Flows of geometric structures

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Fadel, Daniel, Loubeau, Eric, Moreno, Andrés J., Earp, Henrique N. Sá
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2022
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author Fadel, Daniel
Loubeau, Eric
Moreno, Andrés J.
Earp, Henrique N. Sá
author_facet Fadel, Daniel
Loubeau, Eric
Moreno, Andrés J.
Earp, Henrique N. Sá
contents We develop an abstract theory of flows of geometric $H$-structures, i.e., flows of tensor fields defining $H$-reductions of the frame bundle, for a closed and connected subgroup $H\subset SO(n)$, on any connected and oriented $n$-manifold with sufficient topology to admit such structures. The first part of the article sets up a unifying theoretical framework for deformations of $H$-structures, by way of the natural infinitesimal action of $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})$ on tensors combined with various bundle decompositions induced by $H$-structures. We compute evolution equations for the intrinsic torsion under general flows of $H$-structures and, as applications, we obtain general Bianchi-type identities for $H$-structures, and, for closed manifolds, a general first variation formula for the $L^2$-Dirichlet energy functional $\mathcal{E}$ on the space of $H$-structures. We then specialise the theory to the negative gradient flow of $\mathcal{E}$ over isometric $H$-structures, i.e., their harmonic flow. The core result is an almost monotonocity formula along the flow for a scale-invariant localised energy, similar to the classical formulae by Chen-Struwe for the harmonic map heat flow. This yields an $\varepsilon$-regularity theorem and an energy gap result for harmonic structures, as well as long-time existence for the flow under small initial energy, relative to the $L^\infty$-norm of initial torsion, in the spirit of Chen-Ding. Moreover, below a certain energy level, the absence of a torsion-free isometric $H$-structure in the initial homotopy class imposes the formation of finite-time singularities. These seemingly contrasting statements are illustrated by examples on flat $n$-tori, so long as $[\mathbb{S}^n,SO(n)/H]$ contains more than one element and the universal cover of $SO(n)/H$ is a sphere; e.g. when $n=7$ and $H=\rm G_2$, or $n=8$ and $H=\rm Spin(7)$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2211_05197
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Flows of geometric structures
Fadel, Daniel
Loubeau, Eric
Moreno, Andrés J.
Earp, Henrique N. Sá
Differential Geometry
Analysis of PDEs
58E20, 53C43, 53C25, 53C15, 53C10
We develop an abstract theory of flows of geometric $H$-structures, i.e., flows of tensor fields defining $H$-reductions of the frame bundle, for a closed and connected subgroup $H\subset SO(n)$, on any connected and oriented $n$-manifold with sufficient topology to admit such structures. The first part of the article sets up a unifying theoretical framework for deformations of $H$-structures, by way of the natural infinitesimal action of $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})$ on tensors combined with various bundle decompositions induced by $H$-structures. We compute evolution equations for the intrinsic torsion under general flows of $H$-structures and, as applications, we obtain general Bianchi-type identities for $H$-structures, and, for closed manifolds, a general first variation formula for the $L^2$-Dirichlet energy functional $\mathcal{E}$ on the space of $H$-structures. We then specialise the theory to the negative gradient flow of $\mathcal{E}$ over isometric $H$-structures, i.e., their harmonic flow. The core result is an almost monotonocity formula along the flow for a scale-invariant localised energy, similar to the classical formulae by Chen-Struwe for the harmonic map heat flow. This yields an $\varepsilon$-regularity theorem and an energy gap result for harmonic structures, as well as long-time existence for the flow under small initial energy, relative to the $L^\infty$-norm of initial torsion, in the spirit of Chen-Ding. Moreover, below a certain energy level, the absence of a torsion-free isometric $H$-structure in the initial homotopy class imposes the formation of finite-time singularities. These seemingly contrasting statements are illustrated by examples on flat $n$-tori, so long as $[\mathbb{S}^n,SO(n)/H]$ contains more than one element and the universal cover of $SO(n)/H$ is a sphere; e.g. when $n=7$ and $H=\rm G_2$, or $n=8$ and $H=\rm Spin(7)$.
title Flows of geometric structures
topic Differential Geometry
Analysis of PDEs
58E20, 53C43, 53C25, 53C15, 53C10
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.05197