The behavior under conformal change of the renormalized volume coefficients associated to a pseudo-Riemannian metric is investigated. It is shown that they define second order fully nonlinear operators in the conformal factor whose algebraic structure is elucidated via the introduction of "extended obstruction tensors". These together with the Schouten tensor constitute building blocks for the coefficients in the ambient metric expansion. The renormalized volume coefficients have recently been considered by Chang-Fang motivated by comparison with the elementary symmetric functions of the eigenvalues of the Schouten tensor.
We define weighted renormalized volume coefficients and prove that they are variational. We also prove that they can be written as polynomials of weighted extended obstruction tensors, the weighted Schouten tensor, and the weighted Schouten scalar.
We study the critical points of the renormalized volume for acylindrical geometrically finite hyperbolic 3-manifolds that include rank-1 cusps, and show that the renormalized volume is locally convex around these critical points. We give a modified definition of the renormalized volume that is additive under gluing, and study some local properties.
We introduce a natural definition of the renormalized volume of a 4-dimensional Ricci-flat ALE space. We then prove that the renormalized volume is always less or equal than zero, with equality if and only if the ALE space is isometric to its asymptotic cone. Currently the only known examples of 4-dimensional Ricci-flat ALE spaces are Kronheimer's gravitational instantons and their quotients, which are also known to be the only possible examples of special holonomy. We calculate the renormalized volume of these spaces in terms of Kronheimer's period map.
We extend the concept of renormalized volume for geometrically finite hyperbolic $3$-manifolds, and show that is continuous for geometrically convergent sequences of hyperbolic structures over an acylindrical 3-manifold $M$ with geometrically finite limit. This allows us to show that the renormalized volume attains its minimum (in terms of the conformal class at $\partial M = S$) at the geodesic class, the conformal class for which the boundary of the convex core is totally geodesic.
The Hessian of the renormalized volume of geometrically finite hyperbolic $3$-manifolds without rank-$1$ cusps, computed at the hyperbolic metric $g$ with totally geodesic boundary of the convex core, is shown to be a strictly positive bilinear form on the tangent space to Teichmüller space. The metric $g$ is known from results of Bonahon and Storm to be an absolute minimum for the volume of the convex core. We deduce the strict convexity of the functional volume of the convex core at its minimum point.
There is an obstruction to the existence of Kähler -Einstein metrics which is used to define the GIT weight for K-stability, and it has been extended to various geometric problems. This survey paper considers such extended obstructions to the existence problem of Kähler -Ricci solitons, Sasaki-Einstein metrics and (conformally) Einstein-Maxwell Kähler metrics. These three cases have a common feature that the obstructions are parametrized by a space of vector fields. We see, in these three cases, the obstructions are obtained as the derivative of suitable volume functionals. This tells us for w…
In this note, we prove two Kazdan-Warner type identities involving $v^{(2k)}$, the renormalized volume coefficients of a Riemannian manifold $(M^n,g)$, and $G_{2r}$, the so-called Gauss-Bonnet curvature, and a conformal Killing vector field on $(M^n,g)$. In the case when the Riemannian manifold is locally conformally flat, $v^{(2k)}=(-2)^{-k}σ_k$, $G_{2r}(g)=\frac{4^r(n-r)!r!}{(n-2r)!}σ_r$, and our results reduce to earlier ones established by Viaclovsky and by the second author.
New properties are derived of renormalized volume functionals, which arise as coefficients in the asymptotic expansion of the volume of an asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein (AHE) manifold. A formula is given for the renormalized volume of an even-dimensional AHE manifold in terms of an arbitrary totally geodesic compactification. The second variation of renormalized volume functionals under conformal change is identified, and is used to show that Einstein metrics of nonzero scalar curvature are local extrema.
We study the infimum of the renormalized volume for convex-cocompact hyperbolic manifolds, as well as describing how a sequence converging to such values behaves. In particular, we show that the renormalized volume is continuous under the appropriate notion of limit. This result generalizes previous work in the subject.
A formula of the renormalized volume of tubes over polalized Kähler-Einstein manifolds is given in terms of the Einstein constant and the volume of the polarization.
We obtain upper and lower bounds on the difference between the renormalized volume and the volume of the convex core of a convex cocompact hyperbolic 3-manifold which depend on the injectivity radius of the boundary of the universal cover of the convex core and the Euler characteristic of the boundary of the convex core. These results generalize results of Schlenker obtained in the setting of quasifuchsian hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
We derive a formula of Chern-Gauss-Bonnet type for the Euler characteristic of a four dimensional manifold-with-boundary in terms of the geometry of the Loewner-Nirenberg singular Yamabe metric in a prescribed conformal class. The formula involves the renormalized volume and a boundary integral. It is shown that if the boundary is umbilic, then the sum of the renormalized volume and the boundary integral is a conformal invariant. Analogous results are proved for asymptotically hyperbolic metrics in dimension four for which the second elementary symmetric function of the eigenvalues of the Scho…
We derive a new renormalized volume formula for conformally compact asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds in dimension four. The formula generalizes the ones given by Anderson, Albin, and Chang-Qing-Yang for the case of Poincare-Einstein manifolds. We also derive variational formulas for the renormalized seen as a functional on the manifold.
We consider the Weil-Petersson gradient vector field of renormalized volume on the deformation space of convex cocompact hyperbolic structures on (relatively) acylindrical manifolds. In this paper we prove the conjecture that the flow has a global attracting fixed point at the structure $M_{\rm geod}$ the unique structure with minimum convex core volume.
We show that the renormalized volume of a quasifuchsian hyperbolic 3-manifold is equal, up to an additive constant, to the volume of its convex core. We also provide a precise upper bound on the renormalized volume in terms of the Weil-Petersson distance between the conformal structures at infinity. As a consequence we show that holomorphic disks in Teichmüller space which are large enough must have "enough" negative curvature.
We define and study the renormalized volume for geometrically finite hyperbolic $3$-manifolds, including with rank-$1$ cusps. We prove a variation formula, and show that for certain families of convex co-compact hyperbolic metrics $g_\eps$ degenerating to a geometrically finite hyperbolic metric $g_0$ with rank-$1$ cusps, the renormalized volume converges to the renormalized volume of the limiting metric.
We study the evolution of the renormalized volume functional for asymptotically Poincare-Einstein metrics (M,g) which are evolving by normalized Ricci flow. In particular, we prove that the time derivative of the renormalized volume along the flow is the negative integral of scal(g(t)) + n(n-1) over the manifold. This implies that if scal(g(0))+n(n-1) is non-negative at t=0, then the renormalized volume decreases monotonically. We also discuss how, when n=4, our results describe the Hawking-Page phase transition. Differences in renormalized volumes give rigorous meaning to the Hawking-Page dif…
We reinterpret the renormalized volume as the asymptotic difference of the isoperimetric profiles for convex co-compact hyperbolic 3-manifolds. By similar techniques we also prove a sharp Minkowski inequality for horospherically convex sets in $\mathbb{H}^3$. Finally, we include the classification of stable constant mean curvature surfaces in regions bounded by two geodesic planes in $\mathbb{H}^3$ or in cyclic quotients of $\mathbb{H}^3$.
The conformal powers of the Laplacian of a Riemannian metric which are known as the GJMS-operators admit a combinatorial description in terms of the Taylor coefficients of a natural second-order one-parameter family $\H(r;g)$ of self-adjoint elliptic differential operators. $\H(r;g)$ is a non-Laplace-type perturbation of the conformal Laplacian $P_2(g) = \H(0;g)$. It is defined in terms of the metric $g$ and covariant derivatives of the curvature of $g$. We study the heat kernel coefficients $a_{2k}(r;g)$ of $\H(r;g)$ on closed manifolds. We prove general structural results for the heat kernel…
We survey the renormalized volume of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, as a tool for Teichmuller theory, using simple differential geometry arguments to recover results sometimes first achieved by other means. One such application is McMullen's quasifuchsian (or more generally Kleinian) reciprocity, for which different arguments are proposed. Another is the fact that the renormalized volume of quasifuchsian (or more generally geometrically finite) hyperbolic 3-manifolds provides a Kahler potential for the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmuller space. Yet another is the fact that the grafting map is symple…
To a complex projective structure $Σ$ on a surface, Thurston associates a locally convex pleated surface. We derive bounds on the geometry of both in terms of the norms $\|ϕ_Σ\|_\infty$ and $\|ϕ_Σ\|_2$ of the quadratic differential $ϕ_Σ$ of $Σ$ given by the Schwarzian derivative of the associated locally univalent map. We show that these give a unifying approach that generalizes a number of important, well known results for convex cocompact hyperbolic structures on 3-manifolds, including bounds on the Lipschitz constant for the nearest-point retraction and the length of the bending lamination.…
Quasifuchsian hyperbolic manifolds, or more generally convex co-compact hyperbolic manifolds, have infinite volume, but they have a well-defined ``renormalized'' volume. We outline some relations between this renormalized volume and the volume, or more precisely the ``dual volume'', of the convex core. On one hand, there are striking similarities between them, for instance in their variational formulas. On the other, object related to them tend to be within bounded distance. Those analogies and proximities lead to several questions. Both the renormalized volume and the dual volume can be used …
We develop a general regulated volume expansion for the volume of a manifold with boundary whose measure is suitably singular along a separating hypersurface. The expansion is shown to have a regulator independent anomaly term and a renormalized volume term given by the primitive of an associated anomaly operator. These results apply to a wide range of structures. We detail applications in the setting of measures derived from a conformally singular metric. In particular, we show that the anomaly generates invariant (Q-curvature, transgression)-type pairs for hypersurfaces with boundary. For th…
We define a notion of renormalized volume of an asymptotically hyperbolic manifold. Moreover, we prove a sharp volume comparison theorem for metrics with scalar curvature at least -6. Finally, we show that the inequality is strict unless the metric is isometric to one of the Anti-deSitter-Schwarzschild metrics.
We study the renormalized volume of asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein (AHE in short) manifolds $(M,g)$ when the conformal boundary $\pl M$ has dimension $n$ even. Its definition depends on the choice of metric $h_0$ on $\partial M$ in the conformal class at infinity determined by $g$, we denote it by ${\rm Vol}_R(M,g;h_0)$. We show that ${\rm Vol}_R(M,g;\cdot)$ is a functional admitting a "Polyakov type" formula in the conformal class $[h_0]$ and we describe the critical points as solutions of some non-linear equation $v_n(h_0)={\rm const}$, satisfied in particular by Einstein metrics. In dim…
This paper carries out a renormalization of the volume of the Loewner-Nirenberg singular Yamabe metric in a given conformal class on a compact manifold-with-boundary. This generalizes the usual volume renormalization for Poincare-Einstein metrics. The coefficient of the log term in the volume expansion defines a conformally invariant energy generalizing the Willmore energy of a surface whose variational derivative with respect to variations of the boundary hypersurface is a multiple of the obstruction to smoothness of the singular Yamabe metric itself. The existence of such an energy answers a…
We survey the definitions and some important properties of several asymptotic invariants of smooth manifolds, and discuss some open questions related to them. We prove that the (non-)vanishing of the minimal volume is a differentiable property, which is not invariant under homeomorphisms. We also formulate an obstruction to the existence of Einstein metrics on four-manifolds involving the volume entropy. This generalizes both the Gromov--Hitchin--Thorpe inequality and Sambusetti's obstruction.
We develop a universal distributional calculus for regulated volumes of metrics that are singular along hypersurfaces. When the hypersurface is a conformal infinity we give simple integrated distribution expressions for the divergences and anomaly of the regulated volume functional valid for any choice of regulator. For closed hypersurfaces or conformally compact geometries, methods from a previously developed boundary calculus for conformally compact manifolds can be applied to give explicit holographic formulae for the divergences and anomaly expressed as hypersurface integrals over local qu…
Given a polarized manifold there are obstructions for asymptotic Chow semistability described as integral invariants. One of them is an obstruction to the existence for the first Chern class of the polarization to admit a constant scalar curvature Kähler (cscK) metric. A natural question is whether or not the other obstructions are linearly dependent on the obstruction to the existence of a cscK metric. The purpose of this paper is to see that this is not the case by exhibiting toric Fano threefolds in which these obstructions span at least two dimension. To see this we show that on toric Fano…
Let $M$ be a compact complex manifold admitting a Kähler structure. A conformally Kähler, Einstein-Maxwell metric (cKEM metric for short) is a Hermitian metric $\tilde{g}$ on $M$ with constant scalar curvature such that there is a positive smooth function $f$ with $g = f^2 \tilde{g}$ being a Kähler metric and $f$ being a Killing Hamiltonian potential with respect to $g$. Fixing a Kähler class, we characterize such Killing vector fields whose Hamiltonian function $f$ with respect to some Kähler metric $g$ in the fixed Kähler class gives a cKEM metric $\tilde{g} = f^{-2}g$. The characterization …
With respect to any special boundary defining function, a conformally compact asymptotically hyperbolic metric has an asymptotic expansion near its conformal infinity. If this expansion is even to a certain order and satisfies one extra condition, then it is possible to define its renormalized volume and show that it is independent of choices that preserve this evenness structure. We prove that such expansions are preserved under normalized Ricci flow. We also study the variation of curvature functionals in this setting, and as one application, obtain the variation formula $$ \frac{\rm d}{{\rm…
Let $(X,g)$ be a compact manifold with boundary $M^n$ and $σ$ a defining function of $M$. To these data, we associate natural conformally covariant polynomial one-parameter families of differential operators $C^\infty(X) \to C^\infty(M)$. They arise through a residue construction which generalizes an earlier construction in the framework of Poincaré-Einstein metrics. The main ingredient of the definition of residue families are eigenfunctions of the Laplacian of the singular metric $σ^{-2}g$. We prove that if $σ$ is an approximate solution of a singular Yamabe problem, these families can be wr…
