Compactness properties for geometric fourth order elliptic equations with application to the \(Q\)-curvature flow (Q1692370)

Let \(\mathcal{M}=(M,g)\) be a 4-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold. Let \(Q(\mathcal{M})\) be the \(Q\)-curvature and \(P(\mathcal{M})\) the Paneitz operator. The total \(Q\)-curvature is conformally invariant and the Paneitz operator is conformally covariant. The authors establish a compactness theorem for solutions of a 4th order elliptic equation which is a \(L^1\) perturbation of the \(Q\)-curvature equation and establish the global existence and convergence of the \(Q\)-curvature flow on a generic class of such manifolds. The first main result of the paper is the following. Theorem 1.1. Suppose \(\ker(P(\mathcal{M}))=\{0\}\). Let \(f\in C^0(M)\) and let \((u_n,f_n)\) be a sequence of functions in \(H^1(M)\times L^1(M)\) with \[ Pu_n+f_n=e^{4u_n}\int_Mf_n\,d\,\mathrm{vol}, \quad\int_Me^{4u_n}\,d\,\mathrm{vol}=1,\quad\text{and}\quad f_n\rightarrow \text{ in } L^1(M). \] Then either the sequence \(e^{|u_n|}\) is bounded in \(L^p(M)\) for \(1\leq p<\infty\) or there exists a subsequence \(u_{n_k}\), points \(a_1,\dots,a_m\) in \(M\) and \(\ell_1,\dots,\ell_m\in\mathbb{N}^*\) so that \[ \sum_j\ell_j=\frac1{16\pi^2}\int_Mf\,d\,\mathrm{vol}\quad\text{and}\quad e^{4u_{n_k}}\rightarrow16\pi^2\sum_j\ell_j\delta_{a_j}/\int_Mf\,d\,\mathrm{vol},\text{ as }k\rightarrow\infty. \] Several consequences of this result are derived. The second main result is to study the \(Q\)-curvature flow with total curvature not in \(16\pi^2\mathbb{N}^*\). Let \(E(u)\) be the \(Q\)-curvature functional. Theorem 1.5. Assume the Paneitz operator is positive with trivial kernel. For \(u_0\in C^\infty(M)\), let \(u(x;t)\) be the solution of the \(Q\)-curvature flow on a maximal interval \([0,T)\). If \[ \inf_{t\in[0,T)}E(u(t))>-\infty, \] then \(u\) is globally defined on \([0,\infty)\). In addition, suppose that the total \(Q\)-curvature does not belong to \(16\pi^2\mathbb{N}^*\). Then \(u(t)\) converges in \(C^\infty(M)\) as \(t\rightarrow+\infty\) to a function \(C^\infty(M)\) which satisfies the \(Q\)-curvature equation. Several other results in this direction are exhibited. The first section contains a detailed statement of results. Section 2 introduces basic tools in elliptic operator theory and blow-up analysis. Section 3 presents an integral Harnack type inequality. Section 4 deals with volume quantization and proves Theorem 1.1. The paper concludes in Section 5 by establishing results concerning the \(Q\)-curvature flow.