Caccioppoli's inequalities on constant mean curvature hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds (Q694720)

The authors' goal is to give a general setting that unifies and clarifies the proofs of many results on the nonexistence of stable constant mean curvature hypersurfaces; they obtain some new results in the subject as well. The key result is the following Caccioppoli inequality for finite index hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature, which is a generalization of a result of \textit{R. Schoen} et al. [Acta Math. 134, 275--288 (1975; Zbl 0323.53039)]. Theorem. Suppose that \(\mathcal{N}\) is an orientable Riemannian manifold with bounded sectional curvature such that the norm of the derivative of the curvature tensor is bounded. Let \(M\) be a complete, oncompact hypersurface with constant mean curvature \(H\) and finite index, immersed in \(\mathcal{N}\). Denote by \(\varphi\) the norm of the traceless part of the second fundamental form of \(M\). Then, there exists a compact subset \(K\) of \(M\) such that, for any \(q>0\) and for any \(f\in C^\infty_0(M\setminus K)\), one has \[ \begin{multlined} \int_{M\setminus K}f^2\varphi^{2q+2}(\mathcal{A}\varphi^2+\mathcal{B}H\varphi+\mathcal{C}H^2+\mathcal{E})\leq \\ \leq\mathcal{D}\int_{M\setminus K}\varphi^{2q+2}|\nabla f|^2+\mathcal{F}\int_{M\setminus K}f^2\varphi^{2q+1}+\mathcal{G}\int_{M\setminus K}f^2\varphi^{2q},\end{multlined} \] where \(\mathcal{A},\dotsc,\mathcal{G}\) are constants. Moreover, if \(M\) is stable, then \(K=\emptyset\). In \S5, the authors give three consequences of the above theorem as Theorems 5.1--5.4, then, in \S6, they apply the Caccioppoli inequalities of type III (Theorems 5.3 and 5.4) in the stable case to obtain results on the subject which widely appear in the literature, and compare these results with the old ones. In detail, they are as follows. Theorem 5.5. Let \(M\) be a complete noncompact minimal hypersurface immersed in a manifold \(\mathcal{N}\) with nonnegative constant curvature \(c\). Assume \(M\) has finite index. Let \(\mu\in [2,\alpha_2+1)\) and \(\eta>0\) such that \(\eta\mu\geq 1\). Then, there exists a compact subset \(K\) of \(M\), and a positive constant \(\delta_1\) such that, for any \(f\in C_0^\infty(M\setminus K)\), one has \[ \int_{M\setminus K}f^{2\mu\eta}|A|^{2\mu}\leq \delta_1\int_{M\setminus K}|A|^{2\mu(1-\eta)}|\nabla f|^{2\mu\eta}, \] where \(A\) is the shape operator on \(M\). Moreover, if \(\mu\in (\alpha_1+1,\alpha_2+1)\), an analogous inequality holds with \((M\setminus K)_+\) instead of \(M\setminus K\). Theorem 5.6. Let \(M\) be a complete noncompact hypersurface with constant mean curvature \(H\) in a manifold \(\mathcal{N}\) with constant curvature \(c\). Assume \(M\) has finite index and \(n\leq 5\). Then, there exists a compact subset \(K\) of \(M\), and a positive constant \(\delta_2\) such that, for any \(s\geq 1\) and any \(f\in C_0^\infty(M\setminus K)\), one has \[ \int_{M\setminus K}f^{2s}\varphi^{2x}\leq \delta_2\int_{M\setminus K}\varphi^{2x}|\nabla f|^{2s}, \] provided either (1) \(c\geq 0,\;x\in [1,x_2)\), or(2) \(c=-1,\;\varepsilon>0,\;x\in [1,x_2-\varepsilon],\;H^2\geq g(x)\). Moreover, if \(n\leq 6\) and \(x\in (x_1,x_2)\) in (1) (respectively, \(x\in[x_1+\varepsilon,x_2-\varepsilon]\) in (2)), an analogous inequality holds with \((M\setminus K)_+\) instead of \(M\setminus K\). Corollary 6.1. Let \(M\) be a complete noncompact stable minimal hypersurface immersed in a manifold with nonnegative constant curvature. Assume that, for \(\mu\in [2,\alpha_2+1),\;\eta>0,\;\eta\mu\geq 1\), \[ \lim_{R\to\infty}\frac{\int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R}|A|^{2\mu(1-\eta)}}{R^{2\eta\mu}}=0, \] then \(M\) is totally geodesic. Corollary 6.2. Let \(M\) be a complete noncompact stable minimal hypersurface immersed in a manifold with nonnegative constant curvature and \(n\leq 7\). If there exists \(t\in (0,2\alpha_2-1)\) such that \[ \lim_{R\to\infty}\frac{\int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R}|A|^3}{R^t}=0, \] then \(M\) is totally geodesic. Corollary 6.3. There is no complete noncompact minimal hypersurface \(M\) with constant mean curvature \(H\) in \(\mathcal{N}=\mathbb{R}^{n+1},\;\mathbb{S}^{n+1},\;\mathbb{H}^{n+1},\;n\leq 5\), provided there exists \(s\geq 1\) such that \[ \lim_{R\to\infty}\frac{\int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R}\varphi^{2x}}{R^{2s}}=0 \] and either (1) \(\mathcal{N}=\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) or \(\mathbb{S}^{n+1}, \;H\neq 0,\;x\in [1, x_2)\), or (2) \(\mathcal{N}=\mathbb{H}^{n+1}, \varepsilon>0,\;x\in[1,x_2-\varepsilon],\;H^2>g_n(x)\).