On the scalar curvature of Einstein manifolds (Q1382756)

Concerning the signs of the scalar curvatures of Einstein metrics on a given compact manifold, there is a conjecture considered by \textit{A. L. Besse} [`Einstein manifolds' (Ergebnisse der Math. u. ihrer Grenzgebiete 3. Folge 10, Springer, Berlin) (1987; Zbl 0613.53001)] that no smooth compact \(n\)-manifold can ever admit Einstein metrics with scalar curvatures of different signs. This conjecture is true when \(n< 4\) because the sign of the scalar curvature of Einstein metrics is determined by the size of the fundamental group (and hence is a topological invariant). When \(n=4\), in the light of Seiberg-Witten theory and the Hitchin-Thorpe inequality, we can see that, if a smooth compact 4-manifold \(M\) admits a Kähler-Einstein metric with non-positive scalar curvature, then it cannot admit any Einstein metric with scalar curvature of the different sign. In this paper, the authors show that the conjecture is, however, not true when the dimension is greater than 4. More specifically, they prove that there is a smooth compact \(4k\)-manifold \(M\) admitting Kähler-Einstein metrics of both positive and negative scalar curvatures for all \(k>1\) and, further, that such a manifold \(M\) may be taken to be the \(k\)-fold product of the connected sum \(\mathbb{C} P_2\# 8\mathbb{C} P_2\) with itself which is diffeomorphic to the \(k\)-fold product of a Barlow surface.