Unique isoperimetric foliations of asymptotically flat manifolds in all dimensions (Q2435142)

This paper is the culmination of almost two decades of work devoted to understanding the role of foliations by isoperimetric hypersurfaces and their relation to the center of mass of an asymptotically flat manifold after the seminal paper by \textit{G. Huisken} and \textit{S.-T. Yau} [Invent. Math. 124, No. 1--3, 281--311 (1996; Zbl 0858.53071)]. The main result in this paper is Theorem~1.1: given an \(n\)-dimensional data set \((M,g)\) that is \(C^0\)-asymptotic to Schwarzschild of mass \(m>0\), there exists \(V_0>0\) such that isoperimetric regions \(\Omega_V\) exists for any volume \(V\geq V_0\) and \(\partial\Omega_V\) is close to a centered coordinate sphere of volume \(V\). If \((M,g)\) is assumed to be \(C^2\)-asymptotic to Schwarzschild then \(V_0>0\) can be chosen so that \(\Omega_V\) is unique and \(\{\partial\Omega_V\}_{V\geq V_0}\) foliates \(M\setminus \Omega_{V_0}\). If \((M,g)\) is asymptotically even, the center of mass of \(\partial\Omega_V\) approaches the center of mass of \((M,g)\) when \(V\to\infty\). An \(n\)-dimensional data set is a complete, connected, boundaryless \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold with one end diffeomorphic to \({\mathbb R}^n\setminus B_{1/2}(0)\) on which the Riemannian metric satisfies \[ r\,|g_{ij}-\delta_{ij}|+r^2|\partial_k g_{ij}|+r^3|\partial_{kl}^2g_{ij}|\leq C, \qquad r \geq 1. \] Given \(m>0\), \(\gamma\in (0,1]\), and \(k\in\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}\), it is said that an initial data set is \(C^k\)-asymptotic to Schwarzschild at rate \(\gamma\) if \[ \sum_{l=0}^k r^{n-2+\gamma+l}|\partial^l(g-g_m)_{ij}|\geq C, \qquad r\geq 1, \] where \((g_m)_{ij}=(1+2^{-1}|x|^{2-n}m)^{4/(n-2)}\,\delta_{ij}\) is the Schwarzschild metric of mass \(m>0\). A second result in the paper, Theorem 1.2, shows the existence of isoperimetric regions of large volume in \(3\)-dimensional data sets with non-negative scalar curvature. Theorem 1.1 extends previous results in several directions: it holds in any dimension, provides global uniqueness of isoperimetric hypersurfaces, and only requires that \((M,g)\) is \(C^2\)-asymptotic to a Schwarzschild manifold. A complete account of related results is given in the introduction of the paper. The paper is organized ias follows. In Section 2 basic definitions and notation are introduced. In the third one, Bray's thesis results on the characterization of isoperimetric surfaces in \(3\)-dimensional Schwarzschild manifolds are extended to higher dimensions, and estimates from below of the perimeter of \((\tau,\eta)\)-off center sets are obtained for both the Schwarzschild manifolds and \(C^0\)-asymptotic initial data sets. Existence of isoperimetric regions for \(C^0\)-asymptotic initial data sets is then proved in the short Section 4 following the lines of a previous paper by the authors [J. Differ. Geom. 94, No. 1, 159--186 (2013; Zbl 1269.53071)]. Uniqueness of large isoperimetric regions and the existence of the isoperimetric foliation are given in Section 5, and the convergence of the centers of mass in Section 6. The proof of Theorem 1.2 is in Section 7. Several appendixes have been included at the end of the paper, including a short survey on recent results on isoperimetric problems in Appendix H.