On uniqueness of solutions of \(n\)-th order differential equations in conformal geometry (Q1357646)

Consider some compact metric manifold \(M\) endowed with a metric \(g\) and an operator \(A\) on \(C^\infty(M)\) which is calculated starting from \(g\). \(A\) is said to be conformally covariant if under the conformal change \(g_\omega= \exp[2\omega]g\) the pair of corresponding operators \(A_\omega\) and \(A\) are related by \(A_\omega(\varphi)= \exp[-b\omega] A(\exp[-a\omega]\varphi)\) for all \(\varphi\in C^\infty(M)\) and some constants \(a\) and \(b\) which do not depend on \(\varphi\). It can be proved that if \(M\) is \(n\)-dimensional, then there exist conformally invariant operators \(P_n\) of order \(n\) associated with \(M\) and when \(M= S^n\) then the \(P_n\) are known explicitly. (Thus, when \(n\) is even, \(P_n\) is \(\prod_{k=0}^{(n-2)/2} (-\Delta+ k(n- k-1))\).) In the case \(M=S^n\) the authors associate with \(P_n\) the equation \(-P_n w+ (n-1)! \exp[n\omega]= (n-1)!\) which expresses the way in which \(\omega\) is related to a natural curvature invariant of order \(n\) on \(S^n\). They show that any smooth solution to this equation must satisfy \(\exp[2\omega]g_0= \varphi^*(g_0)\) where \(g_0\) is the standard metric on \(S^n\) and \(\varphi\) is some conformal transformation of \(S^n\).