The Ricci flow is an evolution system on metrics. For a given metric as initial data, its local existence and uniqueness on compact manifolds was first established by Hamilton \cite{Ha1}. Later on, De Turck \cite{De} gave a simplified proof. In the later of 80's, Shi \cite{Sh1} generalized the local existence result to complete noncompact manifolds. However, the uniqueness of the solutions to the Ricci flow on complete noncompact manifolds is still an open question. Recently it was found that the uniqueness of the Ricci flow on complete noncompact manifolds is important in the theory of the Ricci flow with surgery. In this paper, we give an affirmative answer for the uniqueness question. More precisely, we prove that the solution of the Ricci flow with bounded curvature on a complete noncompact manifold is unique.
We consider the Ricci flow $\frac{\partial}{\partial t}g=-2Ric$ on the 3-dimensional complete noncompact manifold $(M,g(0))$ with non-negative curvature operator, i.e., $Rm\geq 0, |Rm(p)|\to 0, ~as ~d(o,p)\to 0.$ We prove that the Ricci flow on such a manifold is nonsingular in any finite time.
In this paper, we give the first detailed proof of the short-time existence of Deane Yang's local Ricci flow. Then using the local Ricci flow, we prove short-time existence of the Ricci flow on noncompact manifolds, whose Ricci curvature has global lower bound and sectional curvature has only local average integral bound. The short-time existence of the Ricci flow on noncompact manifolds with bounded curvature was studied by Wan-Xiong Shi in 1990s. As a corollary of our main theorem, we get the short-time existence part of Shi's theorem in this more general context.
We prove the uniqueness of solutions of the Ricci flow on complete noncompact manifolds with bounded curvatures using the De Turck approach. As a consequence we obtain a correct proof of the existence of solution of the Ricci harmonic flow on complete noncompact manifolds with bounded curvatures.
Under suitable conditions near infinity and assuming boundedness of curvature tensor, we prove a no breathers theorem in the spirit of Ivey-Perelman for some noncompact Ricci flows. These include Ricci flows on asymptotically flat (AF) manifolds with positive scalar curvature. Since the method for the compact case faces a difficulty, the proof involves solving a new non-local elliptic equation which is the Euler-Lagrange equation of a scaling invariant log Sobolev inequality.
In this work, we first establish short time existence and Shi's type estimate of second Ricci flow on complete noncompact Hermitian manifolds. As an application, we use the second Ricci flow to discuss the existence of Kaehler-Einstein metric on complete noncompact Hermitian manifolds.
We show that recent work of Ni and Wilking yields the result that a noncompact nonflat Ricci shrinker has at most quadratic scalar curvature decay. The examples of noncompact Kähler--Ricci shrinkers by Feldman, Ilmanen, and Knopf exhibit that this result is sharp.
In this note we show that, under certain curvature positivity conditions (the weak $\operatorname{PIC}-2$ condition or the nonnegative bisectional curvature condition), a complete and noncompact expanding breather of the Ricci flow is also an expanding gradient Ricci soliton. This is the first no expanding breather theorem in the noncompact category.
In this paper, we prove a pseudolocality-type theorem for $\mathcal L$-complete noncompact Ricci flow which may not have bounded sectional curvature; with the help of it we study the uniqueness of the Ricci flow on noncompact manifolds. In particular, we prove the strong uniqueness theorem for the $\mathcal L$-complete Ricci flow on the Euclidean space. This partially answers a question proposed by B-L.~Chen.
In this paper, we continue to study the generalized Ricci flow. We give a criterion on steady gradient Ricci soliton on complete and noncompact Riemannian manifolds that is Ricci-flat, and then introduce a natural flow whose stable points are Ricci-flat metrics. Modifying the argument used by Shi and List, we prove the short time existence and higher order derivatives estimates.
In this short paper, we show there do not exist three-dimensional noncompact $κ$-solutions of Ricci flow that have positive curvature and satisfy a Type-I bound. This represents progress towards the proof of Perelman's conjecture that the only complete noncompact three-dimensional $κ$-solution with positive curvature is the Bryant soliton.
Gradient steady Ricci solitons are natural generalizations of Ricci-flat manifolds. In this article, we prove a curvature gap theorem for gradient steady Ricci solitons with nonconstant potential functions; and a curvature gap theorem for Ricci-flat manifolds, removing the volume growth assumptions in known results.
In this paper, we generalize topological results known for noncompact manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature to spaces with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci curvature. We study the Splitting Theorem and a property called the geodesic loops to infinity property in relation to spaces with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci Curvature. In addition, we show that if $M^n$ is a complete, noncompact Riemannian manifold with nonnegative $N$-Bakry Émery Ricci curvature where $N>n$, then $H_{n-1}(M,\mathbb{Z})$ is $0$.
In this paper we prove that there is no $κ$-solution of Ricci flow on 3-dimensional noncompact manifold with strictly positive sectional curvature and blow up at some finite time $T$ satisfying $\int^T_0 \sqrt{T-t} R(p_0,t)dt< \infty$ for some point $p_0$. This partially confirms a conjecture of Perelman.
We extend some convergence results on nonsingular compact Ricci flows in the papers \cite{Ha:1}, \cite{Se:1} and \cite{FZZ:2} to certain infinite volume noncompact cases which are "partially" nonsingular. As an application, for a finite time singularity which is partially type I, it is shown that a blow up limit is a gradient shrinking soliton.
In this work, we obtain existence criteria for Chern-Ricci flows on noncompact manifolds. We generalize a result by Tossati-Wienkove on Chern-Ricci flows to noncompact manifolds and at the same time generalize a result for Kahler-Ricci flows by Lott-Zhang to Chern-Ricci flows. Using the existence results, we prove that any complete noncollapsed Kahler metric with nonnegative bisectional curvature on a noncompact complex manifold can be deformed to a complete Kahler metric with nonnegative and bounded bisectional curvature which will have maximal volume growth if the initial metric has maximal …
Let $(M^3,g_0)$ be a complete noncompact Riemannian 3-manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature and with injectivity radius bounded away from zero. Suppose that the scalar curvature $R(x)\to 0$ as $x\to \infty$. Then the Ricci flow with initial data $(M^3,g_0)$ has a long time solution. This extends a recent result of Ma and Zhu. We also have a higher dimensional version, and we reprove a K$\ddot{a}$hler analogy due to Chau, Tam and Yu.
In this paper, we first show that a complete shrinking breather with Ricci curvature bounded from below must be a shrinking gradient Ricci soliton. This result has several applications. First, we can classify all complete $3$-dimensional shrinking breathers. Second, we can show that every complete shrinking Ricci soliton with Ricci curvature bounded from below must be gradient -- a generalization of Naber's result. Furthermore, we develop a general condition for the existence of the asymptotic shrinking gradient Ricci soliton, which hopefully will contribute to the study of ancient solutions.
The goal of this article is to investigate complete noncompact warped product gradient Ricci solitons. Nonexistence results, estimates for the warping function and for its gradient are proven. When the soliton is steady or expanding these nonexistence results generalize to a broader context certain pde estimates and rigidity obtained when studying warped product Einstein manifolds. When the soliton is shrinking, it is presented a nonexistence theorem with no counterpart in the Einstein case, which is proved using properties of the first eigenvalue of a weighted Laplacian.
In this article, we provide some volume growth estimates for complete noncompact gradient Ricci solitons and quasi-Einstein manifolds similar to the classical results by Bishop, Calabi and Yau for complete Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. We prove a sharp volume growth estimate for complete noncompact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton. Moreover, we provide upper bound volume growth estimates for complete noncompact quasi-Einstein manifolds with $λ=0.$ In addition, we prove that geodesic balls of complete noncompact quasi-Einstein manifolds with $λ<0$ and $μ\leq 0$ have at …
We prove the sharp local L^1 - L^\infty smoothing estimate for the logarithmic fast diffusion equation, or equivalently, for the Ricci flow on surfaces. Our estimate almost instantly implies an improvement of the known L^p - L^\infty estimate for p larger than 1. It also has several applications in geometry, providing the missing step in order to pose the Ricci flow with rough initial data in the noncompact case, for example starting with a general noncompact Alexandrov surface, and giving the sharp asymptotics for the contracting cusp Ricci flow, as we show elsewhere.
Using the maximal regularity theory for quasilinear parabolic systems, we prove two stability results of complex hyperbolic space under the curvature-normalized Ricci flow in complex dimensions two and higher. The first result is on a closed manifold. The second result is on a complete noncompact manifold. To prove both results, we fully analyze the structure of the Lichnerowicz Laplacian on complex hyperbolic space. To prove the second result, we also define suitably weighted little Hölder spaces on a complete noncompact manifold and establish their interpolation properties.
In this paper we derive a precise estimate on the growth of potential functions of complete noncompact shrinking solitons. Based on this, we prove that a complete noncompact gradient shrinking Ricci soliton has at most Euclidean volume growth. The latter result can be viewed as an analog of the well-known theorem of Bishop that a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has at most Euclidean volume growth.
In this paper we establish stability results for symmetric spaces of noncompact type under Ricci flow, i.e. we will show that any small perturbation of the symmetric metric is flown back to the original metric under an appropriately rescaled Ricci flow. It will be important for us which smallness assumptions we have to impose on the initial perturbation. We will find that as long as the symmetric space does not contain any hyperbolic or complex hyperbolic factor, we don't have to assume any decay on the perturbation. Furthermore, in the hyperbolic and complex hyperbolic case, we show stability…
Let (M,d) be a metric space. For 0<r<R, and p in M let G(p,r,R) be the group obtained by considering all loops based at p whose image is contained in the closed ball of radius r and identifying two loops if there is a homotopy betweeen them that is contained in the open ball of radius R. In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of the G(p,r,R) groups of complete open manifolds of nonnegative Ricci curvature. We also find relationships between the G(p,r,R) groups and tangent cones at infinity of a metric space and show that any tangent cone at infinity of a complete open manifold of nonne…
For any complete noncompact K$\ddot{a}$hler manifold with nonnegative and bounded holomorphic bisectional curvature,we provide the necessary and sufficient condition for non-ancient solution to the Ricci flow in this paper.
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.
In this paper, we classify n-dimensional (n>2) complete noncompact locally conformally flat gradient steady solitons. In particular, we prove that a complete noncompact non-flat conformally flat gradient steady Ricci soliton is, up to scaling, the Bryant soliton.
In this paper, we prove a unique continuation or ``backwards-uniqueness'' theorem for solutions to the Ricci flow. A particular consequence is that the isometry group of a solution cannot expand within the lifetime of the solution.
We obtain new examples of non-symmetric Einstein solvmanifolds by combining two techniques. In \cite{T2}, H. Tamaru constructs new {\em attached} solvmanifolds, which are submanifolds of the solvmanifolds corresponding to noncompact symmetric spaces, endowed with a natural metric. Extending this construction, we apply it to {\em associated} solvmanifolds, described in \cite{GK}, obtained by modifying the algebraic structure of the solvable Lie algebras corresponding to noncompact symmetric spaces. Our new examples are Einstein solvmanifolds with nilradicals of high nilpotency, which are geomet…
Let $(M,g)$ be a noncompact complete $n$-manifold with harmonic curvature and positive Sobolev constant. Assume that $L_2$ norms of Weyl curvature and traceless Ricci curvature are finite. We prove that $(M,g)$ is Einstein if $n \ge 5$ and $L_{n/2}$ norms of Weyl curvature and traceless Ricci curvature are small enough.
It is well-known that the Ricci flow of a closed 3-manifold containing an essential minimal 2-sphere will fail to exist after a finite time. Conversely, the Ricci flow of a complete, rotationally symmetric, asymptotically flat manifold containing no minimal spheres is immortal. We discuss an intermediate case, that of a complete, noncompact manifold with essential minimal hypersphere. For 3-manifolds, if the scalar curvature vanishes on asymptotic ends and is bounded below initially by a negative constant (that depends on the initial area of the minimal sphere), we show that a singularity deve…
Lower bounds on Ricci curvature limit the volumes of sets and the existence of harmonic functions on Riemannian manifolds. In 1975, Shing Tung Yau proved that a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has no nonconstant harmonic functions of sublinear growth. In the same paper, Yau used this result to prove that a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature has at least linear volume growth. In this paper, we prove the following theorem concerning harmonic functions on these manifolds. Theorem: Let M be a complete noncompact manifold with nonnegative Ric…
We prove uniqueness of instantaneously complete Ricci flows on surfaces. We do not require any bounds of any form on the curvature or its growth at infinity, nor on the metric or its growth (other than that implied by instantaneous completeness). Coupled with earlier work, particularly [23, 11], this completes the well-posedness theory for instantaneously complete Ricci flows on surfaces.
In this paper, we derive some local a priori estimates for Ricci flow. This gives rise to some strong uniqueness theorems. As a corollary, let $g(t)$ be a smooth complete solution to the Ricci flow on $\mathbb{R}^{3}$, with the canonical Euclidean metric $E$ as initial data, then $g(t)$ is trivial, i.e. $g(t)\equiv E$.
We investigate complete noncompact Ricci-flat manifolds which are not of maximal volume growth. We show that the manifolds with a curvature decay condition and a holonomy decay condition are asymptotic to torus fibrations over ALE spaces. In particular, we classify complete noncompact 4-dimensional hyperkäler manifolds by the volume growth. As an application, we give the uniqueness of tangent cones of collapsing manifolds with some conditions.
Let $(M,g)$ be a complete noncompact non-collapsing $n$-dimensional riemannian manifold, whose complex sectional curvature is bounded from below and scalar curvature is bounded from above. Then ricci flow with above as its initial data, has at most one solution in the class of complete riemannian metric with complex sectional curvature bounded from below.
We show uniqueness of classical solutions of the normalised two-dimensional Hamilton-Ricci flow on closed, smooth manifolds for smooth data among solutions satisfying (essentially) only a uniform bound for the Liouville energy and a natural space-time $L^2$-bound for the time derivative of the solution. The result is surprising when compared with results for the harmonic map heat flow, where non-uniqueness through reverse bubbling may occur.
In this article, we study complete Type I ancient Ricci flows with positive sectional curvature. Our main results are as follows: in the complete and noncompact case, all such ancient solutions must be noncollapsed on all scales; in the closed case, if the dimension is even, then all such ancient solutions must be noncollapsed on all scales. This furthermore gives a complete classification for three-dimensional noncompact Type I ancient solutions without assuming the noncollapsing condition.
In this note we obtain local derivative estimates of Shi-type for the heat equation coupled to the Ricci flow. As applications, in part combining with Kuang's work, we extend some results of Zhang and Bamler-Zhang including distance distortion estimates and a backward pseudolocality theorem for Ricci flow on compact manifolds to the noncompact case.
In this short note, we observe that the Bamler-Kleiner proof of uniqueness and stability for 3-dimensional Ricci flow through singularities generalizes to singular Ricci flows in higher dimensions that satisfy an analogous canonical neighborhood property. In particular, this gives a canonical evolution through singularities for manifolds with positive isotropic curvature. The new ingredients we use are the recent classification of higher dimensional $κ$-solutions by Brendle, Daskalopoulos, Naff and Sesum, and the maximum principle for the linearized Ricci-DeTurck flow on locally conformally fl…
The main result of this paper shows that, if $g(t)$ is a complete non-singular solution of the normalized Ricci flow on a noncompact 4-manifold $M$ of finite volume, then the Euler characteristic number $χ(M)\geq0$. Moreover, $χ(M)\neq 0$, there exist a sequence times $t_k\to\infty$, a double sequence of points $\{p_{k,l}\}_{l=1}^{N}$ and domains $\{U_{k,l}\}_{l=1}^{N}$ with $p_{k,l}\in U_{k,l}$ satisfying the followings: [(i)] $\dist_{g(t_k)}(p_{k,l_1},p_{k,l_2})\to\infty$ as $k\to\infty$, for any fixed $l_1\neq l_2$; [(ii)] for each $l$, $(U_{k,l},g(t_k),p_{k,l})$ converges in the $C_{loc}^\…
A well-known question of Perelman concerns the classification of noncompact ancient solutions to the Ricci flow in dimension $3$ which have positive sectional curvature and are $κ$-noncollapsed. In this paper, we solve the analogous problem for mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and prove that the rotationally symmetric bowl soliton is the only noncompact ancient solution of mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^3$ which is strictly convex and noncollapsed.
We extend the notion of what it means for a complete Ricci flow to have a given initial metric, and consider the resulting well-posedness issues that arise in the 2D case. On one hand we construct examples of nonuniqueness by showing that surfaces with cusps can evolve either by keeping the cusps or by contracting them. On the other hand, by adding a noncollapsedness assumption for the initial metric, we establish a uniqueness result.
Optimal asymptotic volume ratio for noncompact 3-manifolds with asymptotically nonnegative Ricci curvature and a uniformly positive scalar curvature lower bound
In this paper, we study the existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behavior of rotationally symmetric translating solitons of the mean curvature flow in Minkowski space. We also study the asymptotic behavior and the strict convexity of general solitons of such flows.
