A fully nonlinear flow for two-convex hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds (Q1677227)

In [Invent. Math. 175, No. 1, 137--221 (2009; Zbl 1170.53042)], the second author and \textit{C. Sinestrari} developed a surgery algorithm for the mean curvature flow of two-convex hypersurfaces in Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) with \(n\geq 3\), where a hypersurface in the Euclidean space is said to be two-convex if the sum of the smallest two principle curvatures is positive. This result can not be extended to hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold, since a two-convex hypersurface in a Riemannian manifold may not remain two-convex along the mean curvature flow. The main purpose of this paper is to extend the surgery algorithm of Huisken and Sinestrari to a fully nonlinear curvature flow in Riemannian manifolds. Fixing an integer \(n\geq 3\) and \(\kappa\geq 0\), a hypersurface \(M\) in an \((n+1)\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold is said to be \(\kappa\)-two-convex, if \(\lambda_1+\lambda_2>2\kappa\), where \(\lambda_1\leq \cdots\leq \lambda_n\) denote the principal curvatures of \(M\). Given a closed, embedded, \(\kappa\)-two-convex hypersurface \(M_0\) in a compact Riemannian manifold, the authors consider the curvature flow with normal velocity \[ G_{\kappa}=\biggl(\sum_{i<j}\frac 1{\lambda_i+\lambda_j-2\kappa}\biggr)^{-1}. \] If the curvature tensor of the ambient Riemannian manifold satisfies \(\bar{R}_{1313}+\bar{R}_{2323}\geq -2\kappa^2\) at each point of \(M_t\), it is proved that the \(\inf_{M_t}G_{\kappa}\) blows up in finite time. In the first part of this paper, the authors obtain the properties of the flow up to the first singular time, including the convexity estimate, cylindrical estimate and the pointwise curvature derivative estimate. The most technical part is the proof of the pointwise curvature derivative estimate, as the existing argument for the mean curvature flow is not available here. The new idea introduced by the authors is an induction-on-scales argument, and relies on the inscribed radius estimate and the regularity of radial graphs. In the second part of this paper, the authors firstly extend the a priori estimates obtained in the first part to surgically modified flow with normal velocity \(G_k\). Once the convexity estimate, cylindrical estimate and the pointwise curvature derivative estimate were established for surgically modified flows, the arguments in the paper by the second author and Sinestrari [loc. cit.] (including the Neck detection lemma, Neck continuation theorem, and the surgery algorithm) can be modified to this Riemannian setting. An immediate consequence of this result is that any compact Riemannian manifold satisfying \(\bar{R}_{1313}+\bar{R}_{2323}\geq -2\kappa^2\) with non-empty boundary which is \(\kappa\)-two-convex is diffeomorphic to a 1-handlebody.