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.
The goal of this paper is to study Yamabe flow on a complete Riemannian manifold of bounded geometry with possibly infinite volume. In the case of infinite volume, standard volume normalization of the Yamabe flow fails and the flow may not converge. Instead, we consider a curvature normalized Yamabe flow, and assuming negative scalar curvature, prove its long-time existence and convergence. This extends the results of Suárez-Serrato and Tapie to a non-compact setting. In the appendix, we specify our analysis of a particular example of manifolds with bounded geometry, namely manifolds with fibe…
We prove the existence of a solution of the Yamabe equation on complete manifolds with finite volume and positive Yamabe invariant. In order to circumvent the standard methods on closed manifolds which heavily rely on global (compact) Sobolev embeddings we approximate the solution by eigenfunctions of certain conformal complete metrics. This also gives rise to a new proof of the well-known result for closed manifolds and positive Yamabe invariant.
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…
The aim of this short note is to produce new examples of geometrical flows associated to a given Riemannian flow $g(t)$. The considered flow in covariant symmetric $2$-tensor fields will be called Ricci-Yamabe map since it involves a scalar combination of Ricci tensor and scalar curvature of $g(t)$. Due to the signs of considered scalars the Ricci-Yamabe flow can be also a Riemannian or semi-Riemannian or singular Riemannian flow. We study the associated function of volume variation as well as the volume entropy. Finally, since the two-dimensional case was the most handled situation we express…
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…
In his study of Ricci flow, Perelman introduced a smooth-manifold invariant called lambda-bar. We show here that, for completely elementary reasons, this invariant simply equals the Yamabe invariant, alias the sigma constant, whenever the latter is non-positive. On the other hand, the Perelman invariant just equals + infinity whenever the Yamabe invariant is positive.
In this short note, exploits of constructions of $\mathcal{F}$-structures coupled with technology developed by Cheeger-Gromov and Paternain-Petean are seen to yield a procedure to compute minimal entropy, minimal volume, Yamabe invariant and to study collapsing with bounded sectional curvature on inequivalent smooth structures and inequivalent PL-structures within a fixed homeomorphism class. We compute these fundamental Riemannian invariants for every high-dimensional smooth manifold on the homeomorphism class of any smooth manifold that admits a Riemannian metric of zero sectional curvature.…
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…
Let $(M,g)$ be a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension $n \geq 3$. We define the second Yamabe invariant as the infimum of the second eigenvalue of the Yamabe operator over the metrics conformal to $g$ and of volume 1. We study when it is attained. As an application, we find nodal solutions of the Yamabe equation.
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.
We characterize the rate of convergence of a converging volume-normalized Yamabe flow in terms of Morse theoretic properties of the limiting metric. If the limiting metric is an integrable critical point for the Yamabe functional (for example, this holds when the critical point is non-degenerate), then we show that the flow converges exponentially fast. In general, we make use of a suitable Lojasiewicz-Simon inequality to prove that the slowest the flow will converge is polynomially. When the limit metric satisfies an Adams-Simon type condition we prove that there exist flows converging to it …
For a given finite subset $S$ of a compact Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ whose Schouten curvature tensor belongs to a given cone, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence and uniqueness of a conformal metric on $M \setminus S$ such that each point of $S$ corresponds to an asymptotically flat end and that the Schouten tensor of the conformal metric belongs to the boundary of the given cone. As a by-product, we define a purely local notion of Ricci lower bounds for continuous metrics which are conformal to smooth metrics and prove a corresponding volume comparison theore…
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.
Let (M,g) be a compact manifold of dimension n greater or equals to 3. We suppose that g is a given metric in a precised Sobolev space and there is a point P in M and d>o such that g is smooth on the ball B(P,d). We define the second Yamabe invariant with singularities a the minimum of the second eigenvalue of the singular Yamabe operator over a generalized class of conformal metrics to g and of volume 1. We show that this operator is attained by a generalized metric, we deduce nodal solutions to a Yamabe type equation with singularities.
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 …
The Yamabe Invariant of a smooth compact manifold is by definition the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume Yamabe metrics on the manifold. For an explicit infinite class of 4-manifolds, we show that this invariant is positive but strictly less than that of the 4-sphere. This is done by using spin^c Dirac operators to control the lowest eigenvalue of a perturbation of the Yamabe Laplacian. These results dovetail perfectly with those derived from the perturbed Seiberg-Witten equations, but the present method is much more elementary in spirit.
We study the set of volumes of constant scalar curvature one metrics on an atoroidal three-manifold.The infinum of this set is believed to be attained at a hyperbolic metric. We prove that the supremum of this set is always infinity. The technique is: minimal surfaces, Thurston norm in homology and new conformal invariants.
We make use of $\mathcal{F}$-structures and technology developed by Paternain - Petean to compute minimal entropy, minimal volume, and Yamabe invariant of symplectic 4-manifolds, as well as to study their collapse with sectional curvature bounded from below. À la Gompf, we show that these invariants vanish on symplectic 4-manifolds that realize any given finitely presented group as their fundamental group. We extend to the symplectic realm a result of LeBrun which relates the Kodaira dimension with the Yamabe invariant of compact complex surfaces.
The conformal method has been effective for parametrizing solutions to the Einstein constraint equations on closed 3-manifolds. However, it is still not well-understood; for example, existence of solutions to the conformal equations for zero or negative Yamabe metrics is still unknown without the so-called ``CMC'' or ``near-CMC'' assumptions. The first existence results without such assumptions, termed the ``far-from-CMC'' case, were obtained by Holst, Nagy, and Tsogtgerel in 2008 for positive Yamabe metrics. However, their results are based on topological arguments, and as a result solution u…
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…
Let $(M^m,g_M)$ be a closed, connected manifold with positive scalar curvature and $(T^k,g)$ some flat $k$-Torus of unit volume. By a result of F. Dobarro and E. Lami Dozo, there exists a unique $f: M \rightarrow \mathbf{R}_{>0}$ such that the warped product $M\times_f T^k$ has constant scalar curvature and unit volume. We study the Yamabe equation on these spaces. We use techniques from bifurcation theory, along with spectral theory for warped products, to prove multiplicity results for the Yamabe problem.
We prove that if a closed unit volume Riemannian manifold, $(M^n, g)$, has Ricci curvature bounded from below by r>0 then the Yamabe constant of the conformal class of $g$ is at least $n.r$. This inequality has already been proved by S. Ilias (Constantes explicites pour les inegalites de Sobolev sur les varietes riemannienes compactes, Ann. Inst. Fourier 33, 151-165). The equality is achieved if the metric is Einstein (with Ricci curvature r). This implies for instance that if $h$ is the Fubini-Study metric on $CP^2$ and $g$ is any other metric on $CP^2$ with $Ricci(g) \geq Ricci(h)$ then $Vol…
The Yamabe invariant Y(M) of a smooth compact manifold is roughly the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume constant-scalar curvature Riemannian metrics g on M. (To be absolutely precise, one only considers constant-scalar-curvature metrics which are Yamabe minimizers, but this does not affect the sign of the answer.) If M is the underlying smooth 4-manifold of a complex algebraic surface (M,J), it is shown that the sign of Y(M) is completely determined by the Kodaira dimension Kod (M,J). More precisely, Y(M) < 0 iff Kod (M,J)=2; Y(M) = 0 iff Kod (M,J)=0 or 1; and Y(M) > 0 iff Kod (…
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…
Let g_t be a family of constant scalar curvature metrics on the total space of a Riemannian submersion obtained by shrinking the fibers of an original metric g, so that the submersion collapses as t approaches 0 (i.e., the total space converges to the base in the Gromov-Hausdorff sense). We prove that, under certain conditions, there are at least 3 unit volume constant scalar curvature metrics in the conformal class [g_t] for infinitely many t's accumulating at 0. This holds, e.g., for homogeneous metrics g_t obtained via Cheeger deformation of homogeneous fibrations with fibers of positive sc…
Let M be a compact manifold equipped with a Riemannian metric g and a spin structure \si. We let $λ(M,[g],\si)= \inf_{\tilde{g} \in [g]} λ_1^+(\tilde{g}) Vol(M,\tilde{g})^{1/n}$ where $λ_1^+(\tilde{g})$ is the smallest positive eigenvalue of the Dirac operator D in the metric $\tilde{g}$. A previous result stated that $λ(M,[g],\si) \leq λ(\mS^n) =\frac{n}{2} \om_n^{1/n}$ where \om_n stands for the volume of the standard n-sphere. In this paper, we study this problem for conformally flat manifolds of dimension n \geq 2 such that D is invertible. E.g. we show that strict inequality holds in dime…
In this paper, we show that for a Poincaré-Einstein manifold $(X^{n+1},g_+)$ with conformal infinity $(M,[\hat{g}])$ of nonnegative Yamabe type, the fractional Yamabe constants of the boundary provide lower bounds for the relative volume. More explicitly, for any $γ\in (0,1)$, $$ \left(\frac{Y_{2γ} (M,[\hat{g}])}{Y_{2γ} (\mathbb{S}^n , [g_{\mathbb{S}}])}\right)^{\frac{n}{2γ}} \leq \frac{V(Γ_t(p),g_+)}{V(Γ_t(0),g_{\mathbb{H}})} \leq \frac{V( B_t(p),g_+)}{V( B_t(0), g_{\mathbb{H}})} \leq 1,\quad 0<t<\infty, $$ where $B_t(p)$, $Γ_t(p)$ are the the geodesic ball and geodesic sphere of radius $t$ i…
The goal of this article is to establish estimates involving the Yamabe minimal volume, mixed minimal volume and some topological invariants on compact 4-manifolds. In addition, we provide topological sphere theorems for compact submanifolds of spheres and Euclidean spaces, provided that the full norm of the second fundamental form is suitably bounded.
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…
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…
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.
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…
Motivated by the work of Li and Mantoulidis, we study singular metrics which are uniformly Euclidean $(L^\infty)$ on a compact manifold $M^n$ ($n\ge 3$) with negative Yamabe invariant $σ(M)$. It is well-known that if $g$ is a smooth metric on $M$ with unit volume and with scalar curvature $R(g)\ge σ(M)$, then $g$ is Einstein. We show, in all dimensions, the same is true for metrics with edge singularities with cone angles $\leq 2π$ along codimension-2 submanifolds. We also show in three dimension, if the Yamabe invariant of connected sum of two copies of $M$ attains its minimum, then the same …
The Yamabe invariant Y(M) of a smooth compact manifold is roughly the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume constant-scalar-curvature Riemannian metrics g on M. (To be precise, one only considers those constant-scalar-curvature metrics which are Yamabe minimizers, but this technicality does not, e.g. affect the sign of the answer.) In this article, it is shown that many 4-manifolds M with Y(M) < 0 have have finite covering spaces \tilde{M} with Y(\tilde{M}) > 0.
The conformal properties of complex Finsler metrics are studied. We give a characterization of a compact complex Finsler manifold to be globally conformal Kähler. The critical points of the total holomorphic curvature and total Ricci curvature in the volume preserved conformal classes are studied. The stability of critical Kähler Finsler metrics is obtained. A Yamabe type problem for mean Ricci curvature is considered.
We introduce a family of conformal invariants associated to a smooth metric measure space which generalize the relationship between the Yamabe constant and the best constant for the Sobolev inequality to the best constants for Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequalities $\|w\r|_q \leq C\|\nabla w\|_2^θ\|w\|_p^{1-θ}$. These invariants are constructed via a minimization procedure for the weighted scalar curvature functional in the conformal class of a smooth metric measure space. We then describe critical points which are also critical points for variations in the metric or the measure. When the me…
This is a survey paper of our current research on the theory of partial differential equations in conformal geometry. Our intention is to describe some of our current works in a rather brief and expository fashion. We are not giving a comprehensive survey on the subject and references cited here are not intended to be complete. We introduce a bubble tree structure to study the degeneration of a class of Yamabe metrics on Bach flat manifolds satisfying some global conformal bounds on compact manifolds of dimension 4. As applications, we establish a gap theorem, a finiteness theorem for diffeomo…
We associate to a compact spin manifold M a real-valued invariant τ(M) by taking the supremum over all conformal classes over the infimum inside each conformal class of the first positive Dirac eigenvalue, normalized to volume 1. This invariant is a spinorial analogue of Schoen's $σ$-constant, also known as the smooth Yamabe number. We prove that if N is obtained from M by surgery of codimension at least 2, then $τ(N) \geq \min\{τ(M),Λ_n\}$ with $Λ_n>0$. Various topological conclusions can be drawn, in particular that τis a spin-bordism invariant below $Λ_n$. Below $Λ_n$, the values of $τ$ can…
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…
Zamolodchikov's c-theorem type argument (and also string theory effective action constructions) imply that the RG flow in 2d sigma model should be gradient one to all loop orders. However, the monotonicity of the flow of the target-space metric is not obvious since the metric on the space of metric-dilaton couplings is indefinite. To leading (one-loop) order when the RG flow is simply the Ricci flow the monotonicity was proved by Perelman (math.dg/0211159) by constructing an ``entropy'' functional which is essentially the metric-dilaton action extremised with respect to the dilaton with a cond…
We consider the Hermitian Yang-Mills (instanton) equations for connections on vector bundles over a 2n-dimensional Kähler manifold X which is a product Y x Z of p- and q-dimensional Riemannian manifold Y and Z with p+q=2n. We show that in the adiabatic limit, when the metric in the Z direction is scaled down, the gauge instanton equations on Y x Z become sigma-model instanton equations for maps from Y to the moduli space M (target space) of gauge instantons on Z if q>= 4. For q<4 we get maps from Y to the moduli space M of flat connections on Z. Thus, the Yang-Mills instantons on Y x Z converg…
