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We obtain a vanishing result for solutions of the inequality $|\Delta u|\le q_1|u|+q_2|\nabla u|$ that decay to zero along a very general warped cylindrical end of a Riemannian manifold. The appropriate decay condition at infinity on $u$ is related to the behavior of the potential functions $q_1$ and $q_2$ and to the asymptotic geometry of the end. The main ingredient is a new Carleman estimate of independent interest. Geometric applications to conformal deformations and to minimal graphs are presented., Comment: Minor corrections following referee's suggestions. Final version, to appear on IMRN

On a complete Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$, we consider $L^{p}_{loc}$ distributional solutions of the the differential inequality $-\Delta u + \lambda u \geq 0$ with $\lambda >0$ a locally bounded function that may decay to $0$ at infinity. Under suitable growth conditions on the $L^{p}$ norm of $u$ over geodesic balls, we obtain that any such solution must be nonnegative. This is a kind of generalized $L^{p}$-preservation property that can be read as a Liouville type property for nonnegative subsolutiuons of the equation $\Delta u \geq \lambda u$. An application of the analytic results to $L^{p}$ growth estimates of the extrinsic distance of complete minimal submanifolds is also given.

Given a strongly local Dirichlet space and $\lambda\geq 0$, we introduce a new notion of $\lambda$--subharmonicity for $L^1_\loc$--functions, which we call \emph{local $\lambda$--shift defectivity}, and which turns out to be equivalent to distributional $\lambda$--subharmonicity in the Riemannian case. We study the regularity of these functions on a new class of strongly local Dirichlet, so called locally smoothing spaces, which includes Riemannian manifolds (without any curvature assumptions), finite dimensional RCD spaces, Carnot groups, and Sierpinski gaskets. As a byproduct of this regularity theory, we obtain in this general framework a proof of a conjecture by Braverman, Milatovic, Shubin on the positivity of distributional $L^q$-solutions of $\Delta f\leq f$ for complete Riemannian manifolds., Comment: Some typos corrected. To appear in Mathematische Annalen

The paper focuses on the $L^{p}$-Positivity Preservation property ($L^{p}$-PP for short) on a Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$. It states that any $L^p$ function $u$ with $1

In this paper we investigate the validity of first and second order $L^{p}$ estimates for the solutions of the Poisson equation depending on the geometry of the underlying manifold. We first present $L^{p}$ estimates of the gradient under the assumption that the Ricci tensor is lower bounded in a local integral sense and construct the first counterexample showing that they are false, in general, without curvature restrictions. Next, we obtain $L^p$ estimates for the second order Riesz transform (or, equivalently, the validity of $L^{p}$ Calder\'on--Zygmund inequalities) on the whole scale $1

This paper deals with symmetry phenomena for solutions of the Dirichlet problem involving semilinear PDEs on Riemannian domains. We shall present a rather general framework where the symmetry problem can be formulated and provide some evidence that this framework is completely natural by pointing out some results for stable solutions. The case of manifolds with density, and corresponding weighted Laplacians, is inserted in the picture from the very beginning.

In this paper we study $W^{1,p}$ global regularity estimates for solutions of $\Delta u = f$ on Riemannian manifolds. Under integral (lower) bounds on the Ricci tensor we prove the validity of $L^p$-gradient estimates of the form $|| \nabla u ||_{L^p} \le C (|| u ||_{L^p} + || \Delta u||_{L^p})$. We also construct a counterexample which proves that the previously known constant lower bounds on the Ricci curvature are optimal in the pointwise sense. The relation between $L^p$-gradient estimates and different notions of Sobolev spaces is also investigated., Comment: 9 pages, comments are welcome! Minor corrections. This paper was merged into arXiv:2207.08545

In this paper we prove that a complete Riemannian manifold is $L^p$-positivity preserving for any $p\in(1,\infty)$. This means that any $L^p$ function which solves $(-\Delta + 1)u\ge 0$ in the sense of distributions is necessarily non-negative. In particular, the case $p=2$ of our result answers in the affermative a conjecture formulated by M. Braverman, O. Milatovic and M. Shubin in 2002. The two main ingredients are a new a-priori regularity result for positive subharmonic distributions, which in turn permits to prove a Liouville type theorem, and a Brezis-Kato inequality on Riemannian manifolds. Both these results rely on a smooth monotonic approximation of distributional solutions of $\Delta u \ge \lambda(x) u$ of independent interest., Comment: 14 pages. This unpublished preprint is superseded by the two companion articles arXiv:2301.05159 and [Guneysu,Pigola,Stollmann,Veronelli, Regularity of subharmonic distributions on local spaces, and a conjecture by Braverman, Milatovic, Shubin, Preprint 2022]

This paper is a survey of some recent results on the validity and the failure of global $W^{2,p}$ regularity properties of smooth solutions of the Poisson equation $\Delta u = f$ on a complete Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$. We review different methods developed to obtain a-priori $L^p$-Hessian estimates of the form $\| \Hess(u) \|_{L^p} \leq C_1 \| u \|_{L^p} + C_2 \| f \|_{L^p}$ under various geometric conditions on $M$ both in the case of real valued functions and for manifold valued maps. We also present explicit and somewhat implicit counterexamples showing that, in general, this integral inequality may fail to hold even in the presence of a lower sectional curvature bound. The r\^ole of a gradient estimate of the form $\| \nabla u \|_{L^{p}} \leq C_1 \| u \|_{L^p} + C_2 \| f \|_{L^p}$, and its connections with the $L^{p}$-Hessian estimate, are also discussed.

We study decay and compact support properties of positive and bounded solutions of $\Delta_{p} u \geq \Lambda(u)$ on the exterior of a compact set of a complete manifold with rotationally symmetry. In the same setting, we also give a new characterization of stochastic completeness for the $p$-Laplacian in terms of a global $W^{1,p}$-regularity of such solutions. One of the tools we use is a nonlinear version of the Feller property which we investigate on general Riemannian manifolds and which we establish under integral Ricci curvature conditions., Comment: 29 pages. Comments are welcome

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

Being motivated by the problem of deducing $L^p$-bounds on the second fundamental form of an isometric immersion from $L^p$-bounds on its mean curvature vector field, we prove a (nonlinear) Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality for maps between complete (possibly noncompact) Riemannian manifolds., Comment: Some constants have been improved. To appear in Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry

On any complete Riemannian manifold $M$ and for all $p\in [2,\infty)$, we prove a family of second order $L^{p}$-interpolation inequalities that arise from the following simple $L^{p}$-estimate valid for every $u \in C^{\infty}(M)$: $$ \|\nabla u\|_{p}^p \leq \|u \Delta_{p} u\|_1\in [0,\infty], $$ where $\Delta_p$ denotes the $p$-Laplace operator. We show that these inequalities, in combination with abstract functional analytic arguments, allow to establish new global Sobolev regularity results for $L^p$-solutions of the Poisson equation for all $p\in (1,\infty)$, and new global Sobolev regularity results for the singular magnetic Schr\"odinger semigroups., Comment: title changed, fixed typos, abstract and introduction rewritten, exposition improved according to referees suggestions, added Proposition 4 on Kato-Simon inequality on complete manifolds

The paper aims at proving global height estimates for Killing graphs defined over a complete manifold with nonempty boundary. To this end, we first point out how the geometric analysis on a Killing graph is naturally related to a weighted manifold structure, where the weight is defined in terms of the length of the Killing vector field. According to this viewpoint, we introduce some potential theory on weighted manifolds with boundary and we prove a weighted volume estimate for intrinsic balls on the Killing graph. Finally, using these tools, we provide the desired estimate for the weighted height in the assumption that the Killing graph has constant weighted mean curvature and the weighted geometry of the ambient space is suitably controlled., Comment: 26 pages. Final version. To appear on Journal of Geometric Analysis

We shed a new light on the $L^1$-Liouville property for positive, superharmonic functions by providing many evidences that its validity relies on geometric conditions localized on large enough portions of the space. We also present examples in any dimension showing that the $L^1$-Liouville property is strictly weaker than the stochastic completeness of the manifold. The main tool in our investigations is represented by the potential theory of a manifold with boundary subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions. The paper incorporates, under a unifying viewpoint, some old and new aspects of the theory, with a special emphasis on global maximum principles and on the role of the Dirichlet Green's kernel.

Given a metrically complete Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ with smooth nonempty boundary and assuming that one of its curvatures is subject to a certain bound, we address the problem of whether it is possibile to realize $(M,g)$ as a domain inside a geodesically complete Riemannian manifold $(M',g')$ without boundary, by preserving the same curvature bounds. In this direction we provide three kind of results: (1) a general existence theorem showing that it is always possible to obtain a geodesically complete Riemannian extension without curvature constraints; (2) various topological obstructions to the existence of a complete Riemannian extension with prescribed sectional and Ricci curvature bounds; (3) some existence results of complete Riemannian extensions with sectional and Ricci curvature bounds, mostly in the presence of a convexity condition on the boundary., Comment: This article supersedes arXiv:1601.05075, which contained only Part 1. New parts dealing with the Riemannian extension problem under a control of the sectional and the Ricci curvatures have been added

We prove a $\mathsf{C}^1$-elliptic estimate of the form $ \sup_{B(x,r/2)} |\mathrm{grad} (\psi) | \leq C \left\{ \sup_{B(x,r)} |\Delta \psi| + \sup_{B(x,r)} |\psi| \right\}, $ valid on any complete Riemannian manifold $M$ and for any smooth function $\psi$ which is defined in a nighbourhood of $B(x,r)$, with an explicit quantitative control on the constant $C=C(B(x,r))$ in terms of the curvature of the geodesic ball $B(x,r)\subset M$., Comment: an application concerning zero means of Laplacians are added; to appear in IMRN

By means of a general gluing and conformal-deformation construction, we prove that any smooth, metrically complete Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary can be realized as a closed domain into a smooth, geodesically complete Riemannan manifold without boundary. Applications to Sobolev spaces, Nash embedding and local extensions with strict curvature bounds are presented., Comment: This paper has been included in arXiv:1606.08320 where we also consider the Riemannian extension problem under a control of the sectional and the Ricci curvatures

In this paper we prove the existence of a solution to the Dirichlet problem for harmonic maps into a geodesic ball on which the squared distance function from the origin is strictly convex. This improves a celebrated theorem obtained by S. Hildebrandt, H. Kaul and K. Widman in 1977. In particular no curvature assumptions on the target are required. Our proof relies on a careful analysis of the Sobolev spaces of maps involved in the variational process, and on a deformation result which permits to glue a suitable Euclidean end to the geodesic ball., Comment: 24 pages. Corrected typos. Added references

We introduce the concept of Calder\'on-Zygmund inequalities on Riemannian manifolds. For $10$. Such an inequality can hold or fail, depending on the underlying Riemannian geometry. After establishing some generally valid facts and consequences of the Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality (like new denseness results for second order $\mathsf{L}^p$-Sobolev spaces and gradient estimates), we establish sufficient geometric criteria for the validity of these inequalities on possibly noncompact Riemannian manifolds. These results in particular apply to many noncompact hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature., Comment: 39 pages

We prove mean curvature estimates and a Jorge-Koutroufiotis type theorem for submanifolds confined into either a horocylinder of N X L or a horoball of N, where N is a Cartan-Hadamard manifold with pinched curvature. Thus, these submanifolds behave in many respects like submanifolds immersed into compact balls and into cylinders over compact balls. The proofs rely on the Hessian comparison theorem for the Busemann function., Comment: To appear in Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications

We prove spectral, stochastic and mean curvature estimates for complete $m$-submanifolds $\varphi \colon M \to N$ of $n$-manifolds with a pole $N$ in terms of the comparison isoperimetric ratio $I_{m}$ and the extrinsic radius $r_\varphi\leq \infty$. Our proof holds for the bounded case $r_\varphi< \infty$, recovering the known results, as well as for the unbounded case $r_{\varphi}=\infty$. In both cases, the fundamental ingredient in these estimates is the integrability over $(0, r_\varphi)$ of the inverse $I_{m}^{-1}$ of the comparison isoperimetric radius. When $r_{\varphi}=\infty$, this condition is guaranteed if $N$ is highly negatively curved., Comment: 13 pages

In this paper we extend to non-compact Riemannian manifolds with boundary the use of two important tools in the geometric analysis of compact spaces, namely, the weak maximum principle for subharmonic functions and the integration by parts. The first one is a new form of the classical Ahlfors maximum principle whereas the second one is a version for manifolds with boundary of the so called Kelvin-Nevanlinna-Royden criterion of parabolicity. In fact, we will show that the validity of non-compact versions of these tools serve as a characterization of the Neumann parabolicity of the space. The motivation underlying this study is to obtain new information on the geometry of graphs with prescribed mean curvature inside a Riemannian product of the type $N\times\mathbb{R}$. In this direction two kind of results will be presented: height estimates for constant mean curvature graphs parametrized over unbounded domains in a complete manifold and slice type results for graphs whose superlevel sets have finite volume., Comment: 37 pp. Improved version of lemma 2.2. Some remarks and references added

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

In this two papers we deal with the relative homotopy Dirichlet problem for p-harmonic maps from compact manifolds with boundary to manifolds of non-positive sectional curvature. Notably, we give a complete solution to the problem in case the target manifold is either compact and a new proof in case it is rotationally symmetric or two dimensional and simply connected. The proof of the compact case uses some ideas of White to define the relative d-homotopy type of Sobolev maps, and the regularity theory by Hardt and Lin. To deal with non-compact targets we introduce a periodization procedure which permits to reduce the problem to the previous one. Also, a general uniqueness result is given., Comment: 26 pages. Corrected typos and references. Changed structure of the paper (but results unchanged)

A classical result by Alexander Grigor'yan states that on a stochastically complete manifold the non-negative superharmonic $L^1$-functions are necessarily constant. In this paper we address the question of whether and to what extent the reverse implication holds.

The aim of this paper is to suggest a new viewpoint to study qualitative properties of solutions of semilinear elliptic PDE's defined outside a compact set. The relevant tools come from spectral theory and from a combination of stochastic properties of the relevant differential operators. Possible links between spectral and stochastic properties are analyzed in detail., Comment: Slightly revised version. Corrected a few minor mistakes, references updated. To appear in: Rev. Mat. Iberoam

We survey some $L^{p}$-vanishing results for solutions of Bochner or Simons type equations with refined Kato inequalities, under spectral assumptions on the relevant Schr\"{o}dinger operators. New aspects are included in the picture. In particular, an abstract version of a structure theorem for stable minimal hypersurfaces of finite total curvature is observed. Further geometric applications are discussed., Comment: 18 pages. Some oversights corrected. Accepted for publication in International Journal of Mathematics

The asymptotic behavior of the heat kernel of a Riemannian manifold gives rise to the classical concepts of parabolicity, stochastic completeness (or conservative property) and Feller property (or $C^{0}$-diffusion property). Both parabolicity and stochastic completeness have been the subject of a systematic study which led to discovering not only sharp geometric conditions for their validity but also an incredible rich family of tools, techniques and equivalent concepts ranging from maximum principles at infinity, function theoretic tests (Khas'minskii criterion), comparison techniques etc... The present paper aims to move a number of steps forward in the development of a similar apparatus for the Feller property.

The purpose of this paper is to give a self-contained proof that a complete manifold with more than one end never supports an $L^{q,p}$-Sobolev inequality ($2 \leq p$, $q\leq p^{*}$), provided the negative part of its Ricci tensor is small (in a suitable spectral sense). In the route, we discuss potential theoretic properties of the ends of a manifold enjoying an $L^{q,p}$-Sobolev inequality., Comment: fixed error in previous update (forgot to delete old version that was appended to the new one)

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.

We provide a somewhat geometric proof of a rigidity theorem by M. Ledoux and C. Xia concerning complete manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature supporting an Euclidean-type Sobolev inequality with (almost) best Sobolev constant. Using the same technique we also generalize Ledoux-Xia result to complete manifolds with asymptotically non-negative curvature., Comment: 11 pages. Corrected typos. Added a new result concerning rigidity of manifolds with asymptotically non-negative curvature

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 global comparison results for the $p$-Laplacian on a $p$-parabolic manifold. These involve both real-valued and vector-valued maps with finite $p$-energy.

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.

We study the steady state solutions of a generalized logistic type equation on a complete Riemannian manifold. We provide sufficient conditions for existence, respectively non-existence of positive solutions, which depend on the relative size of the coefficients and their mutual interaction with the geometry of the manifold, which is mostly taken into account by means of conditions on the volume growth of geodesic balls., Comment: 31 pages

We obtain a maximum principle, and "a priori" upper estimates for solutions of a class of non linear singular elliptic differential inequalities on Riemannian manifolds under the sole geometrical assumption of volume growth conditions. Various applications of the results obtained are presented., Comment: Research announcement. 10 pages. No figures. Corrected typos