Measuring mass via coordinate cubes (Q2006406)

Stern gave an interesting formula relating the scalar curvature of a manifold and the level set of its harmonic functions. If the manifold \((M, g)\) is asymptotically flat, by applying Stern's formula, Bray, Kazaras, Khuri,and Stern gave a new proof of the 3-dimensional positive mass theorem, which was originally proved by Schoen and Yau, and later by Witten. Motivated by Stern's formula, the author studies the mass of an asymptotically flat 3-manifold \((M,g)\) using the level set of coordinate function, which is a linear growth harmonic function in Eucliean space. More precisely, the author obtains a formula of the mass as an integral over large coordinate cubes. This geometric mass formula expresses the mass as an integral of the mean curvature on the boundary of the cube and the dihedra angles along the edges of the cube asymptotically. As an application, together with the positive mass theorem, this geometric mass formula for 3-dimensional asymptotically flat manifolds has connection with Gromov's scalar curvature comparison theory for cubic Riemannian polyhedra. This geometric mass formula also realizes the mass in terms of the geodesic curvature and turning angle of the curve which is the intersection by the boundary of cube and the coordinate plane.