On p-parabolicity of Riemannian manifolds and graphs

DOI10.1007/S13163-021-00387-XMaRDI QIDQ2072238zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Álvaro Martínez-Pérez, José M. Rodríguez

Publication date 26 January 2022

Published in Revista Matemática Complutense (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s13163-021-00387-x

$p$-parabolicity bounded local geometry parabolicity quasi-isometries

Classification theory of Riemann surfaces (30F20) Conformal metrics (hyperbolic, Poincaré, distance functions) (30F45) Potential theory on Riemannian manifolds and other spaces (31C12) Global Riemannian geometry, including pinching (53C20) Methods of global Riemannian geometry, including PDE methods; curvature restrictions (53C21) Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces (53C23) Spectral theory; eigenvalue problems on manifolds (58C40)

Review text

Let $f : X \rightarrow Y$ be a quasi-isometry between complete Riemannian manifolds. Let the Ricci curvature of $Y$ be bounded below. Let $\epsilon > 0$ and $p$ with $1 < p < \infty$ be given, and let $X$ satisfy certain conditions, depending on $\epsilon$ and $p$, on the volume of small metric balls of $X$. The authors show that $Y$ is $p$-parabolic if $X$ is $p$-parabolic. This work and the strategy of the proof are related to results of \textit{M. Kanai} [Lect. Notes Math. 1201, 122--137 (1986; Zbl 0593.53026)]. Let $X$ and $Y$ be metric spaces. A function $f : X \rightarrow Y$ is a \textit{quasi-isometry} if (1) there exist constants $a \geq 1$ and $b \geq 0$ such that $\frac{1}{a}~ d(x_{1}, x_{2}) - b \leq d(f(x_{1}) , f(x_{2})) \leq a~d(x_{1}, x_{2}) + b$ for all $x_{1},x_{2} \in X$, (2) there exists a positive constant r such that every point of $Y$ is within distance r of some point of $f(X)$. Being quasi-isometric is an equivalence relation on metric spaces. It is of interest to determine geometric quantities of metric spaces that are preserved by quasi-isometries, particularly when the metric spaces are complete Riemannian manifolds. Note that local geometry is not preserved by quasi-isometries; for example, if $Y$ is a compact metric space and $X$ is any subset of $Y$, then the inclusion map $i : X \rightarrow Y$ is a quasi-isometry, where $a = 1$ and $b = 0$. Hence quasi-isometric invariants must involve large scale geometry. One expects that some additional restrictions on the local geometry of $X$ and $Y$ will be needed. In the 1980s Kanai considered complete, noncompact Riemannian manifolds $X$ and $Y$, where the Ricci curvature of $X$ is bounded below and the injectivity radius is positive. The latter requirement implies that there exists $\epsilon > 0$ such that every metric ball of radius $r < \epsilon$ in $X$ is diffeomorphic to an $r$-ball in $\mathbb{R}^{n}, n = \dim~X$. Kanai determined a number of geometric properties invariant under quasi-isometries, including polynomial volume growth of metric $r$-balls as $r \rightarrow \infty$ and positivity of the isoperimetric and Sobolev constants $I_{m}(X), m \geq max\{\dim~X, \dim~Y \}$ and $S_{\ell , m}(X), \ell \geq m / m-1,1 \leq m \leq \infty$. The Cheeger and Buser constants arise when $m = \infty$ and $\ell = m = 2$ respectively. Kanai's strategy was to reduce the original geometric problem to a simpler discrete version of it. A discrete set $P$ in a Riemannian manifold $X$ is said to be an $\epsilon$-net if it is a maximal $\epsilon$-separated set, equipped with a set $N_{(p)} = \{q \in P : d(p,q) < 3 \epsilon \}$ of neighbors of $p$ for every $p \in P$. By the maximality of $P$ it follows that $P$ is $\epsilon$-dense in $X$, and it follows from the definition that the inclusion map $i : P \rightarrow X$ is a quasi-isometry. In particular, if $P$ and $Q$ are $\epsilon$-nets in quasi-isometric Riemannian manifolds $X$ and $Y$, then $P$ and $Q$ are quasi-isometric. Given a quasi-isometry $f : X \rightarrow Y$ and a geometric property of $X$ and $Y$ Kanai considered discrete analogues of the property on $\epsilon$-nets $P$ of $X$ and $Q$ of $Y$. Using combinatorial arguments he showed in several cases that a geometric property is a quasi-isometric invariant of $X$ and $Y$ if and only if the discrete analogue of this property is a quasi-isometric invariant of $P$ and $Q$. The discrete property is often easier to deal with than the original property. Let $\Delta : C^{\infty}(X) \rightarrow C^{\infty}(X)$ denote the Laplace operator on a Riemannian manifold $X$. The manifold $X$ is said to be $\mathit{parabolic}$ if the only smooth positive functions $u$ on $X$ with $\Delta(u) \leq 0$ are constant functions. Let $X$ and $Y$ be quasi-isometric complete Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded below and with positive injectivity radius. Using the discretizing strategy described above Kanai proved that $X$ is parabolic $\Leftrightarrow$ $Y$ is parabolic. In the present article the authors use a similar discretizing strategy to show that under certain conditions on the local geometry $p$-parabolicity is a quasi-isometric invariant of complete Riemannian manifolds. A Riemannian manifold is $p$-parabolic for $1 < p < \infty$ if there are no nonconstant smooth positive functions u on M such that $\Delta_{p}(u) \leq 0$, where $\Delta_{p}(u) = - \operatorname{div}(|\nabla(u)|^{p-2}~\nabla(u))$. The authors replace the Kanai assumptions of Ricci curvature bounded below and positive injectivity radius with three weaker conditions that help to regulate the local geometry. (1) A metric space $X$ is said to be \textit{doubling} if there exists a positive integer $M$ such that the metric ball $B_{2 \epsilon}(x)$ can be covered by at most $M$ metric $\epsilon$-balls for every $\epsilon > 0$ and every $x \in X$. (2) For $1 < p < \infty$ and $\epsilon > 0$ a metric space $X$ is said to be $(\epsilon, p)$ \textit{nice} if there exist positive constants $k_{1}, k_{2}$ such that for every $x_{0} \in X$ there exists a positive number $V(x_{0})$ with the property that $k_{1} V(x_{0})^{\frac{p-1}{p}} \leq vol~B_{\epsilon}(x) \leq \mathrm{vol}~B_{4 \epsilon}(x) \leq k_{2}~V(x_{0})$ for every $x \in \overline{B_{3 \epsilon}(x_{0})}$. (3) A Riemannian manifold $X$ is said to satisfy the local Poincare inequality if for every $\epsilon > 0$ and every smooth function $u$ on $M$ with compact support there exists a positive number $\beta$ such that $\int_{B_{\epsilon}(x)} ~|\nabla(u)| \geq \beta \int_{B_{\epsilon}(x)}~|u - u^{*}|$, where $u^{*}$ is the average value of u on $B_{\epsilon}(x)$. The main result of this paper is the following: Theorem. Let $X$ and $Y$ be complete, quasi-isometric Riemannian manifolds. Let $X$ be doubling, satisfy the local Poincaré inequality and be $(\epsilon, p)$-nice for some $1 < p < \infty$ and some $\epsilon > 0$. Let $Y$ have Ricci curvature bounded below. If $X$ is $p$-parabolic, then $Y$ is $p$-parabolic. The authors also define $p$-parabolicity on graphs and trees and obtain several results, including a characterization of $p$-parabolicity for a large class of trees.

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