It is proved that the holomorphic quadratic differential associated to CMC surfaces in Riemannian products $\mathbb{S}^2\times\Rr$ and $\mathbb{H}^2\times \Rr$ discovered by U. Abresch and H. Rosenberg could be obtained as a linear combination of usual Hopf differentials. Using this fact, we are able to extend it for Lorentzian products. Families of examples of helicoidal CMC surfaces on these spaces are explicitly described. We also present some characterizations of CMC rotationally invariant discs and spheres. Finally, after establish some height and area estimates, we prove the existence of constant mean curvature Killing graphs.
We extend the Lyapunov-Schmidt analysis of outlying stable CMC spheres in the work of S. Brendle and the second-named author to the "far-off-center" regime and to include general Schwarzschild asymptotics. We obtain sharp existence and non-existence results for large stable CMC spheres that depend very delicately on the behavior of scalar curvature at infinity.
We find out upper bounds for the first eigenvalue of the stability operator for compact constant mean curvature orientable surfaces immersed in a Riemannian Killing submersion. As a consequence, the strong stability of such surfaces is studied. We also characterize constant mean curvature Hopf tori as the only ones attaining the bound in certain cases.
We establish existence and uniqueness of compact graphs of constant mean curvature in MxR over bounded multiply connected domains of Mx{0} with boundary lying in two parallel horizontal slices of MxR
In this paper, we study the geometry of a connected oriented cmc Riemannian hypersurface $M$ of a semi-Riemannian group $G$ of Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ and index 0 or 1. If $G$ is Riemannian and $M$ is compact and transversal to an element of $\mathfrak g$, we show that it is a lateral class of a closed embedded Lie subgroup of $G$; we also do this if $G$ is Lorentzian, provided $M$ has sufficiently large mean curvature. If $G$ is Riemannian semisimple and $M$ is compact, we prove that $M$ has degenerate Gauss map and minimal relative nullity at least 1. We also extend the above results to th…
Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian $3$-manifold that is asymptotic to Schwarzschild with positive mass and whose scalar curvature vanishes. We \textsl{unconditionally} characterize the large, embedded stable constant mean curvature spheres in $(M, g)$.
In this paper we show explicit examples of several families of immersions with constant mean curvature and non constant principal curvatures, in semi-riemannian manifolds with constant sectional curvature. In particular, we prove that every h in [-1,-2 sqrt{n-1}/n) can be realized as the constant curvature of a complete immersion of S_1^{n-1} x R in the (n+1)-dimensional de Sitter space S_1^{n+1}. We provide 3 types of immersions with cmc in the Minkowski space, 5 types of immersion with cmc in the de Sitter space and 5 types of immersion with cmc in the anti de Sitter space. At the end of the…
In this paper we generalize the Local Removable Singularity Theorem in [16] for minimal laminations to the case of weak $H$-laminations (with $H\in \mathbb{R}$ constant) in a punctured ball of a Riemannian three-manifold. We also obtain a curvature estimate for any weak CMC foliation (with possibly varying constant mean curvature from leaf to leaf) of a compact Riemannian three-manifold $N$ with boundary solely in terms of a bound of the absolute sectional curvature of $N$ and of the distance to the boundary of $N$. We then apply these results to classify weak CMC foliations of $\mathbb{R}^3$ …
In this paper we study a semi-Riemannian submersion from Lorentzian (para)almost contact manifolds and find necessary and sufficient conditions for the characteristic vector field to be vertical or horizontal. We also obtain decomposition theorems for an anti-invariant semi-Riemannian submersion from Lorentzian (para)Sasakian manifolds onto a Lorentzian manifold.
Several characterizations of umbilic points of submanifolds in arbitrary Riemannian and Lorentzian manifolds are given. As a consequence, we obtain new characterizations of spheres in the Euclidean space and of hyperbolic spaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski space. We also prove the Lorentzian version of a classical result by Cartan.
We study a family of spheres with constant mean curvature (CMC) in the Riemannian Heisenberg group $H^1$. These spheres are conjectured to be the isoperimetric sets of $H^1$. We prove several results supporting this conjecture. We also focus our attention on the sub-Riemannian limit.
We find a spinorial representation of a Riemannian or Lorentzian surface in a Lorentzian homogeneous space of dimension $3.$ We in particular obtain a representation theorem for surfaces in the $\mathbb{L}(κ,τ)$ spaces. We then recover the Calabi correspondence between minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and maximal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}_1^3$, and obtain a new Lawson type correspondence between CMC surfaces in $\mathbb{R}_1^3$ and in the 3-dimensional pseudo-hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}_1^{3}.$
The study of minimal surfaces has a long history, due to the important applications. Given a fixed boundary, one wants to minimise the surface area: this can be used, for example, to minimise the area of the roof of a building. Similarly, looking for constant mean curvature (CMC) provides us with many interesting applications in physics: one of the easiest examples are soap bubbles. In this work however we occupy ourselves with minimal and constant mean curvature surfaces in the three-dimensional sphere $S^3$ and its dual space $Σ^3$. In Chapter 1 we give a brief overview of the tools of Riema…
In this paper we define and analyze singularities of discrete linear Weingarten surfaces with Weierstrass-type representations in $3$-dimensional Riemannian and Lorentzian spaceforms. In particular, we discuss singularities of discrete surfaces with non-zero constant Gaussian curvature, and parallel surfaces of discrete minimal and maximal surfaces, and discrete constant mean curvature $1$ surfaces in de Sitter $3$-space, including comparisons with different previously known definitions of such singularities.
We apply the Riemannian Penrose inequality and the Riemannian positive mass theorem to derive inequalities on the boundary of a class of compact Riemannian $3$-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature. The boundary of such a manifold has a CMC component, i.e. a $2$-sphere with positive constant mean curvature; and the rest of the boundary, if nonempty, consists of closed minimal surfaces. A key step in our proof is the construction of a collar extension that is inspired by the method of Mantoulidis-Schoen \cite{M-S}.
For constant mean curvature surfaces of class $C^2$ immersed inside Sasakian sub-Riemannian 3-manifolds we obtain a formula for the second derivative of the area which involves horizontal analytical terms, the Webster scalar curvature of the ambient manifold, and the extrinsic shape of the surface. Then we prove classification results for complete surfaces with empty singular set which are stable, i.e., second order minima of the area under a volume constraint, inside the 3-dimensional sub-Riemannian space forms. In the first Heisenberg group we show that such a surface is a vertical plane. In…
We propose an extension of the structure equation for constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in a three dimensional Riemannian space form to the associated CMC hierarchy of evolution equations by the higher-order commuting symmetries. Via the canonical formal Killing field, considered as an infinitely prolonged and loop algebra valued Gauß$\,$ map, the CMC hierarchy is obtained by the assembly of a pair of Adler-Kostant-Symes bi-Hamiltonian hierarchies to the original CMC system. The infinite sequence of higher-order conservation laws of the CMC system admits the corresponding extension, and w…
This paper explains the construction of all hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature -- cmc -- and exactly two principal curvatures on any space form endowed with a semi-riemannian metric. Here we will consider riemannian hypersurfaces as well as hypersurfaces with semi-riemannian metrics induced by the ambient space. We show explicit immersions for all these hypersurfaces. We will see that for any given ambient space, the family of cmc hypersurfaces with two principal curvatures depends on two parameters, $H$ and $C$. We describe the range for all possible $(H,C)$ associated with complete c…
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 …
Suppose ${\cal L}$ is a lamination of a Riemannian manifold by hypersurfaces with the same constant mean curvature. We prove that every limit leaf of ${\cal L}$ is stable for the Jacobi operator. A simple but important consequence of this result is that the set of stable leaves of ${\cal L}$ has the structure of a lamination.
A triharmonic map is a critical point of the tri-energy in the space of smooth maps between two Riemannian manifolds. In this paper, we prove that if $M^n (n\ge 4)$ is a CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface in a space form $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}(c)$ with four distinct principal curvatures and the multiplicity of the zero principal curvature is at most one, then $M$ has constant scalar curvature. In particular, we obtain any CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^5(c)$ is minimal when $c\le 0$, which supports the generalized Chen's conjecture. We also give some characterizations of CMC pr…
We compute a Simons' type formula for the stress-energy tensor of biharmonic maps from surfaces. Specializing to Riemannian immersions, we prove several rigidity results for biharmonic CMC surfaces, putting in evidence the influence of the Gaussian curvature on pseudo-umbilicity. Finally, the condition of biharmonicity is shown to enable an extension of the classical Hopf theorem to CMC surfaces in any ambient Riemannian manifold.
We consider Lie groups equipped with a left-invariant cyclic Lorentzian metric. As in the Riemannian case, in terms of homogeneous structures, such metrics can be considered as different as possible from bi-invariant metrics. We show that several results concerning cyclic Riemannian metrics do not extend to their Lorentzian analogues, and obtain a full classification of three- and four-dimensional cyclic Lorentzian metrics.
On a smooth $n$-manifold $M$ with $n \geq 3$, we study pairs $(g,T)$ consisting of a Riemannian metric $g$ and a unit length closed vector field $T$. Motivated by how Ricci solitons generalize Einstein metrics via a distinguished vector field, we propose to generalize space forms by considering those pairs $(g,T)$ whose corresponding Lorentzian metric $g_{\scriptscriptstyle L} = g - 2T^{\flat} \otimes T^{\flat}$ has constant curvature. We show by examples that such pairs exist when $M$ is noncompact, and that complete metrics exist among them. When $M$ is compact, however, the situation is mor…
The notion of $Γ$-symmetric space is a natural generalization of the classical notion of symmetric space based on $\z_2$-grading of Lie algebras. In our case, we consider homogeneous spaces $G/H$ such that the Lie algebra $\g$ of $G$ admits a $Γ$-grading where $Γ$ is a finite abelian group. In this work we study Riemannian metrics and Lorentzian metrics on the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}_3$ adapted to the symmetries of a $Γ$-symmetric structure on $\mathbb{H}_3$. We prove that the classification of $\z_2^2$-symmetric Riemannian and Lorentzian metrics on $\mathbb{H}_3$ corresponds to the class…
In this paper we examine different aspects of the geometry of closed conformal vector fields on Riemannian manifolds. We begin by getting obstructions to the existence of closed conformal and nonparallel vector fields on complete manifolds with nonpositive Ricci curvature, thus generalizing a theorem of T. K. Pan. Then we explain why it is so difficult to find examples, other than trivial ones, of spaces having at least two closed, conformal and homothetic vector fields. We then focus on isometric immersions, firstly generalizing a theorem of J. Simons on cones with parallel mean curvature to …
It is known that all left-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metrics on $H_3$ are algebraic Ricci solitons. We consider generalizations of Riemannian $H$-type, namely pseudo$H$-type and $pH$-type. We study algebraic Ricci solitons of left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on 2-step nilpotent Lie groups of both types.
The paper is devoted to metric connections with parallel skew-symmetric torsion in Lorentzian signature. This is motivated by recent progress in the Riemannian signature and by possible applications to supergravity theories. We provide a complete information about holonomy algebras, torsion and curvature of the considered connections up to the corresponding objects from the Riemannian signature. Various examples are constructed. It is shown how to construct all simply connected Lorentzian naturally reductive homogeneous spaces of arbitrary dimension from Riemannian naturally reductive homogene…
A parallel lightlike vector field on a Lorentzian manifold $X$ naturally defines a foliation $\mathcal{F}$ of codimension one. If either all leaves of $\mathcal{F}$ are compact or $X$ itself is compact admitting a compact leaf and the (transverse) Ricci curvature is non-negative then a Bochner type argument implies that the first Betti number of $X$ is bounded by $1 \leq b_{1} \leq \dim X$ if $X$ is compact and $0 \leq b_{1} \leq \dim X -1$ otherwise. We show that these bounds are optimal and depending on the holonomy of $X$ we obtain further results. Finally, we classify the holonomy represen…
A sequence of constant mean curvature surfaces $Σ_j$ with mean curvature $H_j \to \infty$ in a three-dimensional manifold $M$ condenses to a compact and connected graph $Γ$ consisting of a finite union of curves if $Σ_j$ is contained in a tubular neighbourhood of $Γ$ of size $\mathcal O(1/H_j)$ for every $j \in \N$. This paper gives sufficient conditions on $Γ$ for the existence of a sequence of compact, embedded constant mean curvature surfaces condensing to $Γ$. The conditions are: each curve in $γ$ is a critical point of a functional involving the scalar curvature of $M$ along $γ$; and each…
A $k$-harmonic map is a critical point of the $k$-energy in the space of smooth maps between two Riemannian manifolds. In this paper, we prove that if $M^{n} (n\ge 3)$ is a CMC proper triharmonic hypersurface with at most three distinct principal curvatures in a space form $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}(c)$, then $M$ has constant scalar curvature. This supports the generalized Chen's conjecture when $c\le 0$. When $c=1$, we give an optimal upper bound of the mean curvature $H$ for a non-totally umbilical proper CMC $k$-harmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature in a sphere. As an application, we …
In this note we discuss graphs over a domain $Ω\subset N^2$ in the product manifold $N^2\times \mathbb{R}$. Here $N^2$ is a complete Riemannian surface and $Ω$ has peice-wise smooth boundary. Let $γ\subset\partialΩ$ be a smooth connected arc and $Σ$ be a complete graph in $N^2\times \mathbb{R}$ over $Ω$. We show that if $Σ$ is a minimal or translating graph, then $γ$ is a geodesic in $N^2$. Moreover if $Σ$ is a CMC graph, then $γ$ has constant principle curvature in $N^2$. This explains the infinity value boundary condition upon domains having Jenkins-Serrin theorems on minimal and CMC graphs …
We give a spinorial characterization of isometrically immersed surfaces of arbitrary signature into 3-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian space forms. For Lorentzian surfaces, this generalizes a recent work of the first author in $\mathbb{R}^{2,1}$ to other Lorentzian space forms. We also characterize immersions of Riemannian surfaces in these spaces. From this we can deduce analogous results for timelike immersions of Lorentzian surfaces in space forms of corresponding signature, as well as for spacelike and timelike immersions of surfaces of signature (0,2), hence achieving a complete spinorial de…
Let ${\mathscr F}(N\times \mathbb{R})$ be the set of all closed $H$-hypersurfaces $M\subset N\times \mathbb{R}$, where $N$ is a simply connected complete Riemannian $n$-manifold with sectional curvature $K_{N}\leq -κ^{2}<0$. We show that ${\Hm}(N\times \mathbb{R})=\inf_{M\in {\mathscr F}(N\times \mathbb{R})}\{| H_{M}| \}\geq (n-1)κ/n $.
Given a null hypersurface $L$ of a Lorentzian manifold, we construct a Riemannian metric $\widetilde{g}$ on it from a fixed transverse vector field $ζ$. We study the relationship between the ambient Lorentzian manifold, the Riemannian manifold $(L,\widetilde{g})$ and the vector field $ζ$. As an application, we prove some new results on null hypersurfaces, as well as known ones, using Riemannian techniques.
We study sub-Riemannian and sub-Lorentzian geometry on the Lie group $\SU(1,1)$ and on its universal cover $\CSU(1,1)$. In the sub-Riemannian case we find the distance function and completely describe sub-Riemannian geodesics on both $\SU(1,1)$ and $\CSU(1,1)$, connecting two fixed points. In particular, we prove that there is a strong connection between the conjugate loci and the number of geodesics. In the sub-Lorentzian case, we describe the geodesics connecting two points on $\CSU(1,1)$, and compare them with Lorentzian ones. It turns out that the reachable sets for Lorentzian and sub-Lore…
In this work, we are interested in a non symmetric homogeneous space, namely $SO(2m)/Sp(m)$. We show that this space admits a structure of $Z_2^2$-symmetric space. We describe all the non degenerated metrics and classify the Riemannian and Lorentzian ones.
It is commonly known that in Riemannian and sub-Riemannian Geometry, the metric tensor on a manifold defines a distance function. In Lorentzian Geometry, instead of a distance function it provides causal relations and the Lorentzian time-separation function. Both lead to the definition of the Alexandrov topology, which is linked to the property of strong causality of a space-time. We studied three possible ways to define the Alexandrov topology on sub-Lorentzian manifolds, which usually give different topologies, but agree in the Lorentzian case. We investigated their relationships to each oth…
We give some properties of semi-symmetric pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. These are foliated manifolds and for the Lorentzian metric, the Ricci operator has only real eigenvalues.
A surface of constant mean curvature (CMC) equal to $H$ in a sub-Riemannian $3$-manifold is strongly stable if it minimizes the functional $\text{area}+2H\,\text{volume}$ up to second order. In this paper we obtain some criteria ensuring strong stability of surfaces in Sasakian $3$-manifolds. We also produce new examples of $C^1$ complete CMC surfaces with empty singular set in the sub-Riemannian $3$-space forms by studying those ones containing a vertical line. As a consequence, we are able to find complete strongly stable non-vertical surfaces with empty singular set in the sub-Riemannian hy…
We establish the submaximal symmetry dimension for Riemannian and Lorentzian conformal structures. The proof is based on enumerating all subalgebras of orthogonal Lie algebras of sufficiently large dimension and verifying if they stabilize a non-zero Weyl tensor up to scale. Our main technical tools include Dynkin's classification of maximal subalgebras in complex simple Lie algebras, a theorem of Mostow, and Kostant's Bott-Borel-Weil theorem.
We obtain Harnack estimates for a class of curvature flows in Riemannian manifolds of constant non-negative sectional curvature as well as in the Lorentzian Minkowski and de Sitter spaces. Furthermore, we prove a Harnack estimate with a bonus term for mean curvature flow in locally symmetric Riemannian Einstein manifold of non-negative sectional curvature. Using a concept of "duality" for strictly convex hypersurfaces, we also obtain a new type of inequalities, so-called "pseudo"-Harnack inequalities, for expanding flows in the sphere and in the hyperbolic space.
In this paper we provide a family of algebraic space-like surfaces in the three dimensional anti de Sitter space that shows that this Lorentzian manifold admits algebraic maximal examples of any order. Then, we classify all the space-like order two algebraic maximal hypersurfaces in the anti de Sitter $N$-dimensional space. Finally, we provide two families of examples of Lorentzian order two algebraic zero mean curvature in the de Sitter space.
Given $\varepsilon_0>0$, $I\in \mathbb{N}\cup \{0\}$ and $K_0,H_0\geq0$, let $X$ be a complete Riemannian $3$-manifold with injectivity radius $\mbox{Inj}(X)\geq \varepsilon_0$ and with the supremum of absolute sectional curvature at most $K_0$, and let $M \looparrowright X$ be a complete immersed surface of constant mean curvature $H\in [0,H_0]$ with index at most $I$. For such $M \looparrowright X$, we prove Structure Theorem 1.2 which describes how the interesting ambient geometry of the immersion is organized locally around at most $I$ points of $M$ where the norm of the second fundamental…
It is explained how to find the de~Rham decomposition of a Riemannian manifold and the Wu decomposition of a Lorentzian manifold. For that it is enough to find parallel symmetric bilinear forms on the manifold, and do some linear algebra. This result will allow to compute the connected holonomy group of an arbitrary Riemannian or Lorentzian manifold.
Let $M$ be a Riemannian 3-manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature, Ric $\geq 0.$ We suppose that $M$ is conformally flat and simply connected or more generally that it admits a conformal immersion into the standard 3-sphere. Let $Σ$ be a compact connected and orientable surface immersed in $M$ which is a stable constant mean curvature (CMC) surface or an index one minimal surface. We prove that $Σ$ is homeomorphic either to a sphere or to a torus. Moreover, in case $Σ$ is homeomorphic to a torus, then it is embedded, minimal, conformal to a flat square torus and Ric$(N)=0$ where $N$ is a unit …
The notion of $Γ$-symmetric space is a natural generalization of the classical notion of symmetric space based on $\Z_2$-grading of Lie algebras. In our case, we consider homogeneous spaces $G/H$ such that the Lie algebra $\g$ of $G$ admits a $Γ$-grading where $Γ$ is a finite abelian group. In this work we study Riemannian metrics and Lorentzian metrics on the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}_3$ adapted to the symmetries of a $Γ$-symmetric structure on $\mathbb{H}_3$. We prove that the classification of $\z$-symmetric Riemannian and Lorentzian metrics on $\mathbb{H}_3$ corresponds to the classific…
We prove that the Cauchy problem for parallel null vector fields on smooth Lorentzian manifolds is well posed. The proof is based on the derivation and analysis of suitable hyperbolic evolution equations given in terms of the Ricci tensor and other geometric objects. Moreover, we classify Riemannian manifolds satisfying the constraint conditions for this Cauchy problem. It is then possible to characterise certain holonomy reductions of globally hyperbolic manifolds with parallel null vector in terms of flow equations for Riemannian special holonomy metrics. For exceptional holonomy groups thes…
