The area preserving Willmore flow and local maximizers of the Hawking mass in asymptotically Schwarzschild manifolds (Q2024676)

Let \((M,g)\) be a complete three-dimensional Riemannian manifold. Following the terminology of \textit{T. Lamm} et al. [Math. Ann. 350, No. 1, 1--78 (2011; Zbl 1222.53028)], \((M,g)\) is said to be asymptotically Schwarzschild if there exist a compact set \(K\subset M\) and a constant \(\eta>0\) such that \(M\backslash K\) is diffeomorphic to \(\mathbb{R}^3\backslash \overline{B_\sigma(0)}\) for some \(\sigma>m/2\) and on \(M\backslash K\) we have \[ r^2|g-g_S| + r^3|\nabla_g-\nabla_S| + r^4 |\text{Ric}_g - \text{Ric}_S| + r^5 |\nabla_g\text{Ric}_g - \nabla_S\text{Ric}_S| \le \eta. \] Here \(g_S=\left(1 + \frac{m}{2r}\right)^4 g_E\) is the Schwarzschild metric of mass \(m>0\) where \(g_E\) is the Euclidean metric on \(\mathbb{R}^3-\{0\}\), \(r\) is the radial coordinate in the chart \(\mathbb{R}^3\backslash \overline{B_\sigma(0)}\), and the remaining terms have their usual differential geometric meanings. Assuming in addition a decay condition \(r^5|\text{Scal}_g| \le \eta\), Lamm et al proved that for any asymptotically Schwarzschild manifold \(M\) with mass \(m\) and \(\eta\le \eta_0(m)\), there exists a compact set \(K\) and a \(\lambda_0>0\), depending on \(m\) and \(\eta_0\), such that \(M\backslash K\) is foliated by surfaces \(\Sigma_\lambda\) of Willmore type for \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda_0)\). Moreover, every sufficiently centred, strictly mean-convex sphere \(\Sigma \subset M\backslash K\) which is of Willmore type belongs to this foliation. Here a surface \(\Sigma\) is of Willmore type if it is a critical point of the area prescribed Willmore energy \(\mathcal{W}(\Sigma)= \frac{1}{4}\int_\Sigma H^2 d\mu\). The leaves of the foliation \(\{\Sigma_\lambda\}\) have several desirable properties: if the scalar curvature is nonnegative, the Hawking mass \[ m_H(\Sigma_\lambda) = \frac{|\Sigma_\lambda|^{1/2}}{(16\pi)^{3/2}} \left(16\pi - \int_{\Sigma_\lambda} H_\lambda^2 d\mu_\lambda \right) \] is nonnegative and nondecreasing along the foliation and approaches the ADM mass \(m\) as \(\lambda \rightarrow 0\). Based on these and other considerations, the author states ``one is tempted to believe that in an asymptotic region the leaves \(\Sigma_\lambda\) are the global maximizers of the Hawking mass and perhaps the only surfaces of Willmore type with nonnegative Hawking mass and a sufficiently large area.'' Here the author proves further results on the foliation \(\{\Sigma_\lambda\}\) and on sufficiently centred spheres related to this question. The first is a stability result: if \(\Sigma\) is an embedded sphere which is a small area preserving \(W^{2,2}\) perturbation of a leaf of the foliation \(\{\Sigma_\lambda\}\), then the area preserving Willmore flow starting at \(\Sigma\) exists for all times and converges smoothly to a leaf of \(\{\Sigma_\lambda\}\). A consequence of this is the following. There is a constant \(\Lambda<\lambda_0\), depending only on \(m\) and \(\eta_0\), such that any sufficiently centred immersed sphere \(\Sigma\subset M\) enclosing \(\Sigma_\Lambda\) satisfies \(m_H(\Sigma) \le m_H(\Sigma_\lambda)\) where \(\lambda\) is chosen so that \(|\Sigma|=|\Sigma_\lambda|\). If equality holds, then \(\Sigma=\Sigma_\lambda\). Moreover, if the scalar curvature of \((M,g)\) is nonnegative, then \(m_H(\Sigma)\le m\) with equality if and only if \(\Sigma\) is a centred sphere in the spatial Schwarzschild manifold. The author includes a detailed discussion of the significance of these results and their connections with earlier results.