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In this paper we prove a new matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton (LYH) estimate for K¨ahler-Ricci flow on manifolds with nonnegative bi- sectional curvature. The form of this new LYH estimate is obtained by the interpolation consideration originated in [Ch] by Chow. This new inequality is shown to be connected with Perelman’s entropy formula through a family of differential equalities. In the rest of the paper, we show several applications of this new estimate and its corresponding estimate for linear heat equation. These include a sharp heat kernel comparison theorem, generalizing the earlier result of Li and Tian [LT], a manifold version of Stoll’s theorem [St] on the characterization of ‘algebraic divisors’, and a localized monotonicity formula for analytic subvari- eties, which sharpens the Bishop volume comparison theorem. Motivated by the connection between the heat kernel estimate and the reduced volume monotonicity of Perelman [P], we prove a sharp lower bound of the fundamental solution to the forward conjugate heat equation, which in a certain sense dual to Perelman’s monotonicity of the reduced volume. As an application of this new monotonicity formula, we show that the blow-down limit of a certain type of long-time solution is a gradient expanding soliton, generalizing an earlier result of Cao. We also illustrate the connection between the new LYH estimate and the Hessian comparison theorem of [FIN] on the forward reduced distance. Localized monotonicity formulae on entropy and forward reduced volume are also derived.

Contrast to the hyperbolic mean curvature flows studied in [HKL], [LS], and [KW], a new hyperbolic curvature flow is proposed for convex hypersurfaces. This flow is most suited when the Gauss curvature is involved. The equation satisfied by the graph of the hypersurface under this flow gives rise to a new class of fully nonlinear Euclidean invariant hyperbolic equations.

In this paper, we initiate the study of the instability of naked singularities without symmetries. In a series of papers, Christodoulou proved that naked singularities are not stable in the context of the spherically symmetric Einstein equations coupled with a massless scalar field. We study in this paper the next simplest case: a characteristic initial value problem of this coupled system with the initial data given on two intersecting null cones, the incoming one of which is assumed to be spherically symmetric and singular at its vertex, and the outgoing one of which has no symmetries. It is shown that, arbitrarily fixing the initial scalar field, the set of the initial conformal metrics on the outgoing null cone such that the maximal future development does not have any sequences of closed trapped surfaces approaching the singularity, is of first category in the whole space in which the shear tensors are continuous. Such a set can then be viewed as exceptional, although the exceptionality is weaker than the at least 1 co-dimensionality in spherical symmetry. Almost equivalently, it is also proved that, arbitrarily fixing an incoming null cone C––ε to the future of the initial incoming null cone, the set of the initial conformal metrics such that the maximal future development has at least one closed trapped surface before C––ε, contains an open and dense subset of the whole space. Since the initial scalar field can be chosen such that the singularity is naked if the initial shear is set to be zero, we may say that the spherical naked singularities of a self-gravitating scalar field are not stable under gravitational perturbations. This in particular gives new families of non-spherically symmetric gravitational perturbations different from the original spherically symmetric scalar perturbations given by Christodoulou.

We study integral and pointwise bounds on the curvature of gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. As applications, we discuss gap and compactness results for gradient shrinkers.