Bach-flat asymptotically locally Euclidean metrics (Q1775149)

Recall that a complete, non-compact Riemannian manifold \((X, g)\) is called \textit{asymptotically locally Euclidean} (ALE) if \(X\) can be written as a disjoint union of a compact set and finitely many ALE ends. The ALE spaces arisen naturally in the positive mass theorem, the Yamabe problem, in orbifold compactness of Einstein metrics, in gluing theorems for scalar-flat Kähler metrics, and in ALE Ricci-flat metrics. The authors obtain a complete non-compact scalar-flat anti-self-dual ALE metric. For a complete non-compact 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((X, g)\) which is Bach-flat and has zero scalar curvature, having a finite Sobolev constant \(C_{S}\), and a fix base point \(p \in X\), under the assumption \(\int_{X} | RM_{g}| ^{2} \,dV_{g} < \infty\), the decay rate \(\sup_{S(r)}| \nabla^{k}RM_{G}| = o(r^{-2-k})\) is obtained (here, \(S(r)\) denotes the sphere of radius \(r\) centered at \(p\), and \(RM_{g}\) denotes the Riemannian curvature tensor). Assuming that the first Betti number is \(b_{1}(X)<\infty\) the authors prove that there exists a constant \(C\) depending on \(g\) such that \(\text{Vol} (B(p,r))\leq C r^{4}\), \((X,g)\) has finitely many ends, and each end is ALE of order 0. It must be remarked that \textit{G. Carron} [Duke Math. J. 95, 343--372 (1998; Zbl 0951.58024)] proved that there is a bound on the number of ends depending only upon the Sobolev constant and the \(L^2\)-norm of curvature. A volume comparison theorem is obtained, too. It is proved for a complete non-compact \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((X, g)\) with a base point \(p\), under the assumptions: a) there exists a constant \(C_{1}>0\) so that \(\text{Vol}(B(q,r)) \geq C_{1}s^{n}\), for any \(q \in X\) and all \(s \geq 0\), b) \(\sup_{S(r)} | RM_{g}| = o(r^{-2})\), as \(r \rightarrow \infty\), c) the first Betti number is \(b_{1}(X) < \infty\). These conditions assure that \((X,g)\) has finitely many ends, there exists a constant \(C_{2}\) depending on \(g\) so that \(\text{Vol\,} B(p,r) \leq C_{2}r^{n}\), and each end is ALE of order 0. The authors examine also the problem of finding geometric conditions assuring that each end of a complete space will be ALE of order \(\tau\), and of determining the optimal order of decay in the following two cases: 1) self-dual or anti-self-dual metrics with zero scalar curvature, 2) scalar-flat metrics with harmonic curvature. For any complete non-compact 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((X, g)\), with \(g\) of class 1) or 2), under the restrictions \(\int_{X} | RM_{g}| ^{2} dV_{g} < \infty, C_{S} < \infty, b_{1}(X) < \infty\), it is proved that, necessarily, \((X,g)\) has finitely many ends and each is ALE of order \(\tau\) for any \(\tau < 2\). In order to prove these results the authors derive various improved Kato inequalities which allow them to improve the order of decay of the Ricci tensor to \(|\text{Ric}| = O(r^{-\alpha})\) for any \(\alpha < 4\). By using a Yang-Mills type argument it is proved that the full curvature tensor satisfies \(| RM| = O(r^{-\alpha})\) for any \(\alpha < 4\). Finally, the authors remark that the Gauss-Bonnet and signature formulas put constraints on the ends of the ALE spaces arising in the before presented results.