The logarithmic Hardy-Littlewood-Sobolev inequality and extremals of zeta functions on \(S^ n\) (Q1913622)

Given a \(2n\)-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold \(M\) without boundary, one can define the Paneitz operator of \(M\): it is a conformally covariant linear differential operator \(P\), of order \(2n\), built from the metric tensor and the corresponding covariant derivatives and Riemann curvature tensor. If \(M\) is the even-dimensional sphere \(S^{2n}\) with standard metric, then \(P\) is simply a polynomial of the Laplace-Beltrami operator. Assuming \(P\) is self-adjoint and nonnegative, the author studies the corresponding heat kernel, Green function and zeta function \(Z(s) = \sum \lambda_j^{-s}\), where the \(\lambda_j\)'s are the strictly positive eigenvalues of \(P\). The main result of the paper is an integral formula expressing \(\sum_j (\widetilde \lambda_j^{-1} - \lambda_j^{-1})\), where the \(\widetilde \lambda_j\)'s and \(\lambda_j\)'s are the eigenvalues obtained from two conformally equivalent metrics on \(M\) giving the same total volume. Detailed computations are given for the case \(M = S^{2n}\). The above mentioned integral formula has interesting links with the following problem: among all metrics conformal to a given one, with some constraints, find the extrema of the functional determinant of \(P\) (defined as \(\text{det} P = e^{-Z'(0)})\).