On the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet integral for conformal metrics on \(\mathbb{R}^4\) (Q1575080)

An interpretation of the deficit from the Cohn-Vossen inequality given by \textit{R. Finn} [Comment. Math. Helv. 40, 1-30 (1965; Zbl 0192.27301)] for a fairly large class of complete surfaces. This deficit involves some isoperimetric ratio summed over each end of the surface. The extension of this result to \(\mathbb{R}^4\) is performed in the paper under review. The integral formula: \[ 1-{{1}\over{4\pi ^2}} \int_{\mathbb{R}^4}Qe^{4w} dx= \lim_{r\rightarrow\infty} {{(\text{vol}(\partial R_{r}(0)))^{4/3}}\over {4(2\pi ^{2})^{1/3} \text{vol}(B_{r}(0))}}\tag{1} \] is proved in the paper, assuming that \(w\) is a radial function on \(\mathbb{R}^4\), such that the metric \(e^{2\sigma}|dx|^2\) is complete, \(\int_{\mathbb{R}^4}|Q|e^{4w} dx<\infty\) and the scalar curvature is non-negative at infinity. It involves the order four curvature invariant \(Q\), constructed using the Paneitz operator. (For conformal geometry, the Paneitz operator plays the same role in dimension \(4\), as the Laplacian plays in dimension \(2\).) The main result of the paper asserts that if the metric \(e^{2\sigma}|dx|^2\) is complete on \(\mathbb{R}^4\), with the Paneitz curvature absolutely integrable, and its scalar curvature is nonnegative at infinity, then the same integral formula (1) holds.