Slowly converging Yamabe flows (Q2346443)

This article deals with the volume-normalized Yamabe flow \[ \frac{\partial}{\partial t} g = - (\mathrm{Ric}_g-r_g)g, \] which describes a one-parameter deformation of complete Riemannian metrics, \(g=g(t)\), \(t\geq 0\), on a smooth closed manifold \(M^n\), \(n\geq 3\); here \(R_g\) and \(r_g\) denote the scalar curvature of \(g\) and its average (with respect to the Riemannian volume form associated to g), respectively. Continuing previous studies on the convergence of the flow [\textit{S. Brendle}, Jpn. J. Math. (3) 6, No. 1, 45--61 (2011; Zbl 1262.53053)], the authors analyze the rate of convergence in question. It is shown that depending on the Morse-theoretic properties of the limit metric, the rate of convergence has either exponential or polynomial upper bounds, and in the latter case the polynomial rate of convergence cannot in general be improved. Examples of slowly converging Yamabe flows are discussed.