Spectral estimates for Riemannian submersions with fibers of basic mean curvature (Q1979222)

The paper under review concerns the spectral geometry of Riemannian manifolds. It continues previous author's research articles, c.f. [the author, Ann. Glob. Anal. Geom. 57(2), 349--363 (2020; Zbl 1436.58024)], and deals with the particular case of Riemannian manifolds equipped with the structure of Riemannian submersions. The author explores the idea that for every such manifold the spectrum of Laplacian of the total space is connected with specific geometric features of the base space and the fibers. Namely, let \(p: M_2\to M_1\) be a Riemannian submersion, \(F_x =p^{-1}(x)\) denote the fiber over \(x\in M_1\). The author introduces a Schrödinger operator on the base space \(M_1\) as follows: \[ S = \Delta_{M_1} +\frac{1}{4} \| p_* H\|^2 - \frac{1}{2} div\, p_*H, \] where \(\Delta_{M_1}\) is the Laplacian on \(M_1\) and \(H\) is the mean curvature vector of the fibers which is assumed to be basic in the sense that \(H\) represents the horizontal lift on \(M_2\) of some vector field on \(M_1\). The main result of the first part of the paper relates the bottom \(\lambda_0 (M_2)\) of the spectrum of Laplacian on \(M_2\) to the bottom \(\lambda_0 (S)\) of the spectrum of the operator \(S\) on \(M_1\). Theorem. Let \(p: M_2\to M_1\) be a Riemannian submersion with fibers of basic mean curvature. Then \[ \lambda_0 (M_2) \geq \lambda_0 (S) + \inf_{x\in M_1} \lambda_0(F_x). \] If the equality holds and \(\lambda_0(S)\not\in \sigma_{ess}(S)\), then \(\lambda_0(F_x)\) is almost everywhere equal to its infimum. It is emphasized that no assumptions on the geometry or the topology of the manifolds are required in this theorem. If the fibers are assumed to be closed, then the proved statement is closed related to author's previous results as well as to results from [\textit{M. Bordoni}, An. Univ. Vest Timiş. Ser. Mat.-Inform. 44(1), 23--36 (2006; Zbl 1119.58301)] so that the following corollary holds true. Corollary. Let \(p: M_2\to M_1\) be a Riemannian submersion with closed fibers of basic mean curvature. Then \(\lambda_0 (M_2) = \lambda_0 (S)\) and \(\lambda_0^{ess} (M_2) = \lambda_0^{ess} (S)\). In particular, \(M_2\) has discrete spectrum if and only if the spectrum of \(S\) is discrete. It is claimed that this corollary extends known results on the discreteness of the spectrum for Riemannian submersions with closed minimal fibers, c.f. [\textit{G.P. Bessa} et al., J. Geom. Anal. 22(2), 603--620 (2012; Zbl 1257.58018)]. The second part of the paper studies particular Riemannian submersions arising from Lie group actions. Namely, if \(M_2\) is a Riemannian manifold and \(G\) is a non-discrete Lie group acting smoothly, freely and properly on \(M_2\) via isometries, \(\dim G <\dim M_2\), then \(M_1=M_2/G\) is a Riemannian manifold and \(p:M_2\to M_1\) is a Riemannian submersion with fibers of basic mean curvature, c.f. [\textit{C. Dunn} et al., J. Geom. Phys. 57(10), 2065--2076 (2007; Zbl 1140.58012)]. The main results are the following. Theorem. Let \(p:M_2\to M_1\) be a Riemannian submersion arising from the action of a Lie group \(G\). Then \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] If the Lie group \(G\) is amenable and its connected component \(G_0\subset G\) containing the identity element is unimodular, then \(\lambda_0 (M_2) = \lambda_0 (S)\). \item[(ii)] If, in addition, \(M_1\) is complete, then \(\sigma (S)\subset \sigma (M_2)\). \item[(iii)] Conversely, if \(\lambda_0 (M_2) = \lambda_0 (S)\) and \(\lambda_0 (S)\not\in \sigma_{ess}(S)\), then \(G\) is amenable and \(G_0\) is unimodular. \end{itemize} Corollary. Let \(p:M_2\to M_1\) be a Riemannian submersion arising from the action of a Lie group \(G\). Suppose \(M_1\) is closed. Then \(G\) is unimodular and amenable if and only if \(\lambda_0 (M_2) = 0\). Theorem. Let \(G\) be a connected Lie group endowed with a left-invariant metric and \(N\) be a closed (as a subset), connected, normal subgroup of \(G\) with mean curvature \(H\). Then \[ \lambda_0(G) \geq \lambda_0(G/N) + \lambda_0(N) - \frac{1}{4} \| H\|^2 + \frac{1}{2} tr\, (ad\, H). \] Moreover, \(N\) is unimodular and amenable if and only if \[ \lambda_0(G) = \lambda_0(G/N) - \frac{1}{4} \| H\|^2 + \frac{1}{2} tr\, (ad\, H). \] Corollary. Let \(G\) be a connected, amenable Lie group endowed with a left-invariant metric. Then the bottom of its spectrum and its Cheeger constant are given by \[ \lambda_0(G) = \frac{1}{4}h(G)^2 = \frac{1}{4}\max_{X\in { g},\| X\| =1} (tr (ad X))^2. \] If \(G\) is not unimodular, then the maximum is achieved by the unit vector in the direction of the mean curvature (in \(G\)) of the commutator subgroup \([R, R]\) of the radical \(R\) of \(G\).