Eigenvalues of the buckling problem of arbitrary order and of the polyharmonic operator on Ricci flat manifolds (Q483009)

For a bounded domain \(\Omega\) in an \(n\)-dimensional complete Riemannian manifold \(M\), let \(\Delta\) be the Laplacian operator acting on functions on \(M\). The eigenvalue problems \[ \begin{gathered}(-\Delta)^lu = \Lambda \Delta u \quad\text{in } \Omega,\quad u=\frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=\cdots = \frac{\partial^{l-1}u}{\partial \nu^{l-1}}=0\quad\text{on }\partial \Omega\tag{*}\\ -(\Delta)^lu = \lambda u\quad\text{in } \Omega,\qquad u=\frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=\cdots = \frac{\partial^{l-1}u}{\partial \nu^{l-1}}=0 \quad\text{on }\partial \Omega,\tag{**} \end{gathered} \] are called the buckling problem of arbitrary order and the eigenvalue problem of polyharmonic operator, respectively, where \(\nu\) is the outward unit normal vector field of the boundary \(\partial\Omega\) and \(l\) is any integer no less than 2. When \(l=2\) and \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in an \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space \(\mathbb R^n\), by constructing appropriate trial functions, \textit{Q.-M. Cheng} and \textit{H.~Yang} in [Commun. Math. Phys. 262, No. 3, 663--675 (2006; Zbl 1170.35379)] proved the following universal inequality for eigenvalues of the buckling problem \((*)\): \[ \sum_{i=1}^k(\Lambda_{k+1}-\Lambda_i)^2\leq \frac {4(n+2)}{n^2} \sum_{i=1}^k(\Lambda_{k+1}-\Lambda_i)\,\Lambda_i, \] where \(0<\Lambda_1\leq\Lambda_2\leq\cdots\) are the successive eigenvalues for \((*)\), and then they improved this result in [\textit{Q.-M. Cheng} and \textit{H. Yang}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 364, No. 11, 6139--6158 (2012; Zbl 1323.35113)]. For arbitrary \(l\), when \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in a Euclidean space or a unit sphere, \textit{J. Jost} et al. [Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 35, No. 9, 1563--1589 (2010; Zbl 1200.35201)] obtained some universal inequalities for the eigenvalues of the problem \((*)\). In this paper, the authors consider problems \((*)\) and \((**)\) for bounded domains in an \(n\)-dimensional complete Riemannian manifold \(M\). They study the eigenvalues of the buckling problem of arbitrary order and of the polyharmonic operator on bounded domains in Ricci flat manifolds supporting a special function and they obtain universal bounds on the \((k+1)\)-th eigenvalue in terms of the first \(k\) eigenvalues independently of the domains. They prove that if \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in an \(n\)-dimensional Ricci flat complete manifold \(M\) supporting a function \(g\) such that \(\nabla^2g=0\) and \(|\nabla g|^2=1\), and if \(\Lambda_i\) is the \(i\)-th eigenvalue of the eigenvalue problem \((*)\), then \[ \sum_{i=1}^k(\Lambda_{k+1}-\Lambda_i)^2\leq 2\left\{(2\,l^2-3\,l+3)\sum_{i=1}^k(\Lambda_{k+1}-\Lambda_i)^2\,\Lambda_i^{\frac{l-2}{l-1}}\right\}^{\frac12}\left\{\sum_{i=1}^k(\Lambda_{k+1}-\Lambda_i)\,\Lambda_i^{\frac{1}{l-1}}\right\}^{\frac12}. \]