Covariant Schrdinger Semigroups on Riemannian Manifolds

This monograph discusses covariant Schrödinger operators and their heat semigroups on noncompact Riemannian manifolds and aims to fill a gap in the literature, given the fact that the existing literature on Schrödinger operators has mainly focused on scalar Schrödinger operators on Euclidean spaces so far. In particular, the book studies operators that act on sections of vector bundles. In addition, these operators are allowed to have unbounded potential terms, possibly with strong local singularities.

This book focuses on the study of the volume of vector fields on Riemannian manifolds. Providing a thorough overview of research on vector fields defining minimal submanifolds, and on the existence and characterization of volume minimizers, it includes proofs of the most significant results obtained since the subject’s introduction in 1986. Aiming to inspire further research, it also highlights a selection of intriguing open problems, and exhibits some previously unpublished results. The presentation is direct and deviates substantially from the usual approaches found in the literature, requiring a significant revision of definitions, statements, and proofs.

This text focuses on developing an intimate acquaintance with the geometric meaning of curvature and thereby introduces and demonstrates all the main technical tools needed for a more advanced course on Riemannian manifolds. It covers proving the four most fundamental theorems relating curvature and topology: the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, the Cartan-Hadamard Theorem, Bonnet’s Theorem, and a special case of the Cartan-Ambrose-Hicks Theorem.