We obtain a volume growth and curvature decay result for various classes of complete, noncompact Riemannian metrics in dimension 4; in particular our method applies to anti-self-dual or Kahler metrics with zero scalar curvature, and metrics with harmonic curvature. Similar results are known for Einstein metrics, but our analysis differs from the Einstein case in that (1) we consider more generally a fourth order system in the metric, and (2) we do not assume any pointwise Ricci curvature bound.
It has been observed by Maldacena that one can extract asymptotically anti-de Sitter Einstein $4$-metrics from Bach-flat spacetimes by imposing simple principles and data choices. We cast this problem in a conformally compact Riemannian setting. Following an approach pioneered by Fefferman and Graham for the Einstein equation, we find formal power series for conformally compactifiable, asymptotically hyperbolic Bach-flat 4-metrics expanded about conformal infinity. We also consider Bach-flat metrics in the special case of constant scalar curvature and in the special case of constant $Q$-curvat…
We present a method in nonlinear elliptic systems to study curvature decays on asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) manifolds. In particular, we show that scalar flat Kahler and harmonic ALE metrics of real dimension n are of order n-2.
We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for an asymptotically Euclidean manifold to be conformally related to one with specified nonpositive scalar curvature: the zero set of the desired scalar curvature must have a positive Yamabe invariant, as defined in the article. We show additionally how the sign of the Yamabe invariant of a measurable set can be computed from the sign of certain generalized "weighted" eigenvalues of the conformal Laplacian. Using the prescribed scalar curvature result we give a characterization of the Yamabe classes of asymptotically Euclidean manifolds. We also s…
We show that any asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) metric which is obstruction-flat or extended obstruction-flat must be ALE of a certain optimal order. Moreover, our proof applies to very general elliptic systems and in any dimension $n \geq 3$. The proof is based on the technique of Cheeger-Tian for Ricci-flat metrics. We also apply this method to obtain a singularity removal theorem for (extended) obstruction-flat metrics with isolated $C^0$-orbifold singular points.
In this paper, we investigate the problem of blow up and sharp upper bound estimates of the lifespan for the solutions to the semilinear wave equations, posed on asymptotically Euclidean manifolds. Here the metric is assumed to be exponential perturbation of the spherical symmetric, long range asymptotically Euclidean metric. One of the main ingredients in our proof is the construction of (unbounded) positive entire solutions for $Δ_{g}ϕ_λ=λ^{2}ϕ_λ$, with certain estimates which are uniform for small parameter $λ\in (0,λ_0)$. In addition, our argument works equally well for semilinear damped w…
In this note, we shall prove geodesic convexity of the space of Kähler potentials on an ALE Kähler manifold. This extends earlier results in the compact case proved in the fundamental work of X-X. Chen. We further prove the boundedness from below of the Mabuchi energy, and give an alternative proof for the uniqueness of scalar-flat metrics in the category of ALE Kähler manifold.
We study the Yamabe flow on asymptotically flat manifolds with non-positive Yamabe constant $Y\leq 0$. Previous work by the second and third named authors \cite{ChenWang} showed that while the Yamabe flow always converges in a global weighted sense when $Y>0$, the flow must diverge when $Y\leq 0$. We show here in the $Y\leq 0$ case however that after suitable rescalings, the Yamabe flow starting from any asymptotically flat manifold must converge to the unique positive function which solves the Yamabe problem on a compactification of the original manifold.
In this paper, we prove that if an asymptotically Euclidean manifold $(M^n,g)$ under the condition that $R \ge 0$ has long time existence of Ricci flow, the mass of $(M^n,g)$ is nonnegative. In addition, we give an independent proof of positive mass theorem in dimension $3$.
This paper introduces a functional generalizing Perelman's weighted Hilbert-Einstein action and the Dirichlet energy for spinors. It is well-defined on a wide class of non-compact manifolds; on asymptotically Euclidean manifolds, the functional is shown to admit a unique critical point, which is necessarily of min-max type, and Ricci flow is its gradient flow. The proof is based on variational formulas for weighted spinorial functionals, valid on all spin manifolds with boundary.
We prove that the boundary of the trapped region in an asymptotically Euclidean Riemannian manifold of dimension at least 3 is a stable smooth minimal hypersurface except for a singular set of codimension at least 8.
The aim of this paper is to present a version of the generalized Pohozaev-Schoen identity in the context of asymptotically euclidean manifolds. Since these kind of geometric identities have proven to be a very powerful tool when analysing different geometric problems for compact manifolds, we will present a variety of applications within this new context. Among these applications, we will show some rigidity results for asymptotically euclidean Ricci-solitons and Codazzi-solitons. Also, we will present an almost-Schur-type inequality valid in this non-compact setting which does not need restric…
In this article, we study the properties of the geodesic X-ray transform for asymptotically Euclidean or conic Riemannian metrics and show injectivity under non-trapping and no conjugate point assumptions. We also define a notion of lens data for such metrics and study the associated inverse problem.
In 1996, Huisken-Yau proved that every three-dimensional Riemannian manifold can be uniquely foliated near infinity by stable closed surfaces of constant mean curvature (CMC) if it is asymptotically equal to the (spatial) Schwarzschild solution. Using their method, Rigger proved the same theorem for Riemannian manifolds being asymptotically equal to the (spatial) (Schwarzschild-)Anti-de Sitter solution. This was generalized to asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds by Neves-Tian, Chodosh, and the author at a later stage. In this work, we prove the reverse implication as the author already did in …
We use the conformal method to obtain solutions of the Einstein-scalar field gravitational constraint equations. Handling scalar fields is a bit more challenging than handling matter fields such as fluids, Maxwell fields or Yang-Mills fields, because the scalar field introduces three extra terms into the Lichnerowicz equation, rather than just one. Our proofs are constructive and allow for arbitrary dimension (>2) as well as low regularity initial data.
We study the Ricci flow for initial metrics which are C^0 small perturbations of the Euclidean metric on R^n. In the case that this metric is asymptotically Euclidean, we show that a Ricci harmonic map heat flow exists for all times, and converges uniformly to the Euclidean metric as time approaches infinity. In proving this stability result, we introduce a monotone integral quantity which measures the deviation of the evolving metric from the Euclidean metric. We also investigate the convergence of the diffeomorphisms relating Ricci harmonic map heat flow to Ricci flow.
We prove a curvature pinching result for the Ricci flow on asymptotically flat manifolds: if an asymptotically flat manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ has scale-invariant integral norm of curvature sufficiently pinched relative to the inverse of its Sobolev constant, then the Ricci flow starting from this manifold exists for all positive times and converges to flat Euclidean space. In particular our result implies that the initial manifold must have been diffeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^n$.
In this dissertation, we prove a number of results regarding the conformal method of finding solutions to the Einstein constraint equations. These results include necessary and sufficient conditions for the Lichnerowicz equation to have solutions, global supersolutions which guarantee solutions to the conformal constraint equations for near-constant-mean-curvature (near-CMC) data as well as for far-from-CMC data, a proof of the limit equation criterion in the near-CMC case, as well as a model problem on the relationship between the asymptotic constants of solutions and the ADM mass. We also pr…
We produce new examples, both explicit and analytical, of bi-axisymmetric stationary vacuum black holes in 5 dimensions. A novel feature of these solutions is that they are asymptotically locally Euclidean in which spatial cross-sections at infinity have lens space $L(p,q)$ topology, or asymptotically Kaluza-Klein so that spatial cross-sections at infinity are topologically $S^1\times S^2$. These are nondegenerate black holes of cohomogeneity 2, with any number of horizon components, where the horizon cross-section topology is any one of the three admissible types: $S^3$, $S^1\times S^2$, or $…
We construct low regularity solutions of the vacuum Einstein constraint equations. In particular, on 3-manifolds we obtain solutions with metrics in $H^s\loc$ with $s>{3\over 2}$. The theory of maximal asymptotically Euclidean solutions of the constraint equations descends completely the low regularity setting. Moreover, every rough, maximal, asymptotically Euclidean solution can be approximated in an appropriate topology by smooth solutions. These results have application in an existence theorem for rough solutions of the Einstein evolution equations.
Asymptotically flat manifolds with Euclidean volume growth are known to be ALE. In this paper, we consider a class of asymptotically flat manifolds with slower volume growth and prove that their asymptotic geometry is that of a fibration over an ALE manifold. In particular, we show that gravitational instantons with cubic volume growth are ALF.
Let G be a nontrivial finite subgroup of U(m) acting freely on C^m - 0. Then C^m/G has an isolated quotient singularity at 0. Let X be a resolution of C^m/G, and g a Kahler metric on X. We say that g is Asymptotically Locally Euclidean (ALE) if it is asymptotic in a certain way to the Euclidean metric on C^m/G. In this paper we study Ricci-flat ALE Kahler metrics on X. We show that if G is a subgroup of SU(m) acting freely on C^m - 0, and X is a crepant resolution of C^m/G, then there is a unique Ricci-flat ALE Kahler metric in each Kahler class. This is proved using a version of the Calabi co…
A rigidity result for weakly asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds with lower bounds on Ricci curvature is proved without assuming that the manifolds are spin. The argument makes use of a quasi-local mass characterization of Euclidean balls from \cite{Miao} \cite{S_T} and eigenfunction compactification ideas from \cite{Qing}.
The rigidity of the Positive Mass Theorem states that the only complete asymptotically flat manifold of nonnegative scalar curvature and zero mass is Euclidean space. We study the stability of this statement for spaces that can be realized as graphical hypersurfaces in Euclidean space. We prove (under certain technical hypotheses) that if a sequence of complete asymptotically flat graphs of nonnegative scalar curvature has mass approaching zero, then the sequence must converge to Euclidean space in the pointed intrinsic flat sense. The appendix includes a new Gromov-Hausdorff and intrinsic fla…
Generalising a proof by Bartnik in the asymptotically Euclidean case, we give an elementary proof of positivity of the hyperbolic mass near the hyperbolic space. It is a pleasure to dedicate this work to Robert Bartnik on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
In this paper, we study the topology of complete noncompact Riemannian manifolds with asymptotically nonnegative Ricci curvature. We show that a complete noncompact manifold with asymptoticaly nonnegative Ricci curvature and sectional curvature decay at most quadratically is diffeomorphic to a Euclidean n-space R^n under some conditions on the density of rays starting from the base point p or on the volume growth of geodesic balls in M.
We show that asymptotically Schwarzschildean 3-manifolds cannot contain minimal surfaces obtained by perturbative deformations of a Euclidean catenoid, no matter how small the ADM mass of the ambient space and how large the neck of the catenoid itself. Such an obstruction is sharply three-dimensional and ceases to hold for more general classes of asymptotically flat data.
The Riemannian Penrose inequality (RPI) bounds from below the ADM mass of asymptotically flat manifolds of nonnegative scalar curvature in terms of the total area of all outermost compact minimal surfaces. The general form of the RPI is currently known for manifolds of dimension up to seven. In the present work, we prove a Penrose-like inequality that is valid in all dimensions, for conformally flat manifolds. Our inequality treats the area contributions of the minimal surfaces in a more favorable way than the RPI, at the expense of using the smaller Euclidean area (rather than the intrinsic a…
We prove that if an asymptotically Schwarzschildean 3-manifold (M,g) contains a properly embedded stable minimal surface, then it is isometric to the Euclidean space. This implies, for instance, that in presence of a positive ADM mass any sequence of solutions to the Plateau problem with diverging boundaries can never have uniform height bounds, even at a single point. An analogous result holds true up to ambient dimension seven provided polynomial volume growth on the hypersurface is assumed.
We construct asymptotically Euclidean solutions of the vacuum Einstein constraint equations with an apparent horizon boundary condition. Specifically, we give sufficient conditions for the constant mean curvature conformal method to generate such solutions. The method of proof is based on the barrier method used by Isenberg for compact manifolds without boundary, suitably extended to accommodate semilinear boundary conditions and low regularity metrics. As a consequence of our results for manifolds with boundary, we also obtain improvements to the theory of the constraint equations on asymptot…
We construct new examples of quasi-asymptotically conical (QAC) Calabi-Yau manifolds that are not quasi-asymptotically locally Euclidean (QALE). We do so by first providing a natural compactification of QAC-spaces by manifolds with fibred corners and by giving a definition of QAC-metrics in terms of an associated Lie algebra of smooth vector fields on this compactification. Thanks to this compactification and the Fredholm theory for elliptic operators on QAC-spaces developed by the second author and Mazzeo, we can in many instances obtain Kähler QAC-metrics having Ricci potential decaying suff…
As part of the general investigation of Ricci flow on complete surfaces with finite total curvature, we study this flow for surfaces with asymptotically conical (which includes as a special case asymptotically Euclidean) geometries. After establishing long-time existence, and in particular the fact that the flow preserves the asymptotically conic geometry, we prove that the solution metric $g(t)$ expands at a locally uniform linear rate; moreover, the rescaled family of metrics $t^{-1}g(t)$ exhibits a transition at infinite time inasmuch as it converges locally uniformly to a complete, finite …
We prove the existence of a large class of initial data for the vacuum Einstein equations which possess a finite number of asymptotically Euclidean and asymptotically conformally cylindrical or periodic ends. Aside from being asymptotically constant, only mild conditions on the mean curvature of these initial data sets are imposed.
We prove a simple, explicit formula for the mass of any asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) Kähler manifold, assuming only the sort of weak fall-off conditions required for the mass to actually be well-defined. For ALE scalar-flat Kähler manifolds, the mass turns out to be a topological invariant, depending only on the underlying smooth manifold, the first Chern class of the complex structure, and the Kähler class of the metric. When the metric is actually AE (asymptotically Euclidean), our formula not only implies a positive mass theorem for Kähler metrics, but also yields a Penrose-type i…
In this paper, we investigate the geometry of asymptotically flat manifolds with controlled holonomy. We show that any end of such manifold admits a torus fibration over an ALE end. In addition, we prove a Hitchin-Thorpe inequality for oriented Ricci-flat $4$-manifolds with curvature decay and controlled holonomy. As an application, we show that any complete asymptotically flat Ricci-flat metric on a $4$-manifold which is homeomorphic to $\mathbb R^4$ must be isometric to the Euclidean or the Taub-NUT metric, provided that the tangent cone at infinity is not $\mathbb R \times \mathbb R_+$.
Given a collection of N solutions of the (3+1) vacuum Einstein constraint equations which are asymptotically Euclidean, we show how to construct a new solution of the constraints which is itself asymptotically Euclidean, and which contains specified sub-regions of each of the N given solutions. This generalizes earlier work which handled the time-symmetric case, thus providing a construction of large classes of initial data for the many body problem in general relativity.
We use the solution space of a pair of ODEs of at least second order to construct a smooth surface in Euclidean space. We describe when this surface is a proper embedding which is geodesically complete with finite total Gauss curvature. If the associated roots of the ODEs are real and distinct, we give a universal upper bound for the total Gauss curvature of the surface which depends only on the orders of the ODEs and we show that the total Gauss curvature of the surface vanishes if the ODEs are second order. We examine when the surfaces are asymptotically minimal.
We study the problem of existence of isoperimetric regions for large volumes, in $C^0$-locally asymptotically Euclidean Riemannian manifolds with a finite number of $C^0$-asymptotically Schwarzschild ends. Then we give a geometric characterization of these isoperimetric regions, extending previous results contained in [EM13b], [EM13a], and [BE13]. Moreover strengthening a little bit the speed of convergence to the Schwarzschild metric we obtain existence of isoperimetric regions for all volumes for a class of manifolds that we named $C^0$-strongly asymptotic Schwarzschild, extending results of…
The rigidity of the positive mass theorem states that the only complete asymptotically flat manifold of nonnegative scalar curvature and zero mass is Euclidean space. We prove a corresponding stability theorem for spaces that can be realized as graphical hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$. Specifically, for an asymptotically flat graphical hypersurface $M^n\subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ of nonnegative scalar curvature (satisfying certain technical conditions), there is a horizontal hyperplane $Π\subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ such that the flat distance between $M$ and $Π$ in any ball of radius $ρ$ can …
In 2015, Mantoulidis and Schoen constructed $3$-dimensional asymptotically Euclidean manifolds with non-negative scalar curvature whose ADM mass can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal value of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality, while the intrinsic geometry of the outermost minimal surface can be ``far away'' from being round. The resulting manifolds, called extensions, are geometrically not ``close'' to a spatial Schwarzschild manifold. This suggests instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. Their construction was later adapted to $n+1$ dimensions by Cabrera Pacheco and Miao. In …
We study ends of an oriented, immersed, non-compact, complete Willmore surfaces, which are critical points of the integral of the square of the mean curvature, in asymptotically flat spaces of any dimension; assuming the surface has $L^2$-bounded second fundamental form and satisfies a weak power growth on the area. We give the precise asymptotic behavior of an end of such a surface. This asymptotic information is very much dependent on the way the ambient metric decays to the Euclidean one. Our results apply in particular to minimal surfaces.
We investigate asymptotically flat manifolds with cone structure at infinity. We show that any such manifold M has a finite number of ends. For simply connected ends we classify all possible cones at infinity, except for the 4-dimensional case where it remains open if one of the theoretically possible cones can actually arise. This result yields in particular a complete classification of asymptotically flat manifolds with nonnegative curvature: The universal covering of an asymptotically flat manifold with nonnegative sectional curvature is isometric to a product of Euclidean space and an asym…
We study the mass of asymptotically flat $3$-manifolds with boundary using the method of Bray-Kazaras-Khuri-Stern. More precisely, we derive a mass formula on the union of an asymptotically flat manifold and fill-ins of its boundary, and give new sufficient conditions guaranteeing the positivity of the mass. Motivation to such consideration comes from studying the quasi-local mass of the boundary surface. If the boundary isometrically embeds in the Euclidean space, we apply the formula to obtain convergence of the Brown-York mass along large surfaces tending to $\infty$ which include the scali…
The Minkowski inequality is a classical inequality in differential geometry, giving a bound from below, on the total mean curvature of a convex surface in Euclidean space, in terms of its area. Recently there has been interest in proving versions of this inequality for manifolds other than R^n; for example, such an inequality holds for surfaces in spatial Schwarzschild and AdS-Schwarzschild manifolds. In this note, we adapt a recent analysis of Y. Wei to prove a Minkowski-like inequality for general static asymptotically flat manifolds.
We first show that the connected sum along submanifolds introduced by the second author for compact initial data sets of the vacuum Einstein system can be adapted to the asymptotically Euclidean and to the asymptotically hyperbolic context. Then, we prove that in any case, and generically, the gluing procedure can be localized, in order to obtain new solutions which coincide with the original ones outside of a neighborhood of the gluing locus.
We prove the equality case of the Penrose inequality in all dimensions for asymptotically flat hypersurfaces. It was recently proven by G. Lam that the Penrose inequality holds for asymptotically flat graphical hypersurfaces in Euclidean space with non-negative scalar curvature and with a minimal boundary. Our main theorem states that if the equality holds, then the hypersurface is a Schwarzschild solution. As part of our proof, we show that asymptotically flat graphical hypersurfaces with a minimal boundary and non-negative scalar curvature must be mean convex, using the argument that we deve…
We provide integral formulae for the ADM mass of asymptotically flat hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds with a certain warped product structure in a neighborhood of infinity, thus extending Lam's recent results on Euclidean graphs to this broader context. As applications we exhibit, in any dimension, new classes of manifolds for which versions of the Positive Mass and Riemannian Penrose inequalities hold and discuss a notion of quasi-local mass in this setting. The proof explores a novel connection between the co-vector defining the ADM mass of a hypersurface as above and the Newton tensor …
We study Ricci flows on $R^n$, $n\ge 3$, that evolve from asymptotically flat initial data. Under mild conditions on the initial data, we show that the flow exists and remains asymptotically flat for an interval of time. The mass is constant in time along the flow. We then specialize to the case of rotationally symmetric, asymptotically flat initial data containing no embedded minimal hyperspheres. We show that in this case the flow is immortal, remains asymptotically flat, never develops a minimal hypersphere, and converges to flat Euclidean space as the time diverges to infinity. We discuss …
