A geometric covering lemma and nodal sets of eigenfunctions (Q2428796)

Let \(\Delta\) be the Laplacian of a closed Riemannian manifold \(M\) of dimension \(n\). The authors prove a covering lemma in Euclidean space and use this covering lemma to provide improved results for BMO and volume estimates of nodal sets for eigenfunctions for large eigenvalues. They first show: Theorem. Let \(n\geq2\) and let \(\delta>0\) be small enough. Then given any finite collection of balls \(\{B_\alpha\}\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), one can select a sub collection \(\{B_1,\dots,B_N\}\) such that \(\cup_\alpha B_\alpha\subset\bigcup_{i=1}^N(1+\delta)B_i\) and \(\sum_{i=1}^N\chi_{B_i}(x)\leq c\delta^{-n/2}\ln(\delta^{-1})\) where \(c\) is a constant independent of \(\delta\). This covering lemma is then used to get a better BMO estimate of eigenfunctions and nodal sets. Suppose that \(\Delta u+\lambda u=0\). Assume \(n\geq3\) (similar estimates are available for \(n=2\)). Theorem. \(||\ln|u|\;||_{BMO}\leq c\lambda^{3n/4}(\ln(\lambda)^2)\) where \(c=C(M)\) is independent of \(\lambda\). Theorem. Let \(B\subset M\) be any ball and let \(\Omega\subset B\) be any of the connected components of \(\{x\in B:u(x)\neq0)\). If \(\Omega\) intersects the middle half of \(B\), then \(|\Omega|\geq C(M,n)\lambda^{-3n^2/4-n/2}(\ln\lambda)^{-2n}|B|\) where \(C(M,n)\) is independent of \(\lambda\).