Convexity estimates for hypersurfaces moving by concave curvature functions

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Publication:2165740



Abstract: We study fully nonlinear geometric flows that deform strictly k-convex hypersurfaces in Euclidean space with pointwise normal speed given by a concave function of the principal curvatures. Specifically, the speeds we consider are obtained by performing a nonlinear interpolation between the mean and the k-harmonic mean of the principal curvatures. Our main result is a convexity estimate showing that, on compact solutions, regions of high curvature are approximately convex. In contrast to the mean curvature flow, the fully nonlinear flows considered here preserve k-convexity in a Riemannian background, and we show that the convexity estimate carries over to this setting as long as the ambient curvature satisfies a natural pinching condition.


A hypersurface in the Euclidean space is called strictly \(k\)-convex if the sum of its smallest \(k\) principal curvatures is everywhere positive. Consider a compact orientable \(n\)-manifold \(M\), a one-parameter family of smooth strictly \(k\)-convex immersions \(F : M \times [0,T) \to {\mathbb R}^{n+1}\), the outward-pointing unit normal \(\nu\). Let \(\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_n\) be the principal curvatures and define \[ G_{k,\rho}(x,t) = \Big( \sum_{i_1<\dots<i_k} \frac{\rho}{\lambda_{i_1}+\dots+\lambda_{i_k}} + \frac{1-\rho}{\lambda_1+\dots+\lambda_n} \Big)^{-1}, \] for \(\rho \in [0,1]\). The author proves a convexity estimate for the solutions of the nonlinear geometric flow \[ \partial_t T(x,t) = -G_{k,\rho}(x,t) \cdot \nu(x,t), \] when \(n \ge 4\) and \(3 \leq k \leq n-1\). Some extensions in a Riemannian ambient space are discussed, with special emphasis on convexity-preserving conditions.



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