IMCF and the stability of the PMT and RPI under \(L^2\) convergence (Q1745380)

The positive mass theorem (PMT) states that a complete, asymptotically flat \(3\)-manifold with nonnegative scalar curvature has positive ADM-mass. Moreover, \(m_{\mathrm{ADM}}(M)=0\) if and only if \(M\) is isometric to Euclidean space (rigidity of PMT). The Riemannian-Penrose inequality (RPI) states that when \(\partial M\) consists of an outermost minimal surface \(\Sigma_0\), then \[ m_{\mathrm{ADM}}(M) \geq \sqrt{\frac{|\Sigma_0|}{16\pi}}. \] The rigidity of RPI says that equality holds if and only if the metric is isometric to the Schwarzschild metric. In the paper under review, the stability of these theorems is studied using flow techniques. The main assumption is that \(M\) is foliated by a solution of the inverse mean curvature flow (IMCF) \[ \begin{cases} \frac{\partial F}{\partial t}(p,t)=\frac{\nu(p,t)}{H(p,t)} & \text{ for } (p,t) \in \Sigma \times [0,T)\\ F(p,0) = \Sigma_0 & \text{ for } p \in \Sigma. \end{cases} \] In the stability theorems, sequences \((M_i^3,g^i)\) of manifolds with positive scalar curvature and some uniform foliations by IMCF are considered. It is then shown that under some uniform curvature and diameter bounds and convergence of the Hawking mass of \(\Sigma_T^i\), the metrics \[ \hat g^i=\frac{1}{H(x,t)^2} dt^2+g^i(x,t) \] on \(\Sigma \times [0,T]\) converge to the flat metric (Theorem 1.2) or the Schwarzschild metric (Theorem 1.3).