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The ABP method for proving isoperimetric inequalities has been first employed by Cabr\'e in $\mathbb{R}^n$, then developed by Brendle, notably in the context of non-compact Riemannian manifolds of non-negative Ricci curvature and positive asymptotic volume ratio. In this paper, we expand upon their approach and prove isoperimetric inequalities (sharp in the limit) in the presence of a small amount of negative curvature. First, we consider smallness of the negative part $\mathrm{Ric}_-$ of the Ricci curvature in terms of its elliptic Kato constant. Indeed, the Kato constant turns out to control the non-negativity of the ($\infty$-)Bakry-\'Emery Ricci-tensor of a suitable conformal deformation of the manifold, and the ABP method can be implemented in this setting. Secondly, we show that the smallness of the Kato constant is implied by a suitable polynomial decay of $\mathrm{Ric}_-$, provided that the asymptotic volume ratio is positive and either (a) $M$ has one end and asymptotically non-negative sectional curvature or (b) the relative volume comparison known as $\textbf{(VC)}$ condition holds. To show this latter fact, we enhance techniques elaborated by Li-Tam and Kasue to obtain new estimates of the Green function valid on the whole manifold., Comment: 23 pages. With respect to the previous version, assumption added in Theorem 1.2 and Section 4 changed accordingly. Bibliography updated. All comments are welcome!

We prove an abstract structure theorem for weighted manifolds supporting a weighted $f$-Poincar\'e inequality and whose ends satisfy a suitable non-integrability condition. We then study how our arguments can be used to obtain full topological control on two important classes of hypersurfaces of the Euclidean space, namely translators and self-expanders for the mean curvature flow, under either stability or curvature asumptions. As an important intermediate step in order to get our results we get the validity of a Poincar\'e inequality with respect to the natural weighted measure on any translator and we prove that any end of a translator must have infinite weighted volume. Similar tools can be obtained for properly immersed self-expanders permitting to get topological rigidity under curvature assumptions., Comment: 15 pages. Minor changes in the exposition in v2. All comments are welcome!

We prove a rigidity result for mean curvature self-translating solitons, characterizing the grim reaper cylinder as the only finite entropy self-translating 2-surface in $\mathbb{R}^3$ of width $\pi$ and bounded from below. The proof makes use of parabolicity in a weighted setting applied to a suitable universally $L$-superharmonic function defined on translaters in such slabs., Comment: Expanded introduction. New result added (Theorem 1.6). All comments are welcome!

We investigate the density of compactly supported smooth functions in the Sobolev space $W^{k,p}$ on complete Riemannian manifolds. In the first part of the paper, we extend to the full range $p\in [1,2]$ the most general results known in the Hilbertian case. In particular, we obtain the density under a quadratic Ricci lower bound (when $k=2$) or a suitably controlled growth of the derivatives of the Riemann curvature tensor only up to order $k-3$ (when $k>2$). To this end, we prove a gradient regularity lemma that might be of independent interest. In the second part of the paper, for every $n \ge 2$ and $p>2$ we construct a complete $n$-dimensional manifold with sectional curvature bounded from below by a negative constant, for which the density property in $W^{k,p}$ does not hold for any $k \ge 2$. We also deduce the existence of a counterexample to the validity of the Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality for $p>2$ when $\mathrm{Sec} \ge 0$, and in the compact setting we show the impossibility to build a Calder\'on-Zygmund theory for $p>2$ with constants only depending on a bound on the diameter and a lower bound on the sectional curvature., Comment: 24 pages. Final version: to appear on Nonlinear Analysis. Comments are welcome

We consider complete Riemannian manifolds with a controlled growth of the covariant derivatives of Ricci curvatures up to order $k-2$ and a controlled decay of the injectivity radii. On such manifolds we construct distance-like functions with a control on covariant derivatives up to order $k$. Alternatively, the assumption on the injectivity radii can be replaced with the request of a controlled growth of the full curvature tensor at order $0$. The control in the assumptions occur via non-necessarily polynomial growth functions. This construction largely extend previously known results in various directions, permitting to obtain consequences which are (in a sense) sharp. A first main application is to the study of the density property for Sobolev spaces on Riemannian manifolds, namely the problem of guaranteeing the density of smooth compactly supported function in the Sobolev space $W^{k,p}$. Contrary to all previously known results this can be obtained also on manifolds with possibly unbounded geometry. In the particular case $p=2$, making use of the Weitzenb\"ock formula for a Lichnerowicz Laplacian acting on the space of smooth section of the bundle of $k$-covariant symmetric tensors, we can weaken the assumptions needed to obtain the density property. Namely we prove that the control on the highest order derivative of curvature is not needed in this situation. Beyond the density property we finally highlight some new applications of our results to disturbed Sobolev inequalities, disturbed $L^{p}$-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequalities and the full Omori-Yau maximum principle for the Hessian., Comment: 42 pages. Corrected typos. Comments are welcome

We generalize a method by L. Ambrozio, A. Carlotto, and B. Sharp to study the Morse index of closed f-minimal hypersurfaces isometrically immersed in a general weighted manifold. The technique permits, in particular, to obtain a linear lower bound on the Morse index via the first Betti number for closed f-minimal hypersurfaces in products of some compact rank one symmetric spaces with an Euclidean factor, endowed with the rigid shrinking gradient Ricci soliton structure. These include, as particular cases, all cylindric shrinking gradient Ricci solitons., Comment: 13 pages

We consider complete non-compact manifolds with either a sub-quadratic growth of the norm of the Riemann curvature, or a sub-quadratic growth of both the norm of the Ricci curvature and the squared inverse of the injectivity radius. We show the existence on such a manifold of a distance-like function with bounded gradient and mild growth of the Hessian. As a main application, we prove that smooth compactly supported functions are dense in $W^{2,p}$. The result is improved for $p=2$ avoiding both the upper bound on the Ricci tensor, and the injectivity radius assumption. As further applications we prove new disturbed Sobolev and Calder\'on-Zygmund inequalities on manifolds with possibly unbounded curvature and highlight consequences about the validity of the full Omori-Yau maximum principle for the Hessian., Comment: Improved version. As a main modification, we added a final Section 8 including some additional geometric applications of our result. Furthermore, we proved in Section 7 a disturbed L^p-Sobolev-type inequality with weight more general than the previous one. 25 pages. Comments are welcome

We obtain a quantitative estimate on the generalised index of translators for the mean curvature flow with bounded norm of the second fundamental form. The estimate involves the dimension of the space of weighted square integrable f-harmonic 1-forms. By the adaptation to the weighted setting of Li-Tam theory developed in previous works, this yields estimates in terms of the number of ends of the hypersurface when this is contained in a upper halfspace with respect to the translating direction. When there exists a point where all principal curvatures are distinct we estimate the nullity of the stability operator. This permits to obtain quantitative estimates on the stability index via the topology of translators with bounded norm of the second fundamental form which are either two-dimensional or (in higher dimension) have finite topological type and are contained in a upper halfspace., Comment: 14 pages. Translators seem to support a weighted L^2 Sobolev inequality only in dimension greater than or equal to 3 and when the translator is contained in a upper halfspace with respect to the translating direction; see Appendix A. Statements of Theorem A, Theorem B, Corollary C and Theorem E fixed accordingly. Theorem D still holds unchanged. Final version: to appear on Math. Z

We study the Morse index of self-shrinkers for the mean curvature flow and, more generally, of $f$-minimal hypersurfaces in a weighted Euclidean space endowed with a convex weight. When the hypersurface is compact, we show that the index is bounded from below by an affine function of its first Betti number. When the first Betti number is large, this improves index estimates known in literature. In the complete non-compact case, the lower bound is in terms of the dimension of the space of weighted square summable $f$-harmonic $1$-forms; in particular, in dimension $2$, the procedure gives an index estimate in terms of the genus of the surface., Comment: 20 pages

We show that two properly embedded self-shrinkers in Euclidean space that are sufficiently separated at infinity must intersect at a finite point. The proof is based on a localized version of the Reilly formula applied to a suitable f-harmonic function with controlled gradient. In the immersed case, a new direct proof of the generalized half-space property is also presented., Comment: 20 pages. Final version. To appear in J. Reine Angew. Math

In this paper we establish the existence of extremals for the Log Sobolev functional on complete non-compact manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below and strictly positive injectivity radius, under a condition near infinity. When Ricci curvature is also bounded from above we get exponential decay at infinity of the extremals. As a consequence of these analytical results we establish, under the same assumptions, that non-trivial shrinking Ricci solitons support a gradient Ricci soliton structure. On the way, we prove two results of independent interest: the existence of a distance-like function with uniformly controlled gradient and Hessian on complete non-compact manifolds with bounded Ricci curvature and strictly positive injectivity radius and a general growth estimate for the norm of the soliton vector field on manifolds with bounded Ricci curvature., Comment: 22 pages; Final version: to appear on Calc. Var. Partial Differential Equations

In this paper we obtain rigidity results and obstructions on the topology at infinity of translating solitons of the mean curvature flow in the Euclidean space. Our approach relies on the theory of f-minimal hypersurfaces., Comment: 18 pages. Minor corrections. Final version: to appear on Commun. Contemp. Math

We study stability properties of $f$-minimal hypersurfaces isometrically immersed in weighted manifolds with non-negative Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature under volume growth conditions. Moreover, exploiting a weighted version of a finiteness result and the adaptation to this setting of Li-Tam theory, we investigate the topology at infinity of $f$-minimal hypersurfaces. On the way, we prove a new comparison result in weighted geometry and we provide a general weighted $L^1$-Sobolev inequality for hypersurfaces in Cartan-Hadamard weighted manifolds, satisfying suitable restrictions on the weight function., Comment: 30 pages. Final version: to appear on Geom. Dedicata

We study geometric properties of complete non-compact bounded self-shrinkers and obtain natural restrictions that force these hypersurfaces to be compact. Furthermore, we observe that, to a certain extent, complete self-shrinkers intersect transversally a hyperplane through the origin. When such an intersection is compact, we deduce spectral information on the natural drifted Laplacian associated to the self-shrinker. These results go in the direction of verifying the validity of a conjecture by H. D. Cao concerning the polynomial volume growth of complete self-shrinkers. A finite strong maximum principle in case the self-shrinker is confined into a cylindrical product is also presented., Comment: 21 pages

We generalize a classification result for self-shrinkers of the mean curvature flow with nonnegative mean curvature, which was obtained by T. Colding and W. Minicozzi, replacing the assumption on polynomial volume growth with a weighted $L^2$ condition on the norm of the second fundamental form. Our approach adopt the viewpoint of weighted manifolds and permits also to recover and to extend some others recent classification and gap results for self-shrinkers., Comment: 9 pages. To appear on Proc. Amer. Math. Soc

We compute the evolution equation of the Cotton and the Bach tensor under the Ricci flow of a Riemannian manifold, with particular attention to the three dimensional case, and we discuss some applications., Comment: 28 pages

In this paper we give some results on the topology of manifolds with $\infty$-Bakry-\'Emery Ricci tensor bounded below, and in particular of steady and expanding gradient Ricci solitons. To this aim we clarify and further develop the theory of f-harmonic maps from non-compact manifolds into non-positively curved manifolds. Notably, we prove existence and vanishing results which generalize to the weighted setting part of Schoen and Yau's theory of harmonic maps., Comment: 20 pages. The title has changed in this final version. To appear in Differential Geometry and its Applications

We study the geometry of complete generic Ricci solitons with the aid of some geometric-analytical tools extending techniques of the usual Riemannian setting., Comment: 21 pages. Final version: to appear on Commun. Contemp. Math

In this paper we prove a number of triviality results for Einstein warped products and quasi-Einstein manifolds using different techniques and under assumptions of various nature. In particular we obtain and exploit gradient estimates for solutions of weighted Poisson-type equations and adaptations to the weighted setting of some Liouville-type theorems., Comment: 15 pages, fixed minor mistakes in Section 3

In this paper we prove that any complete locally conformally flat quasi-Einstein manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ is locally a warped product with $(n-1)$-dimensional fibers of constant curvature. This result includes also the case of locally conformally flat gradient Ricci solitons., Comment: Minor corrections

We prove triviality results for Einstein warped products with non-compact bases. These extend previous work by D.-S. Kim and Y.-H. Kim. The proof, from the viewpoint of "quasi-Einstein manifolds" introduced by J. Case, Y.-S. Shu and G. Wei, rely on maximum principles at infinity and Liouville-type theorems., Comment: 12 pages. Corrected typos. Final version: to appear on Pacific J. Math

We introduce a natural extension of the concept of gradient Ricci soliton: the Ricci almost soliton. We provide existence and rigidity results, we deduce a-priori curvature estimates and isolation phenomena, and we investigate some topological properties. A number of differential identities involving the relevant geometric quantities are derived. Some basic tools from the weighted manifold theory such as general weighted volume comparisons and maximum principles at infinity for diffusion operators are discussed.

In this paper we study the behavior of solutions of a second order differential equation. The existence of a zero and its localization allow us to get some compactness results. In particular we obtain a Myers' type theorem even in the presence of an amount of negative curvature. The technique we use also applies to the study of spectral properties of Schroedinger operators on complete manifolds., Comment: 16 pages

In this paper we show how techniques coming from stochastic analysis, such as stochastic completeness (in the form of the weak maximum principle at infinity), parabolicity and $L^p$-Liouville type results for the weighted Laplacian associated to the potential may be used to obtain triviality, rigidity results, and scalar curvature estimates for gradient Ricci solitons under $L^p$ conditions on the relevant quantities., Comment: The main changes over the previous version are that Theorem 2 has been improved by removing the pointwise growth assumption on $|\nabla f|$ in the case $p=1$, and that in Theorem 3, a shrinking gradient Ricci soliton is shown to be isometric to $\R^m$ in the endpoint case $S_*=0$

We prove metric rigidity for complete manifolds supporting solutions of certain second order differential systems, thus extending classical works on a characterization of space-forms. In the route, we also discover new characterizations of space-forms. We next generalize results concerning metric rigidity via equations involving vector fields.