We study singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flow in $\C^n$ when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. We start by showing that, in this setting, singularities are unavoidable. More precisely, we construct Lagrangians with arbitrarily small Lagrangian angle and Lagrangians which are Hamiltonian isotopic to a plane that, nevertheless, develop finite time singularities under mean curvature flow.
We then prove two theorems regarding the tangent flow at a singularity when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. The first one (Theorem A) states that that the rescaled flow at a singularity converges weakly to a finite union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The second theorem (Theorem B) states that, under the additional assumptions that the initial condition is an almost-calibrated and rational Lagrangian, connected components of the rescaled flow converges to a single area-minimizing Lagrangian cone, as opposed to a possible non-area-minimizing union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The latter condition is dense for Lagrangians with finitely generated $H_1(L,\Z)$.
In this note we prove a simple relation between the mean curvature form, symplectic area, and the Maslov class of a Lagrangian immersion in a Kähler-Einstein manifold. An immediate consequence is that in Kähler-Einstein manifolds with positive scalar curvature, minimal Lagrangian immersions are monotone.
In this work, we establish new rigidity results for the Maslov class of Lagrangian submanifolds in large classes of closed and convex symplectic manifolds. Our main result establishes upper bounds for the minimal Maslov number of displaceable Lagrangian submanifolds which are product manifolds whose factors each admit a metric of negative sectional curvature. Such Lagrangian submanifolds exist in every symplectic manifold of dimension greater than six or equal to four. The proof utilizes the relations between closed geodesics on the Lagrangian, the periodic orbits of geometric Hamiltonian flow…
We explain the topology of the space, so called, Fredholm-Lagrangian-Grassmannain and the quantity ``Maslov index'' for paths in this space based on the standard theory of Functional Analysis. Our standing point is to define the Maslov index for arbitrary paths in terms of the fundamental spectral property of the Fredholm operators, which was first recognized by J. Phillips and used to define the ``Spectral flow''. We tried to make the arguments to be all elementary and we summarize basic facts for this article from Functional Analysis in the Appendix.
We introduce a notion of vanishing Maslov index for lagrangian varifolds and lagrangian integral cycles in a Calabi-Yau manifold. We construct mass-decreasing flows of lagrangian varifolds and lagrangian cycles which satisfy this condition. The flow of cycles converges, at infinite time, to a sum of special lagrangian cycles (possibly with differing phases). We use the flow of cycles to obtain the fact that special lagrangian cycles generate the part of the lagrangian homology which lies in the image of the Hurewicz homomorphism. We also establish a weak version of a conjecture of Thomas-Yau r…
Rigidity of Lagrangian submanifolds with conformal Maslov form and Legendrian capillary boundary
Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture(北京建筑大学);Chongqing University of Technology(重庆理工大学);Tsinghua University(清华大学);Xinyang Normal University(信阳师范大学)
In this note it is shown that the Maslov Index for pairs of Lagrangian Paths as introduced by Cappell, Lee and Miller appears by parallel transporting elements of (a certain complex line-subbundle of) the symplectic spinorbundle over Euclidean space, when pulled back to an (embedded) Lagrangian submanifold $L$, along closed or non-closed paths therein. In especially, the CLM-Index mod 4 determines the holonomy group of this line bundle w.r.t. the Levi-Civita-connection on $L$, hence its vanishing mod 4 is equivalent to the existence of a trivializing parallel section. Moreover, it is shown tha…
We define an integer graded symplectic Floer cohomology and a spectral sequence which are new invariants for monotone Lagrangian sub-manifolds and exact isotopies. Such an integer graded Floer cohomology is an integral lifting of the usual Floer-Oh cohomology with $Z_{\Si (L)}$ grading. As one of applications of the spectral sequence, we offer an affirmative answer to an Audin's question for oriented, embedded, monotone Lagrangian tori, i.e. $\Si (L) = 2$.
We prove an estimate on the difference of Maslov indices relative to the choice of two distinct reference Lagrangians of a continuous path in the Lagrangian Grassmannian of a symplectic space. We discuss some applications to the study of conjugate and focal points along a geodesic in a semi-Riemannian manifold.
Generalizing the construction of the Maslov class for a Lagrangian embedding in a symplectic vector space, we prove that it is possible to give a consistent definition of this class for any Lagrangian submanifold of a Calabi-Yau manifold. Moreover, we prove that this class can be represented by the contraction of the Kaehler form associated to the Calabi-Yau metric, with the mean curvature vector field of the Lagrangian embedding. Finally, we suggest a possible generalization of the Maslov class for Lagrangian submanifolds of any symplectic manifold, via the mean curvature representation.
We study the singularities of the exponential map in semi Riemannian locally symmetric manifolds. Conjugate points along geodesics depend only on real negative eigenvalues of the curvature tensor, and their contribution to the Maslov index of the geodesic is computed explicitly. We prove that degeneracy of conjugate points, which is a phenomenon that can only occur in semi-Riemannian geometry, is caused in the locally symmetric case by the lack of diagonalizability of the curvature tensor. The case of Lie groups endowed with a bi-invariant metric is studied in some detail, and conditions are g…
We give a definition of the Maslov fibre bundle for a lagrangian submanifold of the cotangent bundle of a smooth manofold. This definition generelizes the definition given, in homotopic terms, by Arnol'd for lagrangian submanifolds of the cotangent bundle of the euclidean space and coincides with the one of Hörmander in his works about Fourier Inegral Operators.
In this paper, we discuss the Lagrangian angle and the Kähler angle of immersed surfaces in $\mathbb C^2$. Firstly, we provide an extension of Lagrangian angle, Maslov form and Maslov class to more general surfaces in $\mathbb C^2$ than Lagrangian surfaces, and then naturally extend a theorem by J.-M. Morvan to surfaces of constant Kähler angle, together with an application showing that the Maslov class of a compact self-shrinker surface with constant Kähler angle is generally non-vanishing. Secondly, we obtain two pinching results for the Kähler angle which imply rigidity theorems of self-shr…
First, we prove a local spectral flow formula (Theorem 3.7) for a differentiable curve of selfadjoint Fredholm operators. This formula enables us to prove in a simple way a general spectral flow formula. Secondly, we prove a splitting formula (Theorem 4.12) for the spectral flow of a curve of selfadjoint elliptic operators on a closed manifold, which we decompose into two parts with commom boundary. Then the formula says that the spectral flow is a sum of two spectral flows on each part of the separated manifold with naturally introduced elliptic boundary conditions. In the course of proving t…
Let $L_t$ be a zero Maslov, rational Lagrangian mean curvature flow in a compact Calabi-Yau surface, and suppose that at the first singular time a tangent flow is given by the static union of two transverse planes. We show that in this case the tangent flow is unique, and that the flow can be continued past the singularity as an immersed, smooth, zero Maslov, rational Lagrangian mean curvature flow. Furthermore, if $L_0$ is a sphere that is stable in the sense of Thomas-Yau, then such a singularity cannot form.
We show that zero-Maslov class Lagrangian self-expanders in C^n which are asymptotic to a pair of planes intersecting transversely are locally unique if n>2 and unique if n=2.
We establish Bernstein Theorems for Lagrangian graphs which are Hamiltonian minimal or have conformal Maslov form. Some known results of minimal (Lagrangian) submanifolds are generalized.
We derive some restrictions on the topology of a monotone Lagrangian submanifold $L\subset\mathbf{C}^n$ by making observations about the topology of the moduli space of Maslov 2 holomorphic discs with boundary on $L$ and then using Damian's theorem which gives conditions under which the evaluation map from this moduli space to $L$ has nonzero degree. In particular we prove that an orientable 3-manifold admits a monotone Lagrangian embedding in $\mathbf{C}^3$ only if it is a product, which is a variation on a theorem of Fukaya. Finally we prove an h-principle for monotone Lagrangian immersions.
We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $T_7$ singularities. We define discrete symplectic invariants - the Lagrangian tangency orders. We use these invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of classical $A-D-E$ singularities of planar curves, $S_5$ singularity and $T_7$ singularity. We also give the geometric description of these symplectic singularities.
We construct many self-similar and translating solitons for Lagrangian mean curvature flow, including self-expanders and translating solitons with arbitrarily small oscillation on the Lagrangian angle. Our translating solitons play the same role as cigar solitons in Ricci flow, and are important in studying the regularity of Lagrangian mean curvature flow. Given two transverse Lagrangian planes R^n in C^n with sum of characteristic angles less than pi, we show there exists a Lagrangian self-expander asymptotic to this pair of planes. The Maslov class of these self-expanders is zero. Thus they …
We consider a {\em Hamiltonian setup} $\sextuple$, where $(\mathcal M,ω)$ is a symplectic manifold, $\mathfrak L$ is a distribution of Lagrangian subspaces in $\mathcal M$, $\mathcal P$ a Lagrangian submanifold of $ \mathcal M$, $H$ is a smooth time dependent Hamiltonian function on $\mathcal M$ and $Γ:[a,b]\to\mathcal M$ is an integral curve of the Hamiltonian flow $\Hf$ starting at $\mathcal P$. We do not require any convexity property of the Hamiltonian function $H$. Under the assumption that $Γ(b)$ is not $\mathcal P$-focal it is introduced the Maslov index $\maslov(Γ)$ of $Γ$ given in ter…
We study the formation of singularities for the mean curvature flow of monotone Lagrangians in $\C^n$. More precisely, we show that if singularities happen before a critical time then the tangent flow can be decomposed into a finite union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones (Slag cones). When $n=2$, we can improve this result by showing that connected components of the rescaled flow converge to an area-minimizing cone, as opposed to possible non-area minimizing union of Slag cones. In the last section, we give specific examples for which such singularity formation occurs.
Given a Lagrangian submanifold $L$ of the affine symplectic $2n$-space, one can canonically and uniquely define a center-chord and a special improper affine sphere of dimension $2n$, both of whose sets of singularities contain $L$. Although these improper affine spheres (IAS) always present other singularities away from $L$ (the off-shell singularities studied in our previous paper), they may also present singularities other than $L$ which are arbitrarily close to $L$, the so called singularities "on shell". These on-shell singularities possess a hidden $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry that is absent fr…
In this paper, we study the generalized Lagrangian mean curvature flow in almost Einstein manifold proposed by T. Behrndt. We show that the singularity of this flow is characterized by the second fundamental form. We also show that the rescaled flow at a singularity converges to a finite union of Special Lagrangian cones for generalized Lagrangian mean curvature flow with zero-Maslov class in almost Calabi-Yau manifold. As a corollary, there is no finite time Type-I singularity for such a flow.
Let (Σ, ω) be a compact Riemann surface with constant curvature c. In this work, we proved that the mean curvature flow of a given Hamiltonian diffeomorphism on Σ provides a smooth path in Ham(Σ), the group of all Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms of Σ. This result gives a proof, in the case of graph of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms to the conjecture of Thomas and Yau asserting that the mean curvature flow of a compact embedded Lagrangian submanifold S with zero Maslov class in a Calabi- Yau manifolds M exists for all time and converges smoothly to a special Lagrangian submanifold in the Hamiltonian i…
Given any embedded Lagrangian on a four dimensional compact Calabi-Yau, we find another Lagrangian in the same Hamiltonian isotopy class which develops a finite time singularity under mean curvature flow. This contradicts a weaker version of the Thomas-Yau conjecture regarding long time existence and convergence of Lagrangian mean curvature flow.
In this paper we investigate the singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flows in $\mathbf{C}^m$ by means of smooth singularity models. Type I singularities can only occur at certain times determined by invariants in the cohomology of the initial data. In the type II case, these smooth singularity models are asymptotic to special Lagrangian cones; hence all type II singularities are modeled by unions of special Lagrangian cones.
We exhibit infinitely many, explicit special Lagrangian isolated singularities that admit no asymptotically conical special Lagrangian smoothings. The existence/ nonexistence of such smoothings is an important component of the current efforts to understand which singular special Lagrangians arise as limits of smooth special Lagrangians. We also use soft methods from symplectic geometry (the relative version of the h--principle) and tools from algebraic topology to prove (both positive and negative) results about Lagrangian desingularizations of Lagrangian submanifolds with isolated singulariti…
Let $π: E\to M$ be a smooth fiber bundle whose total space is a symplectic manifold and whose fibers are Lagrangian. Let $L$ be an embedded Lagrangian submanifold of $E$. In the paper we address the following question: how can one simplify the singularities of the projection $π: L \to M$ by a Hamiltonian isotopy of $L$ inside $E$? We give an answer in the case when $dim L = 2$ and both $L$ and $M$ are orientable. A weaker version of the result is proved in the higher-dimensional case. Similar results hold in the contact category. As a corollary one gets an answer to one of the questions of V.A…
In this paper we study the singularities of the mean curvature flow from a symplectic surface or from a Lagrangian surface in a Kähler-Einstein surface. We prove that the blow-up flow $Σ_s^\infty$ at a singular point $(X_0, T_0)$ of a symplectic mean curvature flow $Σ_t$ or of a Lagrangian mean curvature flow $Σ_t$ is a non trivial minimal surface in ${\bf R}^4$, if $Σ_{-\infty}^\infty$ is connected.
We survey what is known about singularities of special Lagrangian submanifolds (SL m-folds) in (almost) Calabi-Yau manifolds. The bulk of the paper summarizes the author's five papers math.DG/0211294, math.DG/0211295, math.DG/0302355, math.DG/0302356, math.DG/0303272 on SL m-folds X with isolated conical singularities. That is, near each singular point x, X is modelled on an SL cone C in C^m with isolated singularity at 0. We also discuss directions for future research, and give a list of open problems.
In [SW2], we defined a generalized mean curvature vector field on any almost Lagrangian submanifold with respect to a torsion connection on an almost Kähler manifold. The short time existence of the corresponding parabolic flow was established. In addition, it was shown that the flow preserves the Lagrangian condition as long as the connection satisfies an Einstein condition. In this article, we show that the canonical connection on the cotangent bundle of any Riemannian manifold is an Einstein connection (in fact, Ricci flat). The generalized mean curvature vector on any Lagrangian submanifol…
In this paper we study the short time existence problem for the (generalized) Lagrangian mean curvature flow in (almost) Calabi--Yau manifolds when the initial Lagrangian submanifold has isolated conical singularities modelled on stable special Lagrangian cones. Given a Lagrangian submanifold $F_0:L\rightarrow M$ in an almost Calabi--Yau manifold $M$ with isolated conical singularities at $x_1,...,x_n\in M$ modelled on stable special Lagrangian cones $C_1,...,C_n$ in $\mathbb{C}^m$, we show that for a short time there exist one-parameter families of points $x_1(t),... x_n(t)\in M$ and a one pa…
Special Lagrangian submanifolds are submanifolds of a Calabi-Yau manifold calibrated by the real part of the holomorphic volume form. In this paper we use elliptic theory for edge-degenerate differential operators on singular manifolds to study the moduli space of deformations of special Lagrangian submanifolds with edge singularities. We obtain a general theorem describing the local structure of the moduli space. When the obstruction space vanishes the moduli space is a smooth, finite dimensional manifold.
We formulate certain sufficient conditions for the symplectic monodromy of an isolated quasihomogeneous singularity to be of infinite order in the relative symplectic mapping class group of the Milnor fibre and give a proof using Maslov classes, stability theory for Lagrangian folds resp. stable Morse theory for generating families as well as algebraic results about relative cohomology of smoothings of isolated singularities. Our conditions being slightly more restrictive than Seidel's, in contrary to Seidel's proof, we do not use Floer theory to derive this result. An alternative approach usi…
We study almost-calibrated, $O(n)$-equivariant Lagrangian mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{C}^n$, and prove structural theorems about the Type I and Type II blowups of finite-time singularities. In particular, we prove that any Type I blowup of such a flow must be a special Lagrangian pair of transversely intersecting planes, any Type II blowup must be the Lawlor neck with the same asymptotes, and these blowups are independent of the choice of rescaling. We also give a partial classification of when singularities occur in the equivariant case, and examine the intermediate scales between the Typ…
The SYZ Conjecture explains Mirror Symmetry between mirror Calabi-Yau 3-folds M,M' in terms of special Lagrangian fibrations f : M --> B and f' : M' --> B over the same base B, whose fibres are dual 3-tori, except for singular fibres. One of the main problems in proving the SYZ Conjecture (or even in finding the right statement of it) is that the singularities of special Lagrangian 3-folds and fibrations are poorly understood. This paper studies the singularities of special Lagrangian fibrations. Our main rigorous results are the construction of examples of special Lagrangian fibrations on ope…
This is the last in a series of five papers math.DG/0211294, math.DG/0211295, math.DG/0302355, math.DG/0302356 studying compact special Lagrangian submanifolds (SL m-folds) X in (almost) Calabi-Yau m-folds M with singularities x_1,...,x_n locally modelled on special Lagrangian cones C_1,...,C_n in C^m with isolated singularities at 0. Readers are advised to begin with this paper. We survey the major results of the previous four papers, giving brief explanations of the proofs. We apply the results to describe the boundary of a moduli space of compact, nonsingular SL m-folds N in M. We prove the…
We consider a short time existence problem motivated by a conjecture of Joyce. Specifically we prove that given any compact Lagrangian $L\subset \mathbb{C}^n$ with a finite number of singularities, each asymptotic to a pair of non-area-minimising, transversally intersecting Lagrangian planes, there is a smooth Lagrangian mean curvature flow existing for some positive time, that attains $L$ as $t \searrow 0$ as varifolds, and smoothly locally away from the singularities.
This paper gives a leisurely introduction to Calabi-Yau manifolds and special Lagrangian submanifolds from the differential geometric point of view, followed by a survey of recent results on singularities of special Lagrangian submanifolds, and their application to the SYZ Conjecture. It is aimed at graduate students in Geometry, String Theorists, and others wishing to learn the subject, and is designed to be fairly self-contained. It is based on lecture courses given at Nordfjordeid, Norway and MSRI, Berkeley in June and July 2001. We introduce Calabi-Yau m-folds via holonomy groups, Kahler g…