The Dirichlet problem at infinity for nonpositively curved manifolds (Q1261728)

The article is concerned with the Dirichlet problem with boundary values at infinity. Let \(M\) be an \(n\)-dimensional complete, simply-connected Riemannian manifold with nonpositive sectional curvatures. Let the fundamental tone of the Laplace operator be strictly positive. Furthermore, suppose the following pinching condition, namely that there exist a point \(x_ 0 \in M\) and a constant \(C\), such that at any \(x \in M\) we have \(| K(\sigma) | \leq C \cdot | K(\sigma') |\) where \(\sigma,\sigma'\) are plane sections at \(x\) containing the tangent vector of the geodesic joining \(x_ 0\) and \(x\). The main result of the paper is Theorem. Under the above assumptions for any continuous function \(f\) on the sphere at infinity \(M(\infty)\), there exists \(u \in C^ \infty(M)\cap C^ 0 \bigl( M \cup M(\infty) \bigr)\) such that \[ \begin{cases} \Delta u=0 \quad & \text{on } M \\ u=f & \text{on } M(\infty).\end{cases}. \]