Einstein metrics and complex singularities

DOI10.1007/S00222-003-0344-1MaRDI QIDQ1882740zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors David M. J. Calderbank, Michael A. Singer

Publication date 1 October 2004

Published in Inventiones Mathematicae (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0206229

zbMATH Keywords

4-manifoldsALE scalar-flat Kähler metricsEinstein metricsorbifoldstrictly nef

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Special Riemannian manifolds (Einstein, Sasakian, etc.) (53C25) Theory of singularities and catastrophe theory (58K99)

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the construction of special metrics on non-compact 4-manifolds which arise as resolutions of complex orbifold singularities. Our study is close in spirit to the construction of the hyperkaehler gravitational instantons, but we focus on a different class of singularities. We show that any resolution X of an isolated cyclic quotient singularity admits a complete scalar-flat Kaehler metric (which is hyperkaehler if and only if c_1(X)=0), and that if c_1(X)<0 then X also admits a complete (non-Kaehler) self-dual Einstein metric of negative scalar curvature. In particular, complete self-dual Einstein metrics are constructed on simply-connected non-compact 4-manifolds with arbitrary second Betti number. Deformations of these self-dual Einstein metrics are also constructed: they come in families parameterized, roughly speaking, by free functions of one real variable. All the metrics constructed here are toric (that is, the isometry group contains a 2-torus) and are essentially explicit. The key to the construction is the remarkable fact that toric self-dual Einstein metrics are given quite generally in terms of linear partial differential equations on the hyperbolic plane.

Review text

This paper is concerned with the construction of special metrics on non-compact \(4\)-manifolds which arise as resolutions of complex orbifold singularities. Let \(\Gamma \subset U(2)\) be a finite cyclic subgroup such that \(0 \in {\mathbb C}^2\) is the only fixed point, and let \(X\) be a toric resolution of \({\mathbb C}^2/\Gamma\). The authors first show that \(X\) admits a finite-dimensional family of asymptotically locally Euclidean scalar-flat Kähler metrics. Now suppose that the canonical bundle \(K_X\) is strictly nef. Then there is a function \(F\) on \(X\) with the property that \(dF \neq 0\) on \(Y = \{F=0\}\), the exceptional divisor \(E\) of \(X\) is contained in \(X_+ = \{F > 0\}\), and for one of the above metrics \(g\), \(g_+ = F^{-2}g| _{X_+}\) is a complete self-dual Einstein metric with negative scalar curvature. Moreover, if \(X_- = \{F < 0\}\), \(g_- = F^{-2}g| _{X_-}\) is also a self-dual Einstein metric with negative scalar curvature, which extends to a complete orbifold metric on the one-point compactification of \(X_-\). Denote by \(N\) the link of the singularity in \(X\), which is a lens space. Then there is an infinite-dimensional family of conformal structures on \(N\) that bound complete, asymptotically hyperbolic self-dual Einstein metrics on connected neighbourhoods \(X_+\) of the exceptional divisor \(E\) of \(X\). Moreover, there is an asymptotically complex self-dual Einstein metric on \(X\) whose CR infinity is a quasiregular normal CR structure on \(N\). The authors also discuss the condition for \(K_X\) to be strictly nef. Firstly, they show that analogous results hold if one replaces \(X\) by the complex orbifold \(\check{X}\) obtained by contracting all chains of \((-2)\) curves contained in \(E\). On the other hand, the following result shows that the condition that \(K_X\) is strictly nef is necessary for the existence of toric self-dual Einstein metrics on the smooth resolution \(X\) itself. Let \((U,g)\) be a self-dual Einstein manifold of negative scalar curvature. Suppose that \(\Sigma \subset U\) is a smoothly embedded, compact, totally geodesic surface. Then \(\chi(\Sigma) - \Sigma \cdot \Sigma < 0\), where \(\chi(\Sigma)\) is the Euler characteristic of \(\Sigma\).

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Cited in

(53)

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• Gravity duals of supersymmetric gauge theories on three-manifolds
• A smörgåsbord of scalar-flat Kähler ALE surfaces
• Kähler-Einstein metrics on strictly pseudoconvex domains
• A Burns-Epstein invariant for ACHE 4-manifolds
• Bach-flat asymptotically locally Euclidean metrics
• Summing up D-instantons in \(N=2\) supergravity
• Instanton-induced scalar potential for the universal hypermultiplet
• A construction of \(G_2\) holonomy spaces with torus symmetry
• Desingularisation of Einstein metrics. I
• On the Kummer construction for Kcsc metrics
• Localization of the action in AdS/CFT
• On 3-dimensional CR manifolds and twistors
• Toric self-dual Einstein metrics as quotients
• Deformation of LeBrun's ALE metrics with negative mass
• Mass, Kähler manifolds, and symplectic geometry
• Displacing Lagrangian toric fibers by extended probes
• Toric self-dual Einstein metrics on compact orbifolds
• Maskit combinations of Poincaré-Einstein metrics
• On Kähler conformal compactifications of \(U(n)\)-invariant ALE spaces
• Non-minimal scalar-flat Kähler surfaces and parabolic stability
• Geometric constructions of extremal metrics on complex manifolds
• On conformally Kähler, Einstein manifolds
• Mass in Kähler geometry
• Local Moduli of Scalar-flat Kähler ALE Surfaces
• An invariant related to the existence of conformally compact Einstein fillings
• Wormholes in ACH Einstein manifolds
• Curve counting, instantons and McKay correspondences
• Compact anti-self-dual orbifolds with torus actions
• Scalar-flat Kähler orbifolds via quaternionic-complex reduction
• Singular set of some Kähler orbifolds
• Limits of Riemannian 4-manifolds and the symplectic geometry of their twistor spaces
• Curvature of scalar-flat Kähler metrics on non-compact symplectic toric 4-manifolds
• Uniqueness among scalar-flat Kähler metrics on non-compact toric 4-manifolds
• An ambient approach to conformal geodesics
• Existence and compactness theory for ALE scalar-flat Kähler surfaces
• ALE scalar-flat Kähler metrics on non-compact weighted projective spaces
• Extremal K\"ahler metrics on blow-ups of parabolic ruled surfaces
• Diabatic limit, eta invariants and Cauchy–Riemann manifolds of dimension 3☆
• Einstein metrics, hypercomplex structures and the Toda field equation
• Non-degeneracy of Poincaré-Einstein four-manifolds satisfying a chiral curvature inequality
• ALE Ricci-flat Kähler metrics and deformations of quotient surface singularities
• Multiple almost Einstein structures with intersecting scale singularities
• Desingularizing positive scalar curvature 4-manifolds
• Scalar-flat Kähler metrics on non-compact symplectic toric 4-manifolds
• A family of 4-manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature and prescribed asymptotic cone
• Invariant scalar-flat Kähler metrics on line bundles over generalized flag varieties
• Null-geodesics of complex Einstein spaces
• Construction of Kähler surfaces with constant scalar curvature
• Blowing up and desingularizing constant scalar curvature Kähler manifolds
• K-stability and parabolic stability
• Anti-self-dual orbifolds with cyclic quotient singularities
• On optimal 4-dimensional metrics

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