On the second conformal eigenvalue of the standard sphere (Q1717133)

It is known that \[ \Lambda_2(\mathbb S^2,[h])=16\pi,\tag{1} \] where \((\mathbb S^2,h)\) is the standard two-dimensional sphere, and \[ \Lambda_k(M,[g])=\sup_{\tilde g\in[g]}\lambda_k(\tilde g)\mathrm{Vol}_{\tilde g}(M)^{2/n} \] is the so-called conformal eigenvalue. Here \([g]=\left\{\tilde g=e^{2u}g:u\in C^{\infty}(M)\right\}\) is the conformal class of a given metric \(g\) on \(M\) and \(\lambda_k(g)\) is the \(k\)-th eigenvalue of the Laplacian on the \(n\)-dimensional manifold \((M,g)\). A natural question is whether the analogue of (1) holds for \(\mathbb S^n\) with \(n\geq 3\), namely if \[ \Lambda_2(\mathbb S^n,[h])=n(2\omega_n)^{2/n},\tag{2} \] where \(\omega_n\) is the volume of the standard unit \(n\)-sphere. Several results have been obtained in this direction. However, surprisingly enough, the authors proves in this paper that (2) is false. In fact, he proves that there exists a metric \(g=e^{2u}h\) conformal to the standard round metric \(h\) such that \[ \lambda_2(g)\mathrm{Vol}_g(\mathbb S^n)^{2/n}>n(2\omega_n)^{2/n} \] for all \(n\geq 3\), which implies \[ \Lambda_2(\mathbb S^n,[h])>n(2\omega_n)^{2/n}. \] As a corollary, it follows that, for all \(n\geq 3\) and \(k\geq 2\) \[ \Lambda_k(\mathbb S^n,[h])>n(k\omega_n)^{2/n}. \] In order to prove the result, the author builds a family of metrics \(g_{\beta}\) conformal to \(h\) such that \(\lambda_2(g_{\beta})\mathrm{Vol}_{g_{\beta}}(\mathbb S^n)^{2/n}\rightarrow n(2\omega_n)^{2/n}\) as \(\beta\rightarrow 1\) and the limit is achieved from above. The manifolds \((\mathbb S^n,g_{\beta})\) look (geometrically) like two spheres attached by a small neck.