Upper bounds on the first eigenvalue for the \(p\)-Laplacian (Q2191574)

The authors consider the \(p\)-Laplace eigenvalue equation on a complete \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\), namely \[ -\Delta_pu=\lambda |u|^{p-2}u,\tag{1} \] where \(\Delta_p:=-\mathrm{div}(|\nabla u|^{p-2})\), \(p>1\), \(p\ne 2\). The case \(p=2\) corresponds to the standard eigenvalue problem for the Laplacian. A classical result states that if \(\mathrm{Ric}_{(M,g)}\geq -(n-1)K^2\), \(K\geq 0\) \[ \lambda_1(\Delta)\leq\frac{(n-1)^2K^2}{4}, \] where \(\lambda_1(\Delta)\) denotes the first positive eigenvalue of the Laplacian on \((M,g)\). The authors establish upper bounds for the first non-trivial eigenvalue \(\lambda_1(\Delta_p)\) of the \(p\)-Laplacian on \((M,g)\) under the assumption that \(K_{(M,g)}\geq -K^2\), \(K\geq 0\), where \(K_{(M,g)}\) denotes the sectional curvature of \((M,g)\). These bounds are consequences of local gradient estimates on positive solutions to \((1)\) explicitly given in the paper in terms of \(K,p,n,\lambda\), and are stated as follows: \[ \lambda_1(\Delta_p)\leq\left(\frac{(n-1)K}{p}\right)^p. \] As a consequence of the local gradient estimates, the authors obtain also explicit gradient estimates for \(p\)-harmonic functions.