of a finite sum of residues of classical pseudodifferential symbols. In the case of the square of a Dirac operator, these formulae provide a pedestrian proof of the Atiyah-Singer formula for a pure Dirac operator in dimension $4$ and for a twisted Dirac operator on a flat space of any dimension. These correspond to special cases of a more general formula by S. Scott and D. Zagier announced in \cite{Sc2} and to appear …
