\(f\)-minimal surface and manifold with positive \(m\)-Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature (Q2256841)

Let \((N^n,g)\) be a smooth Riemannian manifold and \(f\) a smooth function on \(N\). Denote by \(\overline{\nabla}, \overline{\triangle}\) and \(\overline{\nabla}^2\) the gradient, Laplacian and Hessian operator on \(N\) with respect to \(g\), respectively. In this paper, the \(m\)-Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature means \[ \operatorname{Ric}^m_f=\operatorname{Ric}-\frac{1}{m-n}\overline{\nabla}f\otimes\overline{\nabla}f\quad(m>n). \] When \(m=n\), let \(f\) be constant and define \(\operatorname{Ric}^m_f=\operatorname{Ric}\). When \(m=\infty\), call it Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature \(\operatorname{Ric}_f=\operatorname{Ric}^\infty_f\). Denote by \(dv\) the Riemannian volume form on \(N\) with respect to \(g\), call \((N^n, g, e^{-f}dv)\) a smooth metric measure space. Let \(M\) be a hypersurface in \(N\) and \(\nu\) the outer unit vector to \(M\). The \(f\)-mean curvature is given by \[ H^f(x)=H(x)-\langle\overline{\nabla}f(x), \nu(x)\rangle. \] If the \(f\)-mean curvature \(H^f\) vanishes everywhere, \(M\) is called an \(f\)-minimal hypersurface in \(N\). In this paper the authors give the following results: {Theorem 1.} Let \((N^3, g, e^{-f}dv)\) be a closed metric measure space with positive Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature. Then the space of closed embedded \(f\)-minimal surfaces of fixed topological type in \(N\) is compact in the \(C^k\) topology for any \(k\geq 2\). {Corollary 2.} Let \((N^3, g, e^{-f}dv)\) be a closed metric measure space with positive Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature. There exists a constant \(C\) depending only on \(N\) and an integer \(\chi\) such that if \(M\) is a closed embedded \(f\)-minimal surface of Euler characteristic \(\chi\) in \(N\), then \[ \max_M\| h\|\leq C, \] where \(||h||\) is the norm of the second fundamental form of \(M\subset N\). {Theorem 3.} Let \((N^n,g)\) be an \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold (possibly with boundary \(\partial N\)) and \(f\) a smooth function on \(N\). Assume that the \(m\)-Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature satisfies \(\operatorname{Ric}^m_f\geq (m-1)K>0\). Furthermore, if the boundary \(\partial N\) is nonempty, for the Dirichlet problem we assume the \(f\)-mean curvature on \(\partial N\) is nonnegative. For the Neumann problem we assume the boundary \(\partial N\) is weakly convex, i.e., \(h\geq 0\) on \(\partial N\). Then the first eigenvalue \(\lambda_1\) of the \(f\)-Laplacian on \(N\) satisfies \[ \lambda_1\geq mK. \] Moreover, equality is attained only when \(m=n\), \(f\) is constant, and \(\operatorname{Ric}^m_f=\operatorname{Ric}\). In this case, if \(N\) has no boundary, then \(N\) is the \(n\)-sphere of radius \(1/\sqrt{K}\); if \(N\) has nonempty boundary, then it is the \(n\)-dimensional hemisphere of radius \(1/\sqrt{K}\). {Theorem 4.} Let \((N^n,g)\) be an \(n\)-dimensional complete Riemannian manifold with nonempty boundary and \(f\) is a smooth function on \(N\). Assume that the \(m\)-Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature is nonnegative on \(N\), and that the \(f\)-mean curvature of the boundary \(\partial N\) satisfies \(H^f\geq (m-1)K>0\) for some constant \(K>0\). Let \(d\) denote the distance function on \(N\). Then \[ \sup_{x\in N}d(x,\partial N)\leq \frac{1}{K}. \] Moreover, if we assume that \(\partial N\) is compact, then \(N\) is also compact and equality holds only when \(N\) is isometric to an \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean ball of radius \(1/\sqrt{K}\). For related papers see [\textit{H. I. Choi} and \textit{R. Schoen}, Invent. Math. 81, 387--394 (1985; Zbl 0577.53044)], and [\textit{L. Ma} and \textit{S.-H. Du}, C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 348, No. 21--22, 1203--1206 (2010; Zbl 1208.58028)], et.al.