Einstein-type structures, Besse's conjecture, and a uniqueness result for a \(\varphi \)-CPE metric in its conformal class (Q2168873)

The authors study an extension of the Critical Point Equation (CPE) conjecture to manifolds \(M\) which support a structure relating curvature to the geometry of a smooth map \(\phi : M\to N\). The resulting system, denoted by (\(\phi\)-CPE), is natural from the variational viewpoint and describes stationary points for the integrated \(\phi\)-scalar curvature functional restricted to metrics with unit volume and constant \(\phi\)-scalar curvature. It is shown that both a rigidity statement for solutions to (\(\phi\)-CPE) in a conformal class, and a gap theorem characterizing the round sphere among manifolds supporting (\(\phi\)-CPE) with \(\phi\) a harmonic map.