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Robert Haslhofer

Publications and source records attributed to Robert Haslhofer.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Diameter and curvature control under mean curvature flow

We prove that for the mean curvature flow of two-convex hypersurfaces the intrinsic diameter stays uniformly controlled as one approaches the first singular time. We also derive sharp $L^{n-1}$-estimates for the regularity scale of the level set flow with two-convex initial data. Our proof relies on a detailed analysis of cylindrical regions ($\varepsilon$-tubes) under mean curvature flow. The results are new even in the most classical case of mean convex surfaces evolving by mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^3$.

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Minimal two-spheres in three-spheres

We prove that any manifold diffeomorphic to $S^3$ and endowed with a generic metric contains at least two embedded minimal two-spheres. The existence of at least one minimal two-sphere was obtained by Simon-Smith in 1983. Our approach combines ideas from min-max theory and mean curvature flow. We also establish the existence of smooth mean convex foliations in three manifolds. We apply our methods to solve a problem posed by S.T. Yau in 1987 on whether the planar two-spheres are the only minimal spheres in ellipsoids centered about the origin in $\mathbb{R}^4$. Finally, considering the example of degenerating ellipsoids we show that the assumptions in the multiplicity one conjecture and the equidistribution of widths conjecture are in a certain sense sharp.

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The moduli space of two-convex embedded tori

In this short article we investigate the topology of the moduli space of two-convex embedded tori $S^{n-1}\times S^1\subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}$. We prove that for $n \geq 3$ this moduli space is path-connected, and that for $n = 2$ the connected components of the moduli space are in bijective correspondence with the knot classes associated to the embeddings. Our proof uses a variant of mean curvature flow with surgery developed in our earlier article (arXiv:1607.05604) where neck regions are deformed to tiny strings instead of being cut out completely, an approach which preserves the global topology, embeddedness, as well as two-convexity.

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Ricci Curvature and Bochner Formulas for Martingales

We generalize the classical Bochner formula for the heat flow on M to martingales on the path space PM, and develop a formalism to compute evolution equations for martingales on path space. We see that our Bochner formula on PM is related to two sided bounds on Ricci curvature in much the same manner that the classical Bochner formula on M is related to lower bounds on Ricci curvature. Using this formalism, we obtain new characterizations of bounded Ricci curvature, new gradient estimates for martingales on path space, new Hessian estimates for martingales on path space, and streamlined proofs of the previous characterizations of bounded Ricci curvature of the second author (arXiv:1306.6512).

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Singularities of mean convex level set flow in general ambient manifolds

We prove two new estimates for the level set flow of mean convex domains in Riemannian manifolds. Our estimates give control - exponential in time - for the infimum of the mean curvature, and the ratio between the norm of the second fundamental form and the mean curvature. In particular, the estimates remove a stumbling block that has been left after the work of White and Haslhofer-Kleiner, and thus allow us to extend the structure theory for mean convex level set flow to general ambient manifolds of arbitrary dimension.

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Weak solutions for the Ricci flow I

This is the first of a series of papers, where we introduce a new class of estimates for the Ricci flow, and use them both to characterize solutions of the Ricci flow and to provide a notion of weak solutions to the Ricci flow in the nonsmooth setting. In this first paper, we prove various new estimates for the Ricci flow, and show that they in fact characterize solutions of the Ricci flow. Namely, given a family $(M,g_t)_{t\in I}$ of Riemannian manifolds, we consider the path space $P\mathcal{M}$ of its space time $\mathcal{M}=M\times I$. Our first characterization says that $(M,g_t)_{t\in I}$ evolves by Ricci flow if and only if an infinite dimensional gradient estimate holds for all functions on $P\mathcal{M}$. We prove additional characterizations in terms of the $C^{1/2}$-regularity of martingales on path space, as well as characterizations in terms of log-Sobolev and spectral gap inequalities for a family of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type operators. Our estimates are infinite dimensional generalizations of much more elementary estimates for the linear heat equation on $(M,g_t)_{t\in I}$, which themselves generalize the Bakry-Emery-Ledoux estimates for spaces with lower Ricci curvature bounds. Based on our characterizations we can define a notion of weak solutions for the Ricci flow. We will develop the structure theory of these weak solutions in subsequent papers.

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Uniqueness of the bowl soliton

We prove that any translating soliton for the mean curvature flow which is noncollapsed and uniformly 2-convex must be the rotationally symmetric bowl soliton. In particular, this proves a conjecture of White and Wang, in the 2-convex case in arbitrary dimension.

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A note on the compactness theorem for 4d Ricci shrinkers

In arXiv:1005.3255 we proved an orbifold Cheeger-Gromov compactness theorem for complete 4d Ricci shrinkers with a lower bound for the entropy, an upper bound for the Euler characterisic, and a lower bound for the gradient of the potential at large distances. In this note, we show that the last two assumptions in fact can be removed. The key ingredient is a recent estimate of Cheeger-Naber arXiv:1406.6534.

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Lectures on mean curvature flow

A family of hypersurfaces evolves by mean curvature flow if the velocity at each point is given by the mean curvature vector. Mean curvature flow is the most natural evolution equation in extrinsic geometry, and has been extensively studied ever since the pioneering work of Brakke and Huisken. In the last 15 years, White developed a far-reaching regularity and structure theory for mean convex mean curvature flow, and Huisken-Sinestrari constructed a flow with surgery for two-convex hypersurfaces. In this course, I first give a general introduction to the mean curvature flow of hypersurfaces and then present joint work with Bruce Kleiner, where we give a streamlined and unified treatment of the theory of White and Huisken-Sinestrari. These notes are from summer schools at KIAS Seoul and SNS Pisa.

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Mean curvature flow of mean convex hypersurfaces

In the last 15 years, White and Huisken-Sinestrari developed a far-reaching structure theory for the mean curvature flow of mean convex hypersurfaces. Their papers provide a package of estimates and structural results that yield a precise description of singularities and of high curvature regions in a mean convex flow. In the present paper, we give a new treatment of the theory of mean convex (and k-convex) flows. This includes: (1) an estimate for derivatives of curvatures, (2) a convexity estimate, (3) a cylindrical estimate, (4) a global convergence theorem, (5) a structure theorem for ancient solutions, and (6) a partial regularity theorem. Our new proofs are both more elementary and substantially shorter than the original arguments. Our estimates are local and universal. A key ingredient in our new approach is the new non- collapsing result of Andrews. Some parts are also inspired by the work of Perelman. In a forthcoming paper, we will give a new construction of mean curvature flow with surgery based on the theorems established in the present paper.

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Mean curvature flow with surgery

We give a new proof for the existence of mean curvature flow with surgery of 2-convex hypersurfaces in $R^N$, as announced in arXiv:1304.0926. Our proof works for all $N \geq 3$, including mean convex surfaces in $R^3$. We also derive a priori estimates for a more general class of flows in a local and flexible setting.

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On Brendle's estimate for the inscribed radius under mean curvature flow

In a recent paper, Brendle proved that the inscribed radius of closed embedded mean convex hypersurfaces moving by mean curvature flow is at least 1/((1+δ)H) at all points with H > C(δ,M_0). In this note, we give a shorter proof of Brendle's estimate, and of a more general result for alpha-Andrews flows, based on our recent estimates from Haslhofer-Kleiner.

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Ancient solutions of the mean curvature flow

In this short article, we prove the existence of ancient solutions of the mean curvature flow that for t -> 0 collapse to a round point, but for t -> -infinity become more and more oval: near the center they have asymptotic shrinkers modeled on round cylinders S^j x R^n-j and near the tips they have asymptotic translators modeled on Bowl^j+1 x R^n-j-1. We also give a characterization of the round shrinking sphere among ancient alpha-Andrews flows. Our proofs are based on the recent estimates of Haslhofer-Kleiner.

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Quantitative Stratification and the Regularity of Harmonic Map Flow

In this paper, we prove estimates and quantitative regularity results for the harmonic map flow. First, we consider H^1_loc-maps u defined on a parabolic ball P\subset M\times R and with target manifold N, that have bounded Dirichlet-energy and Struwe-energy. We define a quantitative stratification, which groups together points in the domain into quantitative weakly singular strata S^j_{η,r}(u) according to the number of approximate symmetries of u at certain scales, and prove that their tubular neighborhoods have small volume, namely Vol(T_r(\cS^j_{η,r}(u))< Cr^{m+2-j-\eps}. In particular, this generalizes the known Hausdorff estimate dim S^j(u)< j for the weakly singular strata of suitable weak solutions of the harmonic map flow. As an application, specializing to Chen-Struwe solutions with target manifolds that do not admit certain harmonic and quasi-harmonic spheres, we obtain refined Minkowski estimates for the singular set. This generalizes a result of Lin-Wang. We also obtain L^p-estimates for the reciprocal of the regularity scale. The results are analogous to our results for mean curvature flow that we recently proved.

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Quantitative Stratification and the Regularity of Mean Curvature Flow

Let $\cM$ be a Brakke flow of $n$-dimensional surfaces in $R^N$. The singular set $\cS\subset\cM$ has a stratification $\cS^0\subset\cS^1\subset...\cS$, where $X\in \cS^j$ if no tangent flow at $X$ has more than $j$ symmetries. Here, we define quantitative singular strata $\cS^j_{η,r}$ satisfying $\cup_{η>0}\cap_{0<r} \cS^j_{η,r}=\cS^j$. Sharpening the known parabolic Hausdorff dimension bound $\dim \cS^j\leq j$, we prove the effective Minkowski estimates that the volume of $r$-tubular neighborhoods of $\cS^j_{η,r}$ satisfies $\Vol (T_r(\cS^j_{η,r})\cap B_1)\leq Cr^{N+2-j-\varepsilon}$. Our primary application of this is to higher regularity of Brakke flows starting at $k$-convex smooth compact embedded hypersurfaces. To this end, we prove that for the flow of $k$-convex hypersurfaces, any backwards selfsimilar limit flow with at least $k$ symmetries is in fact a static multiplicity one plane. Then, denoting by $\cB_r\subset\cM$ the set of points with regularity scale less than $r$, we prove that $\Vol(T_r(\cB_r))\leq C r^{n+4-k-\varepsilon}$. This gives $L^p$-estimates for the second fundamental form for any $p<n+1-k$. In fact, the estimates are much stronger and give $L^p$-estimates for the inverse of the regularity scale. These estimates are sharp. The key technique that we develop and apply is a parabolic version of the quantitative stratification method introduced in Cheeger and Naber (arXiv:1103.1819v3) and Cheeger and Naber (arXiv:1107.3097v1).

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The stability inequality for Ricci-flat cones

In this article, we thoroughly investigate the stability inequality for Ricci-flat cones. Perhaps most importantly, we prove that the Ricci-flat cone over CP^2 is stable, showing that the first stable non-flat Ricci-flat cone occurs in the smallest possible dimension. On the other hand, we prove that many other examples of Ricci-flat cones over 4-manifolds are unstable, and that Ricci-flat cones over products of Einstein manifolds and over Kahler-Einstein manifolds with h^(1,1)>1 are unstable in dimension less than 10. As results of independent interest, our computations indicate that the Page metric and the Chen-LeBrun-Weber metric are unstable Ricci shrinkers. As a final bonus, we give plenty of motivations, and partly confirm a conjecture of Tom Ilmanen relating the lambda-functional, the positive mass theorem and the nonuniqueness of Ricci flow with conical initial data.

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A mass-decreasing flow in dimension three

In this article, we introduce a mass-decreasing flow for asymptotically flat three-manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature. This flow is defined by iterating a suitable Ricci flow with surgery and conformal rescalings and has a number of nice properties. In particular, wormholes pinch off and nontrivial spherical space forms bubble off in finite time. Moreover, a noncompact variant of the Perelman-energy is monotone along the flow. Assuming a certain inequality between the mass and this Perelman-energy a priori, we can prove that the flow squeezes out all the initial mass.

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