Let $\psi $ be a decreasing function. We prove zero-infinity Hausdorff measure criteria for the set of dual $\psi $-approximable points and for the set of inhomogeneous multiplicative $\psi $-approximable points on nondegenerate planar curves. Our results extend theorems of Huang [‘Hausdorff theory of dual approximation on planar curves’, J. reine angew. Math. 740 (2018), 63–76] and Beresnevich and Velani [‘A note on three problems in metric Diophantine approximation’, in: Recent Trends in Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, Contemporary Mathematics, 631 (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2015), 211–229] from s-Hausdorff measure, where $s\in \mathbb R$, to the more general g-Hausdorff measure, where g is a suitable class of dimension functions.

The paper proves transportation inequalities for probability measures on spheres for the Wasserstein metrics with respect to cost functions that are powers of the geodesic distance. Let $\mu$ be a probability measure on the sphere ${\bf S}^n$ of the form $d\mu =e^{-U(x)}{\rm d}x$ where ${\rm d}x$ is the rotation invariant probability measure, and $(n-1)I+{\hbox {Hess}}\,U\geq {\kappa _U}I$, where $\kappa _U>0$. Then any probability measure $\nu$ of finite relative entropy with respect to $\mu$ satisfies ${\hbox {Ent}}(\nu \mid \mu ) \geq (\kappa _U/2)W_2(\nu,\, \mu )^2$. The proof uses an explicit formula for the relative entropy which is also valid on connected and compact $C^\infty$ smooth Riemannian manifolds without boundary. A variation of this entropy formula gives the Lichnérowicz integral.

The main result of the present article is a Rademacher-type theorem for intrinsic Lipschitz graphs of codimension $k\leq n$ in sub-Riemannian Heisenberg groups ${\mathbb H}^{n}$ . For the purpose of proving such a result, we settle several related questions pertaining both to the theory of intrinsic Lipschitz graphs and to the one of currents. First, we prove an extension result for intrinsic Lipschitz graphs as well as a uniform approximation theorem by means of smooth graphs: both of these results stem from a new definition (equivalent to the one introduced by B. Franchi, R. Serapioni and F. Serra Cassano) of intrinsic Lipschitz graphs and are valid for a more general class of intrinsic Lipschitz graphs in Carnot groups. Second, our proof of Rademacher’s theorem heavily uses the language of currents in Heisenberg groups: one key result is, for us, a version of the celebrated constancy theorem. Inasmuch as Heisenberg currents are defined in terms of Rumin’s complex of differential forms, we also provide a convenient basis of Rumin’s spaces. Eventually, we provide some applications of Rademacher’s theorem including a Lusin-type result for intrinsic Lipschitz graphs, the equivalence between ${\mathbb H}$ -rectifiability and ‘Lipschitz’ ${\mathbb H}$ -rectifiability and an area formula for intrinsic Lipschitz graphs in Heisenberg groups.

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a compact simple Lie algebra of dimension $d$. It is a classical result that the convolution of any $d$ non-trivial, $G$-invariant, orbital measures is absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure on $\mathfrak{g}$, and the sum of any $d$ non-trivial orbits has non-empty interior. The number $d$ was later reduced to the rank of the Lie algebra (or rank +1 in the case of type ${{A}_{n}}$). More recently, the minimal integer $k\,=\,k\left( X \right)$ such that the $k$-fold convolution of the orbital measure supported on the orbit generated by $X$ is an absolutely continuous measure was calculated for each $X\,\in \,\mathfrak{g}$.

In this paper $\mathfrak{g}$ is any of the classical, compact, simple Lie algebras. We characterize the tuples $\left( {{X}_{1}},\,.\,.\,.\,,\,{{X}_{L}} \right)$, with ${{X}_{i}}\,\in \,\mathfrak{g}$, which have the property that the convolution of the $L$-orbital measures supported on the orbits generated by the ${{X}_{i}}$ is absolutely continuous, and, equivalently, the sum of their orbits has non-empty interior. The characterization depends on the Lie type of $\mathfrak{g}$ and the structure of the annihilating roots of the ${{X}_{i}}$. Such a characterization was previously known only for type ${{A}_{n}}$.

We show that every orbital measure, ${\mu }_{x} $, on a compact exceptional Lie group or algebra has the property that for every positive integer either ${ \mu }_{x}^{k} \in {L}^{2} $ and the support of ${ \mu }_{x}^{k} $ has non-empty interior, or ${ \mu }_{x}^{k} $ is singular to Haar measure and the support of ${ \mu }_{x}^{k} $ has Haar measure zero. We also determine the index $k$ where the change occurs; it depends on properties of the set of annihilating roots of $x$. This result was previously established for the classical Lie groups and algebras. To prove this dichotomy result we combinatorially characterize the subroot systems that are kernels of certain homomorphisms.

Let 0 < wbe a smooth function on a complete Riemannian manifold Mn, and define L = — Δ — ▽ (log w) and Rw =Ric - w -1 Hess w.In this paper we show that if Rw ≥ —nK, (K ≥0), then the positive solutions of (L + ∂/∂t)u —0 satisfy a gradient estimate of the same form as that obtained by Li and Yau ([LY]) when Lis the Laplacian. This is used to obtain a parabolic Harnack inequality, which in turn, yields upper and lower Gaussian estimates for the heat kernel of L.The results obtained are applied to study the LPmapping properties of t→ e-tL μfor measures μ which are α-dimensional in a sense that generalises the local uniform α-dimensionality introduced by R. S. Strichartz ([St2], [St3]).