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Davide Vittone

Publications and source records attributed to Davide Vittone.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Fine properties of functions with bounded variation in Carnot-Carathéodory spaces

We study properties of functions with bounded variation in Carnot-Ca\-ra\-théo\-do\-ry spaces. We prove their almost everywhere approximate differentiability and we examine their approximate discontinuity set and the decomposition of their distributional derivatives. Under an additional assumption on the space, called property $\mathcal R$, we show that almost all approximate discontinuities are of jump type and we study a representation formula for the jump part of the derivative.

math.FA↗

A compactness result for BV functions in metric spaces

We prove a compactness result for bounded sequences $(u_j)_j$ of functions with bounded variation in metric spaces $(X,d_j)$ where the space $X$ is fixed but the metric may vary with $j$. We also provide an application to Carnot-Carathéodory spaces.

math.FA↗

On the codimension of the abnormal set in step two Carnot groups

In this article we prove that the codimension of the abnormal set of the endpoint map for certain classes of Carnot groups of step 2 is at least three. Our result applies to all step 2 Carnot groups of dimension up to 7 and is a generalisation of a previous analogous result for step 2 free nilpotent groups.

math.DG↗

Rank-one theorem and subgraphs of BV functions in Carnot groups

We prove a rank-one theorem à la G. Alberti for the derivatives of vector-valued maps with bounded variation in a class of Carnot groups that includes Heisenberg groups $\mathbb H^n$ for $n\geq 2$. The main tools are properties relating the horizontal derivatives of a real-valued function with bounded variation and its subgraph.

math.AP↗

Existence of tangent lines to Carnot-Carathéodory geodesics

We show that length minimizing curves in Carnot-Carathéodory spaces possess at any point at least one tangent curve (i.e., a blow-up in the nilpotent approximation) equal to a straight horizontal line. This is the first regularity result for length minimizers that holds with no assumption on either the space (e.g., its rank, step, or analyticity) or the curve, and it is novel even in the setting of Carnot groups.

math.OC↗

Sard Property for the endpoint map on some Carnot groups

In Carnot-Caratheodory or sub-Riemannian geometry, one of the major open problems is whether the conclusions of Sard's theorem holds for the endpoint map, a canonical map from an infinite-dimensional path space to the underlying finite-dimensional manifold. The set of critical values for the endpoint map is also known as abnormal set, being the set of endpoints of abnormal extremals leaving the base point. We prove that a strong version of Sard's property holds for all step-2 Carnot groups and several other classes of Lie groups endowed with left-invariant distributions. Namely, we prove that the abnormal set lies in a proper analytic subvariety. In doing so we examine several characterizations of the abnormal set in the case of Lie groups.

math.DG↗

Height estimate and slicing formulas in the Heisenberg group

We prove a height-estimate (distance from the tangent hyperplane) for $Λ$-minima of the perimeter in the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group. The estimate is in terms of a power of the excess ($L^2$-mean oscillation of the normal) and its proof is based on a new coarea formula for rectifiable sets in the Heisenberg group.

math.CA↗

Corners in non-equiregular sub-Riemannian manifolds

We prove that in a class of non-equiregular sub-Riemannian manifolds corners are not length minimizing. This extends the results [4]. As an application of our main result we complete and simplify the analysis in [6], showing that in a 4-dimensional sub-Riemannian structure suggested by Agrachev and Gauthier all length-minimizing curves are smooth.

math.OC↗

Extremal curves in nilpotent Lie groups

We classify extremal curves in free nilpotent Lie groups. The classification is obtained via an explicit integration of the adjoint equation in Pontryagin Maximum Principle. It turns out that abnormal extremals are precisely the horizontal curves contained in algebraic varieties of a specific type. We also extend the results to the nonfree case.

math.DG↗

Extremal polynomials in stratified groups

We introduce a family of extremal polynomials associated with the prolongation of a stratified nilpotent Lie algebra. These polynomials are related to a new algebraic characterization of abnormal subriemannian geodesics in stratified nilpotent Lie groups. They satisfy a set of remarkable structure relations that are used to integrate the adjoint equations.

math.DG↗

BV Minimizers of the area functional in the Heisenberg group under the bounded slope condition

We consider the area functional for t-graphs in the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group and study minimizers of the associated Dirichlet problem. We prove that, under a bounded slope condition on the boundary datum, there exists a unique minimizer and that this minimizer is Lipschitz continuous. We also provide an example showing that, in the first Heisenberg group, Lipschitz regularity is sharp even under the bounded slope condition.

math.MG↗

On transversal submanifolds and their measure

We study the class of transversal submanifolds. We characterize their blow-ups at transversal points and prove a negligibility theorem for their "generalized characteristic set", with respect to the Carnot-Carathéodory Hausdorff measure. This set is made by all points of non-maximal degree. Observing that C^1 submanifolds in Carnot groups are generically transversal, the previous results prove that the "intrinsic measure" of C^1 submanifolds is generically equivalent to their Carnot-Carathéodory Hausdorff measure. As a result, the restriction of this Hausdorff measure to the submanifold can be replaced by a more manageable integral formula, that should be seen as a "sub-Riemannian mass". Another consequence of these results is an explicit formula, only depending on the embedding of the submanifold, that computes the Carnot-Carathéodory Hausdorff dimension of C^1 transversal submanifolds.

math.MG↗

Isodiametric sets in the Heisenberg group

In the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group equipped with its Carnot-Caratheodory metric and with a Haar measure, we consider isodiametric sets, i.e. sets maximizing the measure among all sets with a given diameter. In particular, given an isodiametric set, and up to negligible sets, we prove that its boundary is given by the graphs of two locally Lipschitz functions. Moreover, in the restricted class of rotationally invariant sets, we give a quite complete characterization of any compact (rotationally invariant) isodiametric set. More specifically, its Steiner symmetrization with respect to the Cn-plane is shown to coincide with the Euclidean convex hull of a CC-ball. At the same time, we also prove quite unexpected non-uniqueness results.

math.MG↗

Some isoperimetric problems in planes with density

We study the isoperimetric problem in Euclidean space endowed with a density. We first consider piecewise constant densities and examine particular cases related to the characteristic functions of half-planes, strips and balls. We also consider continuous modification of Gauss density in $\R^2$. Finally, we give a list of related open questions.

math.DG↗