Generalized harmonic functions of Riemannian manifolds with ends (Q455624)

The authors study the dimension estimates for general \(L\)-harmonic functions, that is, solutions of the stationary Schrödinger equation \(Lu = \Delta u -c(x) u =0\), where \(c(x) \geq 0\), \(c(x) \neq 0\) on an arbitrary end of a given Riemannian manifold. Suppose that \(M = B \cup D_1 \cup \dotsb D_s \cup D_{s+1}\cup \dotsb \cup D_{s+l}\), where \(B\) is a compact set, \(D_1, \dotsc, D_s\) are \(L\)-parabolic ends, i.e., their capacity is constant, and \(D_{s+1}, \dotsc, D_{s+l}\) are \(L\)-hyperbolic ends, i.e., each admits a nonconstant positive \(L\)-superharmonic function. Moreover, assume that \(B\) is maximal in the sense that \(M\) has \(s+l\) ends with respect to any larger compact \(B'\supset B\). In this situation, the authors prove that \[ \dim {\mathbb {BH}}_L(M) \geq l, \;\dim {\mathbb H}^+_L(M) \geq s+l, \;\dim {\mathbb H}'_L(M)\geq s+l, \] where \({\mathbb {BH}}_L(M)\) is the linear space of bounded \(L\)-harmonic functions, and \({\mathbb H}^+_L(M)\) and \({\mathbb H}'_L(M)\) are the linear spaces spanned by the set of all positive \(L\)-harmonic functions and the set of all \(L\)-harmonic functions on \(M\), respectively. In the case \(c(x) = 0\), \textit{P. Li} and \textit{L.-F. Tam} [J. Differ. Geom. 35, No. 2, 359--383 (1992; Zbl 0768.53018)] proved the third inequality in the general case, and the inequalities \(\dim {\mathbb {BH}}_L(M) \geq s+l, \,\, \dim {\mathbb H}^+_L(M) \geq s+l\) in the nonparabolic case \(l \geq 1\). Moreover, the authors show that the equality holds on dimensions of \({\mathbb H}^+_L(M)\) and \({\mathbb H}'_L(M)\) if a Harnack type inequality holds in each end. The equality cases \( \dim {\mathbb {BH}}_L(M) =l\) and \(\dim {\mathbb H}'_L(M)= s+l\) if \(l \geq 1\) are proved in [\textit{S. W. Kim} and \textit{Y. H. Lee}, Math. Z. 238, No. 2, 355--387 (2001; Zbl 0993.58018)].