On the curvature of the Bismut connection: Bismut-Yamabe problem and Calabi-Yau with torsion metrics (Q2690655)

On a Hermitian manifold \((M,J,g)\) there are many affine connections that preserve the complex structure \(J\) and the metric \(g\). Such Hermitian connections are uniquely determined by their torsion type. In particular, on any Hermitian manifold there is a family \(\nabla^t\), \(t\in\mathbb R\), of Hermitian connections, called Gauduchon connections. This family comprises the Chern connection \(\nabla^1\) and the Bismut connection \(\nabla^{-1}\), which both play a distinct role in complex geometry, and it collapses for a Kähler metric to a single connection, namely the Levi-Civita connection. In the first part of the article the author studies the Gauduchon-Yamabe problem, which is concerned with the following natural question: On a compact complex manifold \(M\), in a given conformal class of Hermitian metrics, is there metric with constant \(\nabla^t\)-scalar curvature? Generalising previous results on the Chern-Yamabe problem, an affirmative answer is given in the case that the Gauduchon degree of the conformal class with respect to \(\nabla^t\) is non-positive and \(t>\frac{1}{1-n}\), or if it is non-negative and \(t<\frac{1}{1-n}\), where \(n\) is the complex dimension of the manifold. In particular, it is shown that on a compact complex manifold of complex dimension at least \(3\) any conformal class of Hermitian metrics with non-negative Gauduchon degree with respect to the Bismut connection, contains a unique, up to scalings, metric with constant Bismut scalar curvature. The second part of the article is then concerned with the study of Hermitian metrics whose Bismut Ricci curvature satisfies an Einstein-type condition, on toric principal \( T^2\)-bundles over Hermitian manifolds. Focussing on the Bismut-Ricci-flat case in this context, the author constructs explicit examples of Calabi-Yau with torsion Hermitian structures and proves uniqueness results for them.