Gauduchon metrics with prescribed volume form (Q1699389)

The authors study a large class of fully non-linear second-order elliptic equations on Hermitian manifolds, giving a-priori estimates in the presence of a suitable subsolution, see Theorem 2.2. The results continue the works [\textit{G. Székelyhidi}, J. Differ. Geom. 109, No. 2, 337--378 (2018; Zbl 1409.53062); \textit{V. Tosatti} and \textit{B. Weinkove}, ``Hermitian metrics, \((n-1,n-1)\)-forms and Monge-Ampère equations'', J. Reine Angew. Math. (to appear)] by the authors, and they can be interpreted as a non-Kähler counterpart of the Yau theorem in [\textit{S.-T. Yau}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 31, 339--411 (1978; Zbl 0369.53059)]. As a consequence, the authors give a positive answer to a conjecture by \textit{P. Gauduchon} [Math. Ann. 267, 495--518 (1984; Zbl 0523.53059)], concerning the existence of Gauduchon metrics with prescribed volume form on compact complex manifolds. More precisely, the authors prove in Theorem 1.3 that, on a compact complex manifold \(M\) of complex dimension \(n\geq2\), endowed with a Hermitian metric \(\alpha_0\) being Gauduchon (namely, \(\partial\overline\partial\alpha_0^{n-1}=0\)), given \(\psi\in c_1^{BC}(M) \in H^{1,1}_{BC}(M,\mathbb{R})\), then there exists a Gauduchon metric \(\omega\) satisfying \([\omega^{n-1}]=[\alpha_0^{n-1}]\in H^{n-1,n-1}_{A}(M,\mathbb{R})\) and \(\mathrm{Ricci}(\omega)=\psi\). Here, \(\mathrm{Ricci}(\omega)\) denotes the Chern-Ricci form of \(\omega\) and is locally given by \(-\sqrt{-1}\partial\overline\partial\log\det \omega\). In particular, this includes the case of non-Kähler Calabi-Yau manifolds: \(c_1^{BC}(M)=0\) holds if and only if there exist Chern-Ricci-flat Gauduchon metrics on \(M\). The theorem follows by solving for \(u \in C^\infty(M,\mathbb R)\) and \(b\in\mathbb R\) in the equation \[ \omega^n=\exp(F+b)\alpha_0^n \] with \[ \omega^{n-1} = \alpha_0^{n-1} + \sqrt{-1}\partial\overline\partial u \wedge \alpha_0^{n-2} + \mathrm{Re}(\sqrt{-1}\partial u \wedge \overline\partial(\alpha_0^{n-2})) >0 , \] where \(F \in C^\infty(M,\mathbb R)\) is given; see Theorem 1.4 for a more general result. The result is reduced to a second-order a-priori estimate of the form \(\sup_M |\sqrt{-1}\partial\overline\partial u|_{\alpha} \leq C \left( 1+ \sup_M |\nabla u |^2_{\alpha}\right)\), where \(\alpha=\alpha_0\) in our case. Compare also the equations proposed in [\textit{J. Fu} et al., Math. Res. Lett. 17, No. 5, 887--903 (2010; Zbl 1238.32016); \textit{D. Popovici}, Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 143, No. 4, 763--800 (2015; Zbl 1347.53060)], and previous results by \textit{P. Cherrier} [Bull. Sci. Math., II. Sér. 111, 343--385 (1987; Zbl 0629.58028)], \textit{V. Tosatti} and \textit{B. Weinkove} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 30, No. 2, 311--346 (2017; Zbl 1366.32015); J. Reine Angew. Math. (to appear), loc. cit.].