Deformation of the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature (Q1656639)

The main goal of the present work is to investigate deformations of the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature and prove analogous results to those of \textit{A. E. Fischer} and \textit{J. E. Marsden} [Duke Math. J. 42, 519--547 (1975; Zbl 0336.53032)] and \textit{Y.-J. Lin} and \textit{W. Yuan} [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 55, No. 4, Paper No. 101, 29 p. (2016; Zbl 1355.53026)] in this setting. Let \((M,g)\) be an \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold. The \(\sigma_2\)-curvature, which is denoted by \(\sigma_2(g)\), is defined as the second elementary symmetric function of the eigenvalues of the tensor \(A:= \text{Ric}_g-\frac{R_g}{2(n-1)}\,g\), where \(\text{Ric}_g\) and \(R_g\) are the Ricci tensor and the scalar curvature of the metric \(g\), respectively. A simple calculation gives \(\sigma_2(g)=-\frac{1}{2}{|\text{Ric}_g|}^2 + \frac{n}{8(n-1)}R_g^2\). Let \(\Lambda_g:S_2(M)\longrightarrow C^\infty(M)\) be the linearization of the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature at the metric \(g\) and \(\Lambda_g^*:C^\infty(M)\longrightarrow S_2(M)\) be its \(L^2\)-formal adjoint. A complete Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is \(\sigma_2\)-singular if\ \(\text{Ker } \Lambda_g^*\neq{0}\). First, the authors perform calculations to find the linearization of the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature map and its \(L_2\)-formal adjoint. Then, they find a symmetric 2-tensor canonically associated to the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature and they present an almost-Schur-type lemma. Using this tensor, the notion of \(\sigma_2\)-singular space is introduced and under a certain hypothesis a rigidity result is proven. The relations between flat metrics and \(\sigma_2\)-curvature are considered. With a suitable condition on the \(\sigma_2\)-curvature, it is shown that a metric has to be flat if it is close to a flat metric. The present paper is concluded by proving that the three-dimensional torus does not admit a metric with constant scalar curvature and nonnegative \(\sigma_2\)-curvature unless it is flat.