Lichnerowicz-type equations on complete manifolds

Under appropriate spectral assumptions we prove two existence results for positive solutions of Lichnerowicz-type equations on complete manifolds. We also give a priori bounds and a comparison result that immediately yields uniqueness for certain classes of solutions. No curvature assumptions are involved in our analysis.Comment: 33 pages, submitte

On the geometry of curves and conformal geodesics in the Mobius space

This paper deals with the study of some properties of immersed curves in the conformal sphere \mathds{Q}_n, viewed as a homogeneous space under the action of the M\"obius group. After an overview on general well-known facts, we briefly focus on the links between Euclidean and conformal curvatures, in the spirit of F. Klein's Erlangen program. The core of the paper is the study of conformal geodesics, defined as the critical points of the conformal arclength functional. After writing down their Euler-Lagrange equations for any $n$, we prove an interesting codimension reduction, namely that every conformal geodesic in \mathds{Q}_n lies, in fact, in a totally umbilical 4-sphere \mathds{Q}_4. We then extend and complete the work in (Musso, "The conformal arclength functional", Math Nachr.) by solving the Euler-Lagrange equations for the curvatures and by providing an explicit expression even for those conformal geodesics not included in any conformal 3-sphere.Comment: 40 page

Maps from Riemannian manifolds into non-degenerate Euclidean cones

Let $M$ be a connected, non-compact $m$-dimensional Riemannian manifold. In this paper we consider smooth maps $\phi: M \to \mathbb{R}^n$ with images inside a non-degenerate cone. Under quite general assumptions on $M$, we provide a lower bound for the width of the cone in terms of the energy and the tension of $\phi$ and a metric parameter. As a side product, we recover some well known results concerning harmonic maps, minimal immersions and K\"ahler submanifolds. In case $\phi$ is an isometric immersion, we also show that, if $M$ is sufficiently well-behaved and has non-positive sectional curvature, $\phi(M)$ cannot be contained into a non-degenerate cone of $\mathbb{R}^{2m-1}$.Comment: 19 pages, to appea

Lichnerowicz-type equations with sign-changing nonlinearities on complete manifolds with boundary

We prove an existence theorem for positive solutions to Lichnerowicz-type equations on complete manifolds with boundary and nonlinear Neumann conditions. This kind of nonlinear problems arise quite naturally in the study of solutions for the Einstein-scalar field equations of General Relativity in the framework of the so called Conformal Method

Spectral radius, index estimates for Schrodinger operators and geometric applications

In this paper we study the existence of a first zero and the oscillatory behavior of solutions of the ordinary differential equation $(vz')'+Avz = 0$, where $A,v$ are functions arising from geometry. In particular, we introduce a new technique to estimate the distance between two consecutive zeros. These results are applied in the setting of complete Riemannian manifolds: in particular, we prove index bounds for certain Schr\"odinger operators, and an estimate of the growth of the spectral radius of the Laplacian outside compact sets when the volume growth is faster than exponential. Applications to the geometry of complete minimal hypersurfaces of Euclidean space, to minimal surfaces and to the Yamabe problem are discussed.Comment: 48 page

Some generalizations of Calabi compactness theorem

In this paper we obtain generalized Calabi-type compactness criteria for complete Riemannian manifolds that allow the presence of negative amounts of Ricci curvature. These, in turn, can be rephrased as new conditions for the positivity, for the existence of a first zero and for the nonoscillatory-oscillatory behaviour of a solution $g(t)$ of $g"+Kg=0$, subjected to the initial condition $g(0)=0$, $g'(0)=1$. A unified approach for this ODE, based on the notion of critical curve, is presented. With the aid of suitable examples, we show that our new criteria are sharp and, even for $K\ge 0$, in borderline cases they improve on previous works of Calabi, Hille-Nehari and Moore.Comment: 20 pages, submitte

Some geometric properties of hypersurfaces with constant rr-mean curvature in Euclidean space

Let f:M\ra \erre^{m+1} be an isometrically immersed hypersurface. In this paper, we exploit recent results due to the authors in \cite{bimari} to analyze the stability of the differential operator $L_r$ associated with the $r$-th Newton tensor of $f$. This appears in the Jacobi operator for the variational problem of minimizing the $r$-mean curvature $H_r$. Two natural applications are found. The first one ensures that, under the mild condition that the integral of $H_r$ over geodesic spheres grows sufficiently fast, the Gauss map meets each equator of \esse^m infinitely many times. The second one deals with hypersurfaces with zero $(r+1)$-mean curvature. Under similar growth assumptions, we prove that the affine tangent spaces $f_*T_pM$, $p\in M$, fill the whole \erre^{m+1}.Comment: 10 pages, corrected typo

On the 1/H1/H-flow by pp-Laplace approximation: new estimates via fake distances under Ricci lower bounds

In this paper we show the existence of weak solutions $w : M \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ of the inverse mean curvature flow starting from a relatively compact set (possibly, a point) on a large class of manifolds satisfying Ricci lower bounds. Under natural assumptions, we obtain sharp estimates for the growth of $w$ and for the mean curvature of its level sets, that are well behaved with respect to Gromov-Hausdorff convergence. The construction follows R. Moser's approximation procedure via the $p$-Laplace equation, and relies on new gradient and decay estimates for $p$-harmonic capacity potentials, notably for the kernel $\mathcal{G}_p$ of $\Delta_p$. These bounds, stable as $p \rightarrow 1$, are achieved by studying fake distances associated to capacity potentials and Green kernels. We conclude by investigating some basic isoperimetric properties of the level sets of $w$.Comment: 61 pages. Revised version. Section 3.2 (properness under volume doubling and weak Poincar\'e inequalities, p.41-45) was rewritten, and the main Theorems 1.4 and 4.6 changed accordingl