Iterated logarithms and gradient flows

Abstract

We consider applications of the theory of balanced weight filtrations and iterated logarithms, initiated in arXiv:1706.01073, to PDEs. The main result is a complete description of the asymptotics of the Yang--Mills flow on the space of metrics on a holomorphic bundle over a Riemann surface. A key ingredient in the argument is a monotonicity property of the flow which holds in arbitrary dimension. The A-side analog is a modified curve shortening flow for which we provide a heuristic calculation in support of a detailed conjectural picture.