Constant t-curvature conformal metrics on 4-manifolds with boundary (Q1011626)

As the Laplace-Beltrami operator on compact closed surfaces, there exists a conformally covariant differential operator \(P_g\) on a closed \(4\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((M, g)\), called the Paneitz operator to which is associated a natural concept of curvature, \(Q\)-curvature. Namely, the Paneitz operator is defined by \[ P_g\varphi = \Delta^2_g \varphi + \text{div}_g (\frac{2}{3} R_g g - 3 \operatorname{Ric}_g ) d\varphi \] and the \(Q\)-curvature is defined by \[ Q_g = - \frac{1}{12} (\Delta_g R_g - R_g^2 + 3 |\text{Ric}_g|^2 ), \] where \(\varphi\) is any function on \(M\) and \(\text{Ric}_g\) and \(R_g\) denote the Ricci curvature and the scalar curvature of \((M, g)\), respectively. It is also well-known that as the Laplace-Beltrami operator satisfies the transformation law for the conformal change of metrics, the Paneitz operator does the same for the \(Q\)-curvature. In this direction, one of basic questions is that one can ask whether \((M, g)\) carries a conformal metric of constant \(Q\)-curvature in analogy to the uniformization theorem for surfaces. There are some known results for this basic question. Instead of compact closed manifolds, one can consider compact \(4\)-dimensional smooth Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary. In this case there is a boundary operator \(P_g^3\) defined by \[ P_g^3 \varphi= \frac{1}{2}\frac{\partial \Delta_g \varphi}{\partial \nu_g} + \Delta_{\hat{g}} \frac{\partial \varphi}{\partial \nu_g} - 2H_g \Delta_{\hat g}\varphi + (L_g)_{ab}(\nabla_{\hat g})_a (\nabla_{\hat g})_b +\nabla_{\hat g} H_g \cdot \nabla_{\hat g} \varphi + (F - \frac{1}{3}R_g) \frac{\partial\varphi}{\partial \nu_g} \] and it is associated to a natural third-order curvature \(T_g\) defined by \[ T_g= - \frac{1}{12}\frac{\partial R_g}{\partial \nu_g} + \frac{1}{2}R_g H_g - \langle G_g , L_g \rangle+ 3 H_g^3 - \frac{1}{3} \text{Tr}(L^3 ) + \Delta_{\hat g} H_g. \] Here \(\varphi\) is any smooth function on \(M\), and \(\hat g\) is the metric induced by \(g\) on \(\partial M\). Also \(L_g = (L_g)_{ab} = -\frac{1}{3}\partial g_{ab}/\partial \nu_g\) is the second fundamental form of \(\partial M\), \(H_g = \frac{1}{3}\text{Tr} (L_g) = \frac{1}{3}g^{ab}L_{ab}, F = R^a_{nan}, \langle G_g, L_g\rangle = R_{anbn}(L_g)_{ab}\) and \(\frac{\partial}{\partial \nu_g}\) denotes the inward unit normal vector field. As in the case of closed Riemannian manifolds, one can ask if on a given compact four-dimensional smooth Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary, there exits a conformal metric with zero \(Q\)-curvature, constant \(T\)-curvature and zero mean curvature. After assuming \(H_g = 0\), this problem is equivalent to solving the boundary value problem for \(\widetilde g = e^{2u}g\) \[ \begin{alignedat}{2} P_g^4 u + 2Q_g &= 0&\quad &\text{in }M\\ P_g^3 u + T_g &= {\overline T}e^{3u} &\quad &\text{on }\partial M\\ \partial u / \partial \nu_g &= 0&\quad &\text{on }\partial M, \end{alignedat} \] where \(\overline T\) is a fixed real number. Set \[ \kappa_{P_g^4} = \int_M Q_g\, dv_g\quad \text{and}\quad \kappa_{P_g^3} = \int_{\partial M} T_g\, dv_g, \] and define \(P_g^{4,3}\) by \[ \langle P_g^{4,3}u, v\rangle= \int_M (\Delta_g u \Delta_g v + \frac{2}{3}R_g \nabla_g u \cdot \nabla_g v) - 2 \int_M \operatorname{Ric}_g(\nabla_g u, \nabla_g v)\,dv_g- 2 \int_{\partial M} L_g(\nabla_{\hat g}u, \nabla_{\hat g} v )\, ds_g, \] for every \(u, v \in H^2(M)\) with Neumann condition. In this paper the author proved that if \(\ker P_g^{4,3} = {\mathbb R}\) and \(\kappa_{P_g^4} + \kappa_{P_g^3} \neq 4\pi^2 k\) for \(k = 1, 2, 3, \cdots,\) then \((M, g)\) admits a conformal metric with constant \(T\)-curvature, zero \(Q\)-curvature, and zero mean curvature. To prove the main result, the author looked for critical points of the following functional \[ II(u)= \langle P_g^{4,3}u, u\rangle_{L^2(M)} + 4\int_M Q_g u\, dv_g+ 4\int_{\partial M} T_g u\, ds_g - \frac{4}{3}(\kappa_{P_g^4} + \kappa_{P_g^3})\log\int_{\partial M} e^{3u}\, ds_g. \] Unless \(\kappa_{P_g^4} + \kappa_{P_g^3} < 4\pi^2\) and \(P_g^{4,3}\) is nonnegative, this Euler-Lagrange functional is unbounded from above and below and so it is necessary to find extremals that are possibly saddle points. To do this the author used a min-max method and this yielded a Palais-Smale sequence. To finish the proof, the author showed a compactness result which ensures subconvergence of the Palais-Smale sequence.