Compactness results for immersions of prescribed Gaussian curvature. I: Analytic aspects (Q655361)

Let \((\Sigma _0, \partial \Sigma _0)\) be a smooth, convex, hypersurface with smooth boundary \(\partial \Sigma _0\) immersed in a Hadamard manifold \(M\). A \(C^{0, 1}\) hypersurface \((\Sigma , \partial \Sigma )\) is called a graph below \(\Sigma _0\) if there exist a \(C^{0, 1}\) function \(f:\Sigma _0\to (-\infty , 0]\) and a homeomorphism \(\varphi :\Sigma _0\to \Sigma \) such that \(f\) vanishes along \(\partial \Sigma _0\) and \(\varphi (p)=\text{Exp}_p(-f(p)N(p))\), where \(N\) is the exterior unit normal vector field over \(\Sigma _0\) and \(p\in \Sigma _0.\) Let \((\widehat{\Sigma }, \partial \widehat{\Sigma })\) be a \(C^{0, 1}\), convex, immersed hypersurface in \(M\) which is a graph below \(\Sigma _0\). Denote, simultaneously, by \(C^{\infty }_0(\Sigma _0)\) the space of smooth functions over \(\Sigma _0\) which vanish along the boundary and the surfaces which are graphs below \(\Sigma _0 .\) The Gaussian curvature defines an operator \(K: C^{\infty }_0(\Sigma _0)\to C^{\infty }_0(\Sigma _0)\) such that, for all \(f\in C^{\infty }_0(\Sigma _0)\) and for all \(p\in \Sigma\), \(K(f)(p)\) is the Gaussian curvature of the graph of \(f\) at the point below \(p\). When the graph of \(f\) is convex, the linearization \(DK_f\) of \(K\) at \(f\) is a second-order elliptic partial differential operator. In particular, this is the case for \(DK_0\), the linearization of \(K\) at the zero function, and \((\Sigma _0, \widehat{\Sigma })\) is called stable if and only if, for all \(\psi \in C^{\infty }_0(\Sigma _0),\) if \(DK_0\cdot \psi\geq 0,\) then \(\psi <0\) in the interior of \(\Sigma _0\). \((\Sigma _0, \widehat{\Sigma })\) is called rigid if and only if there exists no other smooth hypersurface \(\Sigma \) lying between \(\Sigma _0\) and \(\widehat{\Sigma }\) such that \(K(\Sigma )=K(\Sigma _0).\) In this paper, the author extends recent results of B. Guan and J. Spruck, by proving existence results for constant Gaussian curvature hypersurfaces in Hadamard manifolds. More precisely, he proves the following main result: Theorem 1.1. Choose \(k>0\) and suppose that the Gaussian curvature of \(\Sigma _0\) is less than \(k\). Suppose, moreover, that, for some \(\epsilon >0\), the Gaussian curvature of \(\widehat{\Sigma }\) is not less than \(k+\epsilon \) in the weak (Alexandrov) sense and that the second fundamental form of \(\widehat{\Sigma }\) is also not less than \(\epsilon \) in the weak (Alexandrov) sense. If \((\Sigma _0, \widehat{\Sigma })\) is stable and rigid, then there exists a smooth convex immersed hypersurface \(\Sigma _k\) such that: (i) \(\Sigma _k\) is a graph below \(\Sigma _0;\) (ii) \(\Sigma _k\) lies between \(\Sigma _0 \) and \(\widehat{\Sigma }\) as a graph below \(\Sigma _0;\) and (iii) the Gaussian curvature of \(\Sigma _k\) is constant and equal to \(k.\) The hypothesis that \(M\) is a Hadamard manifold is only made for the sake of simplicity of presentation. The same result, with appropriate modifications, continues to hold in more general manifolds. If \(M\), in addition, is a space form (and thus, up to rescaling, isometric to \({\mathbb R}^{n+1}\) or \({\mathbb H}^{n+1}),\) the author solves the following more general boundary value problem: Theorem 1.2. Let \(M\) be a space form of non-positive curvature. Choose \(k>0.\) Suppose that there exists a \(C^2\) locally strictly convex immersed hypersurface \(\widehat{\Sigma }\subseteq M\) of Gaussian curvature not less than \(k\) such that \(\partial \widehat{\Sigma }=\Gamma ,\) where \(\Gamma =(\Gamma _1, \dots ,\Gamma _n)\) is a disjoint collection of closed smooth embedded \((n-1)\)-dimensional submanifolds of \(M.\) Then there exists a smooth (up to the boundary) locally strictly convex immersed hypersurface \(\Sigma \subseteq M\) with \(\partial \Sigma =\Gamma \) of constant Gaussian curvature equal to \(k.\) Moreover, \(\Sigma \) is homeomorphic to \(\widehat{\Sigma } .\)