Critical functions and optimal Sobolev inequalities (Q1771984)

The paper solves a conjecture of \textit{E. Hebey} and \textit{M. Vaugon} [Math. Z. 237, 737--767 (2001; Zbl 0992.58016)]. Let \((M^n, g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold, \(2^*=2n/(n-2)\), and let \(A=\inf\{| u| _{2^*}^2/| \nabla u| _2^2:u\in H^2_1(\mathbb R^N),\;u\not=0\}\) be the sharp Sobolev constant of the embedding \(H^2_1(\mathbb R^N)\hookrightarrow L^{2^*}(\mathbb R^N)\). Here \(| \cdot| _p\) denotes the \(L^p\)-norm. \textit{E. Hebey} and \textit{M. Vaugon} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 13, 57--93 (1996; Zbl 0849.53035)] showed that \[ | u| ^2_{2^*}\leq A(| \nabla u| ^2_2 +B_0(g)| u| ^2_2) \] holds for all \(u\in H^2_1(M)\) with an optimal constant \(B_0(g)\). For \(f\in C^\infty(M)\) define \[ \mu_{g,f}:=\inf\left(| \nabla u| ^2_2+\int_M fu^2\right)/| u| ^2_{2*} \] where the infinum extends over all \(u\in H^2_1(M)\setminus\{0\}\). Hebey and Vaugon showed that \(\mu_{g,f}\leq A\) and call \(f\) weakly critical for \(g\) if equality holds. Let \(S_g\) denote the scalar curvature, \(\text{{Weyl}}_g\) the Weyl curvature tensor of \(g\). The authors prove: Theorem: Let \(n\geq 6\), \(f\in C^\infty(M)\), \(x_0\in M\) be given such that \(f(x_0)=0\), \(\text{{Weyl}}_g (x_0)=0\), \(\nabla\text{{Weyl}}_g(x_0)=0\). Then there exists a conformal metric \(g_f\in[g]\) such that the scalar curvature \(S_{g_f}\) is maximal at \(x_0\) and such that the function \((n-2)\max_MS_{g_f}/4(n-1)-f\) is a weakly critical function for \(g_f\). The result is also true in dimension \(n=5\) provided \(\nabla^2\text{{Weyl}}_g(x_0)=0\) holds in addition. The proof is based on the methods of Hebey and Vaugon and a blow-up analysis.