A general comparison theorem for pp-harmonic maps in homotopy class

We prove a general comparison result for homotopic finite $p$-energy $C^{1}$ $p$-harmonic maps $u,v:M\to N$ between Riemannian manifolds, assuming that $M$ is $p$-parabolic and $N$ is complete and non-positively curved. In particular, we construct a homotopy through constant $p$-energy maps, which turn out to be $p$-harmonic when $N$ is compact. Moreover, we obtain uniqueness in the case of negatively curved $N$. This generalizes a well known result in the harmonic setting due to R. Schoen and S.T. Yau.Comment: 19 page

Scalar curvature via local extent

We give a metric characterization of the scalar curvature of a smooth Riemannian manifold, analyzing the maximal distance between $(n+1)$ points in infinitesimally small neighborhoods of a point. Since this characterization is purely in terms of the distance function, it could be used to approach the problem of defining the scalar curvature on a non-smooth metric space. In the second part we will discuss this issue, focusing in particular on Alexandrov spaces and surfaces with bounded integral curvature.Comment: 22 pages. A new rigidity result has been added (see Proposition 17). Some typos have been correcte

Stokes' theorem, volume growth and parabolicity

We present some new Stokes' type theorems on complete non-compact manifolds that extend, in different directions, previous work by Gaffney and Karp and also the so called Kelvin-Nevanlinna-Royden criterion for (p-)parabolicity. Applications to comparison and uniqueness results involving the p-Laplacian are deduced.Comment: 15 pages. Corrected typos. Accepted for publication in Tohoku Mathematical Journa

Lorentzian area measures and the Christoffel problem

We introduce a particular class of unbounded closed convex sets of $\R^{d+1}$, called F-convex sets (F stands for future). To define them, we use the Minkowski bilinear form of signature $(+,...,+,-)$ instead of the usual scalar product, and we ask the Gauss map to be a surjection onto the hyperbolic space \H^d. Important examples are embeddings of the universal cover of so-called globally hyperbolic maximal flat Lorentzian manifolds. Basic tools are first derived, similarly to the classical study of convex bodies. For example, F-convex sets are determined by their support function, which is defined on \H^d. Then the area measures of order $i$, $0\leq i\leq d$ are defined. As in the convex bodies case, they are the coefficients of the polynomial in $\epsilon$ which is the volume of an $\epsilon$ approximation of the convex set. Here the area measures are defined with respect to the Lorentzian structure. Then we focus on the area measure of order one. Finding necessary and sufficient conditions for a measure (here on \H^d) to be the first area measure of a F-convex set is the Christoffel Problem. We derive many results about this problem. If we restrict to "Fuchsian" F-convex set (those who are invariant under linear isometries acting cocompactly on \H^d), then the problem is totally solved, analogously to the case of convex bodies. In this case the measure can be given on a compact hyperbolic manifold. Particular attention is given on the smooth and polyhedral cases. In those cases, the Christoffel problem is equivalent to prescribing the mean radius of curvature and the edge lengths respectively

Remarks on LpL^{p}-vanishing results in geometric analysis

We survey some $L^{p}$-vanishing results for solutions of Bochner or Simons type equations with refined Kato inequalities, under spectral assumptions on the relevant Schr\"{o}dinger operators. New aspects are included in the picture. In particular, an abstract version of a structure theorem for stable minimal hypersurfaces of finite total curvature is observed. Further geometric applications are discussed.Comment: 18 pages. Some oversights corrected. Accepted for publication in International Journal of Mathematic

Density problems for second order Sobolev spaces and cut-off functions on manifolds with unbounded geometry

We consider complete non-compact manifolds with either a sub-quadratic growth of the norm of the Riemann curvature, or a sub-quadratic growth of both the norm of the Ricci curvature and the squared inverse of the injectivity radius. We show the existence on such a manifold of a distance-like function with bounded gradient and mild growth of the Hessian. As a main application, we prove that smooth compactly supported functions are dense in $W^{2,p}$. The result is improved for $p=2$ avoiding both the upper bound on the Ricci tensor, and the injectivity radius assumption. As further applications we prove new disturbed Sobolev and Calder\'on-Zygmund inequalities on manifolds with possibly unbounded curvature and highlight consequences about the validity of the full Omori-Yau maximum principle for the Hessian.Comment: Improved version. As a main modification, we added a final Section 8 including some additional geometric applications of our result. Furthermore, we proved in Section 7 a disturbed L^p-Sobolev-type inequality with weight more general than the previous one. 25 pages. Comments are welcom