Special Lagrangian curvature

DOI10.1007/S00208-011-0773-XMaRDI QIDQ1934299zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Publication date 28 January 2013

Published in Mathematische Annalen (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0506230

compactness Gaussian curvature special Lagrangian curvature special Legendrian structures

Nonlinear elliptic equations (35J60) Calibrations and calibrated geometries (53C38) Differential geometry of immersions (minimal, prescribed curvature, tight, etc.) (53C42)

Abstract: We define the notion of special Lagrangian curvature, showing how it may be interpreted as an alternative higher dimensional generalisation of two dimensional Gaussian curvature. We obtain first a local rigidity result for this curvature when the ambiant manifold has negative sectional curvature. We then show how this curvature relates to the canonical special Legendrian structure of spherical subbundles of the tangent bundle of the ambiant manifold. This allows us to establish a strong compactness result. In the case where the special Lagrangian angle equals

(n - 1) p i / 2

, we obtain compactness modulo a unique mode of degeneration, where a sequence of hypersurfaces wraps ever tighter round a geodesic.

Review text

\textit{F.~Labourie} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 7, No. 3, 496--534 (1997; Zbl 0885.32013)] has proved strong precompactness results for families of constant Gaussian curvature surfaces (\(k\)-surfaces) immersed in three-dimensional Riemannian manifolds. In further work [Invent. Math. 141, No. 2, 239--297 (2000; Zbl 0981.52002)], he proved the existence of complete surfaces of prescribed Gaussian curvature in three-dimensional Hadamard manifolds possessing certain geometric properties at infinity. The author of this paper subsequently made further developments in the theory of \(k\)-hypersurfaces in hyperbolic manifolds in [Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 134, No. 4, 509--557 (2006; Zbl 1138.53051); ``Hyperbolic Plateau problems, Geom. Dedicata 140, 95--135 (2009; Zbl 1169.57017), \url{arXiv:math/0506231}]. Here, the author generalises some of these results to higher dimensions. A key point is to identify a notion of curvature that plays the role in higher dimensions that the Gaussian curvature plays for surfaces. This is the special Lagrangian curvature, which can be defined as follows for locally strictly convex hypersurfaces. Let \(\Gamma\) denote the open cone of symmetric positive definite \(n\times n\) matrices. For \(A\in\Gamma\) let \(\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_n\) be the eigenvalues of \(A\), and for \(\rho>0\) define \(SL_\rho(A)\) by \[ SL_\rho(A) = \roman{Arg}(\det(Id+i\rho A)) = \sum_{j=1}^n \arctan(\rho \lambda_j). \] \(SL_\rho\) is a strictly increasing function of \(\rho\), \(SL_0=0\) and \(SL_\infty=n\pi/2\). Thus, for all \(\theta\in(0,n\pi/2)\) there exists a unique \(\rho>0\) such that \(SL_\rho(A)=\theta\). Now define \(R_\theta(A)=\rho\). This is invariant under the action of \(O(n)\) on \(\Gamma\), so it can be used to define a curvature function \(R_\theta(\Sigma)\) on a locally strictly convex hypersurface \(\Sigma\) in a Riemannian manifold by taking \(A\) to be the shape operator of \(\Sigma\). The most interesting examples arise when \(\theta\in ((n-1)\pi/2, n\pi/2)\). In this case, \(R_\theta\) is positive in \(\Gamma\) and zero on \(\partial\Gamma\), so \(R_\theta\) is a curvature function of the type considered in many previous works. The extremal case \(\theta=(n-1)\pi/2\) is particularly interesting: if \(n=2\), \(R^{-2}_{\pi/2}=K\), the Gaussian curvature, and if \(n=3\), \(R^{-2}_\pi=K/H\) where \(H\) is the mean curvature. The following precompactness result for the special case \(n=3\) directly generalises Labourie's two-dimensional result. Theorem 1. Let \(M\) be a Riemannian manifold of dimension \(4\). Let \((\Sigma_n,p_n)_{n\in \mathbf N}\) be a family of pointed, immersed hypersurfaces in \(M\) and let \(K_n\) and \(H_n\) be the Gaussian and mean curvatures, respectively, of \(\Sigma_n\). Suppose that for each \(n\), \(K_n/H_n=\kappa\) where \(\kappa\) is a fixed positive number. Then either {\parindent=1.0cm\begin{itemize}\item[(i)] \((\Sigma_n,p_n)_{n\in \mathbf N}\) subconverges smoothly to a pointed immersed hypersurface \((\Sigma_0,p_0)\) in \(M\); or \item[(ii)] \((\Sigma_n,p_n)_{n\in \mathbf N}\) contains a subsequence which degenerates by converging to a complete geodesic. \end{itemize}} More general precompactness results are proved by the author for the special Lagrangian curvature, as well as for the very general setting of special Legendrian structures, which were introduced by \textit{R.~Harvey} and \textit{H.~B.~Lawson} [Acta Math. 148, 47--157 (1982; Zbl 0584.53021)]. Another result is the following local rigidity. Theorem 2. Let \(M\) be an \((n+1)\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature bounded above by \(-1\). Let \(\Sigma=(S,i)\) and \(\Sigma'=(S,i')\) be two compact, convex, immersed hypersurfaces of constant \(\rho\)-special Lagrangian curvature equal to \(\theta\leq n\arctan(\rho)\). If \(i'\) is sufficiently close to \(i\) in the \(C^0\) topology, then \(i'=i\). A variety of interesting related results are also included, including a unique continuation principle and examples of hypersurfaces of constant special Lagrangian curvature.

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