For a compact manifold $M$ of $\dim M =n\geq 4$, we study two conformal invariants of a conformal class $C$ on $M$. These are the Yamabe constant $Y_C(M)$ and the $L^{\frac{n}{2}}$-norm $W_C(M)$ of the Weyl curvature. We prove that for any manifold $M$ there exists a conformal class $C$ such that the Yamabe constant $Y_C(M)$ is arbitrarily close to the Yamabe invariant $Y(M)$, and, at the same time, the constant $W_C(M)$ is arbitrarily large. We study the image of the map $\YW: C\mapsto (Y_C(M),W_C(M))\in \R^2$ near the line $\{(Y(M),w) | w\in \R\}$. We also apply our results to certain classes of 4-manifolds, in particular, minimal compact Kähler surfaces of Kodaira dimension 0, 1 or 2.
It is shown that on every closed oriented Riemannian 4-manifold $(M,g)$ with positive scalar curvature, $$\int_M|W^+_g|^2dμ_{g}\geq 2π^2(2χ(M)+3τ(M))-\frac{8π^2}{|π_1(M)|},$$ where $W^+_g$, $χ(M)$ and $τ(M)$ respectively denote the self-dual Weyl tensor of $g$, the Euler characteristic and the signature of $M$. This generalizes Gursky's inequality \cite{gur} for the case of $b_1(M)>0$ in a much simpler way. We also extend all such lower bounds of the Weyl functional to 4-orbifolds including Gursky's inequalities for the case of $b_2^+(M)>0$ or $δ_gW^+_g=0$, and obtain topological obstructions …
In this paper the rate relations of Riemann, conformal, conharmonic and Weyl curvature tensors under Yamabe flow are studied. Modified Riemann extensions under Yamabe flow is discussed. The paper ends with remarks on some standard metrics.
In this paper, we investigate the behavior of ADM mass and Einstein-Hilbert functional under the Yamabe flow. Through studying the Yamabe flow by weighted spaces, we show that ADM mass and Einstein-Hilbert functional are well-defined and monotone non-increasing under the Yamabe flow on $n$-dimensional, $n\geq 3$, asymptotically flat manifolds. In the case of dimension $n=3$ or 4, we obtain that the ADM mass is invariant under the Yamabe flow and the Yamabe flow is the gradient flow of Einstein-Hilbert functional on asymptotically flat manifolds
We build blowing-up solutions for linear perturbation of the Yamabe problem on manifolds with umbilic boundary, provided the Weyl tensor is nonzero everywhere on the boundary and the dimension of the manifold is n>10.
We build blowing-up solutions for a supercritical perturbation of the Yamabe problem on manifolds with umbilic boundary provided the dimension of the manifold is n>7 and that the Weyl tensor W(x) is not vanishing on the boundary of M.
If a smooth compact 4-manifold M admits a Kaehler-Einstein metric g of positive scalar curvature, Gursky showed that its conformal class [g] is an absolute minimizer of the Weyl functional among all conformal classes with positive Yamabe constant. Here we prove that, with the same hypotheses, [g] also minimizes of the Weyl functional on a different open set of conformal classes, most of which have negative Yamabe constant. An analogous minimization result is then proved for Einstein metrics g which are Hermitian, but not Kaehler.
It is shown that 3D part of a spherically symmetric solution in conformal Weyl gravity interacting with Maxwell electrodynamics is a Yamabe flow as well. The Yamabe flow describes the transition from a horn of an initial wormhole to a 3D Euclidean space both filled with a radial electric field. It is supposed that such transition may describe appearing/disappearing quantum wormholes in a spacetime foam.
Given a compact Riemannian manifold, with positive Yamabe quotient, not conformally diffeomorphic to the standard sphere, we prove a priori estimates for solutions to the Yamabe problem. We restrict ourselves to the dimensions less than or equal to 7, where the Positive Mass Theorem is known to be true. We also show that, when the dimension is greater than or equal to 6, the Weyl tensor has to vanish at a point where solutions to the Yamabe equation blow up.
We propose a flow to study the Chern-Yamabe problem and discuss the long time existence of the flow. In the balanced case we show that the Chern-Yamabe problem is the Euler-Lagrange equation of some functional. The monotonicity of the functional along the flow is derived. We also show that the functional is not bounded from below.
For a sequence of blow up solutions of the Yamabe equation on non-locally confonformally flat compact Riemannian manifolds of dimension 10 or 11, we establish sharp estimates on its asymptotic profile near blow up points as well as sharp decay estimates of the Weyl tensor and its covariant derivatives at blow up points. If the Positive Mass Theorem held in dimensions 10 and 11, these estimates would imply the compactness of the set of solutions of the Yamabe equation on such manifolds.
We express two CR invariant surface area elements in terms of quantities in pseudohermitian geometry. We deduce the Euler-Lagrange equations of the associated energy functionals. Many solutions are given and discussed. In relation to the singular CR Yamabe problem, we show that one of the energy functionals appears as the coefficient (up to a constant multiple) of the log term in the associated volume renormalization.
In this paper we consider the functional whose critical points are solutions of the fractional CR Yamabe type equation on the sphere. We firstly study the behavior of the Palais-Smale sequences characterizing the bubbling phenomena and therefore we prove a multiplicity type result by showing the existence of infinitely many solutions to the related equation.
Given $(M,g_0)$ a closed Riemannian manifold and a nonempty closed subset $X$ in $M$, the singular $σ_k-$Yamabe problem asks for a complete metric $g$ on $M\backslash X$ conformal to $g_0$ with constant $σ_k-$curvature. The $σ_k-$curvature is defined as the $k-$th elementary symmetric function of the eigenvalues of the Schouten tensor of a Riemannian metric. The main goal of this paper is to find solutions to the singular $σ_2-$Yamabe problem with isolated singularities in any compact non-degenerate manifold such that the Weyl tensor vanishing to sufficiently high order at the singular point. …
We develop the calculus for hypersurface variations based on variation of the hypersurface defining function. This is used to show that the functional gradient of a new Willmore-like, conformal hypersurface energy agrees exactly with the obstruction to smoothly solving the singular Yamabe problem for conformally compact four-manifolds. We give explicit hypersurface formulae for both the energy functional and the obstruction.
We study the problem of conformal deformation of Riemannian structure to constant scalar curvature with zero mean curvature on the boundary. We prove compactness for the full set of solutions when the boundary is umbilic and the dimension $n \leq 24$. The Weyl Vanishing Theorem is also established under these hypotheses, and we provide counter-examples to compactness when $n \geq 25$. Lastly, our methods point towards a vanishing theorem for the umbilicity tensor, which is anticipated to be fundamental for a study of the nonumbilic case.
We consider the equivariant Yamabe problem, i.e. the Yamabe problem on the space of G-invariant metrics for a compact Lie group G. The G-Yamabe invariant is analogously defined as the supremum of the constant scalar curvatures of unit volume G-invariant metrics minimizing the total scalar curvature functional in their G-invariant conformal subclasses. We prove a formula about how the G-Yamabe invariant changes under the surgery of codimension 3 or more, and compute some G-Yamabe invariants.
In this paper we study the problem of finding a conformal metric with the property that the k-th elementary symmetric polynomial of the eigenvalues of its Weyl-Schouten tensor is constant. A new conformal invariant involving maximal volumes is defined, and this invariant is then used in several cases to prove existence of a solution, and compactness of the space of solutions (provided the conformal class admits an admissible metric). In particular, the problem is completely solved in dimension four, and in dimension three if the manifold is not simply connected.
We prove that a minimizer of the Yamabe functional does not exist for a sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ of dimension $n \geq 3$, endowed with a standard edge-cone spherical metric of cone angle greater than or equal to $4π$, along a great circle of codimension two. When the cone angle along the singularity is smaller than $2π$, the corresponding metric is known to be a Yamabe metric, and we show that all Yamabe metrics in its conformal class are obtained from it by constant multiples and conformal diffeomorphisms preserving the singular set.
For a closed Riemannian manifold $(M^m,g)$ of constant positive scalar curvature and any other closed Riemannian manifold $(N^n,h)$, we show that the limit of the Yamabe constants of the Riemannian products $(M\times N,g+rh)$ as $r$ goes to infinity is equal to the Yamabe constant of $(M^m \times R^n, [g+g_E])$ and is strictly less than the Yamabe invariant of $S^{m+n}$ provided $n\geq 2$. We then consider the minimum of the Yamabe functional restricted to functions of the second variable and we compute the limit in terms of the best constants of the Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequalities.
The study of the $k$-th elementary symmetric function of the Weyl-Schouten curvature tensor of a Riemannian metric, the so called $σ_k$ curvature, has produced many fruitful results in conformal geometry in recent years. In these studies, the deforming conformal factor is considered to be a solution of a fully nonlinear elliptic PDE. Important advances have been made in recent years in the understanding of the analytic behavior of solutions of the PDE. However, the singular behavior of these solutions, which is important in describing many important questions in conformal geometry, is little u…
We introduce a double iterative scheme and local variational method to solve the Yamabe-type equation $ - \frac{4(n - 1)}{n - 2}Δ_{g} u + (S_{g} + β) u = λu^{\frac{n + 2}{n - 2}} $ for some constant $ β\leqslant 0 $, locally on Riemannian domain $ (Ω, g) $ with trivial Dirichlet condition and globally on closed manifolds $ (M, g) $; the dimensions of $ Ω$ and $ M $ are at least 3. In contrast to the traditional global variational method, these Yamabe-type equations on closed manifolds are analyzed by local analysis and monotone iteration scheme. In particular, we do not need to use the Weyl te…
A conformal geometry determines a distinguished, potentially singular, variant of the usual Yamabe problem, where the conformal factor can change sign. When a smooth solution does change sign, its zero locus is a smoothly embedded separating hypersurface that, in dimension three, is necessarily a Willmore energy minimiser or, in higher dimensions, satisfies a conformally invariant analog of the Willmore equation. In any case the zero locus is critical for a conformal functional that generalises the total Q-curvature by including extrinsic data. These observations lead to some interesting globa…
For the Bach-flat closed manifold with positive scalar curvature, we prove a rigidity result under a given inequality involving the Weyl curvature and the traceless Ricci curvature. Moveover, under an inequality involving $L^{\frac{n}{2}}$-norm of the Weyl curvature, the traceless Ricci curvature and the Yamabe invariant, we also provide a similar rigidity result. As an application, we obtain some rigidity results on 4-dimensional manifolds.
We introduce the notion of pseudohermitian k-curvature, which is a natural extension of the Webster scalar curvature, on an orientable manifold endowed with a strictly pseudoconvex pseudohermitian structure (referred here as a CR manifold) and raise the k-Yamabe problem on a compact CR manifold. When k=1, the problem was proposed and partially solved by Jerison and Lee for CR manifolds non-locally CR-equivalent to the CR sphere. For k > 1, the problem can be translated in terms of the study of a fully nonlinear equation of type complex k-Hessian. We provide some partial answers related to the …
This article uses the iterative schemes and perturbation methods to completely solve the Han-Li conjecture, i.e. the general boundary Yamabe problem with prescribed constant scalar curvature and constant mean curvature on compact manifolds $ (M, \partial M, g) $ with non-empty smooth boundary, $ \dim M \geqslant 3 $. It is equivalent to show the existence of a real, positive, smooth solution of $ -\frac{4(n -1)}{n - 2} Δ_{g} u + R_{g} u = λu^{\frac{n+2}{n - 2}} $ in $ M $, $ \frac{\partial u}{\partial ν} + \frac{n-2}{2} h_{g} u = \frac{n-2}{2} ζu^{\frac{n}{n - 2}} $ on $ \partial M $ with some…
On four-dimensional closed manifolds we introduce a class of canonical Riemannian metrics, that we call weak harmonic Weyl metrics, defined as critical points in the conformal class of a quadratic functional involving the norm of the divergence of the Weyl tensor. This class includes Einstein and, more in general, harmonic Weyl manifolds. We prove that every closed four-manifold admits a weak harmonic Weyl metric, which is the unique (up to dilations) minimizer of the functional in a suitable conformal class. In general the problem is degenerate elliptic due to possible vanishing of the Weyl t…
We study existence and non-existence of constant scalar curvature metrics conformal and arbitrarily close to homogeneous metrics on spheres, using variational techniques. This describes all critical points of the Hilbert-Einstein functional on such conformal classes, near homogeneous metrics. Both bifurcation and local rigidity type phenomena are obtained for 1-parameter families of U(n+1), Sp(n+1) and Spin(9)-homogeneous metrics.
We obtain some estimates on the area of the boundary and on the volume of a certain free boundary hypersurface $Σ$ with nonpositive Yamabe invariant in a Riemannian $n$-manifold with bounds for the scalar curvature and the mean curvature of the boundary. Assuming further that $Σ$ is locally volume-minimizing in a manifold $M^n$ with scalar curvature bounded below by a nonpositive constant and mean convex boundary, we conclude that locally $M$ splits along $Σ$. In the case that the scalar curvature of $M$ is at least $-n(n-1)$ and $Σ$ locally minimizes a certain functional inspired by [30], a n…
It is shown in the paper "Variational Properties of the Gauss-Bonnet Curvatures" of M.L. Labbi, that metrics with constant 2k-Gauss-Bonnet curvature on a closed n-dimensional manifold, 1<2k<n, are critical points for a certain Hilbert type functional with respect to volume preserving conformal variations. This motivates the corresponding Yamabe problem: is it true that any metric on a closed manifold is conformal to a metric with constant 2k-Gauss-Bonnet curvature? Using perturbative methods we affirmatively answer this question for small perturbations of certain space forms. More precisely, i…
In this paper we first use the result in $[12]$ to remove the assumption of the $L^2$ boundedness of Weyl curvature in the gap theorem in $[9]$ and then obtain a gap theorem for a class of conformally compact Einstein manifolds with very large renormalized volume. We also uses the blow-up method to derive curvature estimates for conformally compact Einstein manifolds with large renormalized volume. The second part of this paper is on conformally compact Einstein manifolds with conformal infinities of large Yamabe constants. Based on the idea in $[15]$ we manage to give the complete proof of th…
We study integral curvature conditions for a Riemannian metric $g$ on $S^4$ that quantify the best bilipschitz constant between $(S^4,g)$ and the standard metric on $S^4$. Our results show that the best bilipschitz constant is controlled by the $L^2$-norm of the Weyl tensor and the $L^1$-norm of the $Q$-curvature, under the conditions that those quantities are sufficiently small, $g$ has a positive Yamabe constant and the $Q$-curvature is mean-positive. The proof of the result is achieved in two steps. Firstly, we construct a quasiconformal map between two conformally related metrics in a posi…
In this paper, we study the geometric aspects of ball packings on $(M,\mathcal{T})$, where $\mathcal{T}$ is a triangulation on a 3-manifold $M$. We introduce a combinatorial Yamabe invariant $Y_{\mathcal{T}}$, depending on the topology of $M$ and the combinatoric of $\mathcal{T}$. We prove that $Y_{\mathcal{T}}$ is attainable if and only if there is a constant curvature packing, and the combinatorial Yamabe problem can be solved by minimizing Cooper-Rivin-Glickenstein functional. We then study the combinatorial Yamabe flow introduced by Glickenstein \cite{G0}-\cite{G2}. We first prove a small …
In this paper, we prove some rigidity results for the Einstein metrics as the critical points of a family of known quadratic curvature functionals on closed manifolds, characterized by some point-wise inequalities. Moreover, we also provide a few rigidity results that involve the Weyl curvature, the trace-less Ricci curvature and the Yamabe invariant, accordingly.
Let $(M, g_0)$ be a closed 4-manifold with positive Yamabe invariant and with $L^2$-small Weyl curvature tensor. Let $g_1 \in [g_0]$ be any metric in the conformal class of $g_0$ whose scalar curvature is $L^2$-close to a constant. We prove that the set of Riemannian metrics in the conformal class $[g_0]$ that are isospectral to $g_1$ is compact in the $C^\infty$ topology.
It has been showed by Byde that it is possible to attach a Delaunay-type end to a compact nondegenerate manifold of positive constant scalar curvature, provided it is locally conformally flat in a neighborhood of the attaching point. The resulting manifold is noncompact with the same constant scalar curvature. The main goal of this paper is to generalize this result. We will construct a one-parameter family of solutions to the positive singular Yamabe problem for any compact non-degenerate manifold with Weyl tensor vanishing to sufficiently high order at the singular point. If the dimension is…
The infimum of the Weyl functional is shown to be surprisingly small on many compact 4-manifolds that admit positive-scalar-curvature metrics. Results are also proved that systematically compare the scalar and self-dual Weyl curvatures of certain almost-Kaehler 4-manifolds.
Given a smooth compact manifold with boundary, we study variational properties of the volume functional and of the area functional of the boundary, restricted to the space of the Riemannian metrics with prescribed curvature. We obtain a sufficient and necessary condition for a metric to be a critical point. As a by-product, a very natural analogue of V-statics metrics is obtained. In the second part, using the Yamabe invariant in the boundary setting, we solve the Kazdan-Warner-Kobayashi problem in a compact manifold with boundary. For several cases, depending on the signal of the Yamabe invar…
We study Yamabe metrics, and the moduli space of Yamabe metrics, on an arbitrary closed 3-manifold M. The main focus is on the boundary behavior of the moduli space, i.e. the behavior of degenerating sequences of unit volume Yamabe metrics on M. It is proved that such degenerations, when non-trivial in a certain sense, are described by solutions of the static vacuum Einstein equations. Natural conditions are given for the non-triviality of degenerating sequences and relations with Palais-Smale sequences for the Einstein-Hilbert functional are explored. A number of new examples, both trivial an…
We prove that a critical metric of the volume functional on a $4$-dimensional compact manifold with boundary satisfying a second-order vanishing condition on the Weyl tensor must be isometric to a geodesic ball in a simply connected space form $\mathbb{R}^{4}$, $\mathbb{H}^{4}$ or $\mathbb{S}^{4}.$ Moreover, we provide an integral curvature estimate involving the Yamabe constant for critical metrics of the volume functional, which allows us to get a rigidity result for such critical metrics.
One of the main aims of this article is to give the complete classification of critical metrics of the volume functional on a compact manifold $M$ with boundary $\partial M$ and with harmonic Weyl tensor, which improves the corresponding classification for complete locally conformally flat case, due to Miao and Tam [18]. In particular, we prove that a critical metric with harmonic Weyl tensor on a simply connected compact manifold with boundary isometric to a standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ must be isometric to a geodesic ball in a simply connected space form $\Bbb{R}^n,$ $\Bbb{H}^n$ and $\…
The double tetrahedron is the triangulation of the three-sphere gotten by gluing together two congruent tetrahedra along their boundaries. As a piecewise flat manifold, its geometry is determined by its six edge lengths, giving a notion of a metric on the double tetrahedron. We study notions of Einstein metrics, constant scalar curvature metrics, and the Yamabe problem on the double tetrahedron, with some reference to the possibilities on a general piecewise flat manifold. The main tool is analysis of Regge's Einstein-Hilbert functional, a piecewise flat analogue of the Einstein-Hilbert (or to…
The Han-Li conjecture states that: Let $(M,g_0)$ be an $n$-dimensional $(n\geq 3)$ smooth compact Riemannian manifold with boundary having positive (generalized) Yamabe constant and $c$ be any real number, then there exists a conformal metric of $g_0$ with scalar curvature $1$ and boundary mean curvature $c$. Combining with Z. C. Han and Y. Y. Li's results, we answer this conjecture affirmatively except for the case that $n\geq 8$, the boundary is umbilic, the Weyl tensor of $M$ vanishes on the boundary and has a non-zero interior point.
In this paper, we introduce two discrete curvature flows, which are called $α$-flows on two and three dimensional triangulated manifolds. For triangulated surface $M$, we introduce a new normalization of combinatorial Ricci flow (first introduced by Bennett Chow and Feng Luo \cite{CL1}), aiming at evolving $α$ order discrete Gauss curvature to a constant. When $αχ(M)\leq0$, we prove that the convergence of the flow is equivalent to the existence of constant $α$-curvature metric. We further get a necessary and sufficient combinatorial-topological-metric condition, which is a generalization of T…
This paper consists of two parts. In the first part we show that in odd dimension, as well as in even dimension below the critical weight (i.e. half the dimension), the logarithmic singularities of Schwartz kernels and Green kernels of conformal invariant pseudodifferential operators are linear combinations of Weyl conformal invariants, i.e., of local conformal invariants arising from complete tensorial contractions of the covariant derivatives of the Lorentz ambient metric of Fefferman-Graham. In even dimension and above the critical weight exceptional local conformal invariants may further c…
A functional ansatz is developed which gives certain elliptic solutions of the Witten-Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde (or WDVV) equation. This is based on the elliptic trilogarithm function introduced by Beilinson and Levin. For this to be a solution results in a number of purely algebraic conditions on the set of vectors that appear in the ansatz, this providing an elliptic version of the idea, introduced by Veselov, of a V-system. Rational and trigonometric limits are studied together with examples of elliptic V-systems based on various Weyl groups. Jacobi group orbit spaces are studied: these c…
For a smooth compact Riemannian manifold with positive Yamabe invariant, positive Q curvature and dimension at least 5, we prove the existence of a conformal metric with constant Q curvature. Our approach is based on the study of extremal problem for a new functional involving the Paneitz operator.
We study compactness for nonnegative solutions of the fourth order constant $Q$-curvature equations on smooth compact Riemannian manifolds of dimension $\ge 5$. If the $Q$-curvature equals $-1$, we prove that all solutions are universally bounded. If the $Q$-curvature is $1$, assuming that Paneitz operator's kernel is trivial and its Green function is positive, we establish universal energy bounds on manifolds which are either locally conformally flat (LCF) or of dimension $\le 9$. Moreover, assuming in addition that a positive mass type theorem holds for the Paneitz operator, we prove compact…
We prove that a $4$-dimensional simply connected, compact critical metric of the volume functional with harmonic anti-self dual Weyl tensor and boundary isometric to a standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^{3}$ is isometric to a geodesic ball in a simply connected space form $\mathbb{R}^{4}$, $\mathbb{H}^{4}$ or $\mathbb{S}^{4}.$
The invariant theory for conformal hypersurfaces is studied by treating these as the conformal infinity of a conformally compact manifold: For a given conformal hypersurface embedding, a distinguished ambient metric is found (within its conformal class) by solving a singular version of the Yamabe problem. Using existence results for asymptotic solutions to this problem, we develop the details of how to proliferate conformal hypersurface invariants. In addition we show how to compute the the solution's asymptotics. We also develop a calculus of conformal hypersurface invariant differential oper…
