Yamabe constants and the perturbed Seiberg-Witten equations (Q1380384)

The Yamabe invariant \(Y(M) \in \mathbb{R}\) of a compact smooth \(n\)-manifold \(M\) is defined as a minimax of the total scalar curvature over all unit volume Riemannian metrics on \(M\). A compact surface of genus \(g\) has just \(Y= 8\pi (1-g)\), but for manifolds of higher dimension little is known about \(Y(M)\). Using the Seiberg-Witten equations, the author carried out the computation of \(Y(M)\) for a large class of 4-manifolds with \(Y(M)<0\) [\textit{C. LeBrun}, Math. Res. Lett. 3, 133-147 (1996; Zbl 0856.53035)]. This method does not work in the case \(Y(M)>0\), because then the Seiberg-Witten invariant vanishes. Here, the author uses a perturbed Seiberg-Witten equation to produce an invariant for 4-manifolds with \(b_+=1\), which is often nontrivial even in the presence of metrics of positive scalar curvature. As a result, the author shows that the Fubini-Study metric has largest Yamabe constant among all conformal classes of Riemannian metrics on \(\mathbb{C} P^2\). The proof also yields new total scalar curvature bounds for other 4-manifolds.