Aug 2026· 1 citation· ⚡ 1 influential· 20 references
Mathematics
Abstract
Let $(M^n,g)$ be a connected, closed, smooth Riemannian manifold with dimension $n\geq 3$. There exists a positive constant $\varepsilon_n<1$ such that, if Ricci curvature $\operatorname{Ric}_g\geq \varepsilon_n(n-1)g$ and the scalar curvature $R_g\geq n(n-1)$, then the volume $V_g(M^n)$ is less than or equal to the volume of standard $n$-sphere. This confirms a conjecture by Bray in 1997.
A well-known conjecture of Chern, do Carmo, and Kobayashi asserts that, for $n,m \geq 1$, the scalar curvature of a closed, minimally immersed $n$-submanifold of $\mathbb{S}^{n+m}$ with second fundamental form of constant length takes values in a discrete set. This property holds in every codimension when $n \in \{1,2\}$. We disprove this conjecture for all $n \geq 3$ with $m \geq 4$, and for even $n \geq 4$ with $m \geq 3$.
Let $n\geq2$ and let $M^n$ be a closed connected smooth manifold. Let $R^\gamma(M)$ be the space of smooth Riemannian metrics $g$ on $M$ for which the generalized conformal Laplace operator $-\gamma\Delta_g+\mathrm{R}_g$ is strictly positive. We prove that if $n=2$ and $\gamma>0$, or if $n\ge3$ and $0<\gamma \leq 4(n-1)/(n-2)$, the inclusion $R^0(M)\hookrightarrow R^\gamma(M)$ is a homotopy equivalence, thus generalizing, to all dimensions and in the maximal range, the results of Botvinnik--Rosenberg and Li--Mantoulidis. Then, we prove that if $n\ge3$ and $\gamma>4(n-1)/(n-2)$, the space $R^\gamma(M)$ is contractible, and hence nonempty. This solves a homotopy-theoretic strengthening of a conjecture of Gromov (Conjecture 3, Section 6.1.2,"Four Lectures on Scalar Curvature") in the maximal possible coefficient range. Concerning Gromov's conjecture we also treat the equivariant case and the case of manifolds with boundary.
G. Antonelli, Georg Frenck, Bernhard Hanke· 0 citations
We prove that if the $n$-dimensional torus $T^n$ is smoothly immersed in the unit ball $B^q\subset\mathbb R^q$ and $n\leq 18$, then there exists a point at which the spherical average of $\lvert II(u,u)\rvert^2$ is at least $3n/(n+2)$. This answers a question of Petrunin in these dimensions. The proof combines the scalar-curvature obstruction for the torus with a conformal-Laplacian argument.
Let $F:M^n\to\Sn^{n+q}(1)$ be a closed connected minimal immersion in the unit sphere with second fundamental form $h$, $n\ge3$, $q\ge2$, and $S=|h|^2$. We prove that if $M$ is not totally geodesic, then \[ \max_M S\ge \frac{2n}{3}+\frac{n-2}{6300(39n+8)} \ge\frac{2n}{3}+\frac1{787500}. \]
Let $(M^n,g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold with $\Ric\ge-kg$ and uniformly positive $m$-intermediate curvature in the sense of Brendle--Hirsch--Johne. We prove that the Fisher eigenvalue $\lambda_{n-m+1}$ is small, after heat averaging, below the curvature scale $k^{-1}$. Consequently, balls have polynomial volume growth of order $R^{m-1}$ for $R\le k^{-1/2}$. At larger scales we obtain the corresponding estimate with an exponential factor $\exp(C\sqrt k R)$, and an example shows that this factor is necessary.
Let $(M,g)$ be a connected, compact, $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with $\operatorname{Ric}(M,g)\geq-(n-1)\kappa g$. We introduce a weighted combinatorial Laplacian on $\varepsilon$-discretizations of $M$ and prove a spectral comparison theorem between the weighted graph Laplacian and the Laplace-Beltrami operator. More precisely, the eigenvalues of the two operators are uniformly comparable with constants depending only on $n,\kappa,\varepsilon$, independently of the injectivity radius. As an application, we prove spectral stability under measured Gromov-Hausdorff convergence. We also recover the Schoen-Wolpert-Yau inequality using the weighted discretization on families of pinching genus-$2$ hyperbolic surfaces.