Conformal spectra, moduli spaces and the Friedlander-Nadirahvili invariants

In this thesis, we study the conformal spectrum of a closed surface and the conformal Steklov spectrum of a compact surface with boundary and their application to conformal geometry and topology. Let (Σ,c) be a closed surface endowed with a conformal class c then the k-th conformal eigenvalue is defined as Λ_k(Σ,c)=sup{λ_k(g) Aire(Σ,g)| g ∈ c), where λ_k(g)  is the k-th Laplace-Beltrami eigenvalue of the metric g on Σ. Note that we start with λ_0(g) = 0 Taking the supremum over all conformal classes C on Σ one gets the following topological invariant of Σ: Λ_k(Σ)=sup{Λ_k(Σ,c)| c ∈ C}. It follows from the paper [65] that the quantities Λ_k(Σ, c) and Λ_k(Σ) are well-defined. Suppose that for a metric g on Σ the following identity holds λ_k(g) Aire(Σ, g) = Λ_k(Σ). Then one says that the metric g is maximal for the functional λ_k(g) Aire(Σ, g). In the paper [73] it was shown that the maximal metrics for the functional λ_1(g) Aire(Σ, g) at worst can have conical singularities. In this thesis we show that the maximal metrics for the functionals λ_1(g) Aire(T^2, g) and λ_1(g) Aire(KL, g), where  T^2 and  KL stand for the 2-torus and the Klein bottle respectively, cannot have conical singularities. This result is a corollary of a conformal class classification theorem by metrics induced from a branched minimal immersion into a round sphere that we also prove in the thesis.  Another invariant that we study in this thesis is the k-th Friedlander-Nadirashvili invariant defined as: I_k(Σ) = inf{Λ_k(Σ, c)| c ∈ C}. The invariant I_1(Σ) was introduced in the paper [34]. In this thesis we prove that for any orientable surface and any non-orientable surface of odd genus I_k(Σ)=I_k(S^2) and for any non-orientable surface of even genus I_k(RP^2) ≥ I_k(Σ)>I_k(S^2). Here S^2 and RP^2 denote the 2-sphere and the projective plane respectively. We also conjecture that I_k(Σ) are invariants of cobordisms of closed manifolds. The conformal Steklov spectrum is defined in a similar way. Let (Σ, c) be a compact surface with non-empty boundary ∂Σ then the k-th conformal Steklov eigenvalues is defined by the formula: σ*_k(Σ, c)=sup{σ_k(g) Longueur(∂Σ, g)| g ∈ c}, where σ_k(g) is the k-th Steklov eigenvalue of the metric g on Σ. Here we suppose that σ_0(g) = 0. Similarly to the closed problem one can define the following quantities: σ*_k(Σ)=sup{σ*_k(Σ, c)| c ∈ C} and I^σ_k(Σ)=inf{σ*_k(Σ, c)| c ∈ C}. The results of the paper [16] imply that all these quantities are well-defined. In this thesis we obtain a formula for the limit of the k-th conformal Steklov eigenvalue when the sequence of conformal classes degenerates. Using this formula we show that for any surface with boundary I^σ_k(Σ)= I^σ_k(D^2), where D^2 stands for the 2-disc. We also notice that I^σ_k(Σ) are invariants of cobordisms of surfaces with boundary. Moreover, we obtain an upper bound for the functional σ^k(g) Longueur(∂Σ, g), where Σ is non-orientable, in terms of its genus and the number of boundary components.

Keyphrases: spectral geometry, branched minimal immersions, maximal metrics, metrics with conical singularities, conformal spectrum, the Friedlander-Nadirashvili invariants, cobordisms, conformal Steklov spectrum, upper bounds