Deformations of \(Q\)-curvature. II. (Q2113328)

The \(Q\)-curvature is a fourth-order scalar Riemannian invariant that has been deeply studied in the last period because it can be considered as the analogue of the Gaussian curvature, but also of the scalar curvature. The authors investigated in a previous paper [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 55, No. 4, Paper No. 101, 29 p. (2016; Zbl 1355.53026)] local stability and rigidity phenomena of \(Q\)-curvature, obtaining some interesting geometric results about \(Q\)-curvature. In this paper, the authors study the volume comparison with respect showing that the volume comparison theorem holds for metrics close to strictly stable positive Einstein metrics, meaning that \(Q\)-curvature can still control the volume of manifolds under certain conditions. The local rigidity of strictly stable Ricci-flat manifolds with respect to \(Q\)-curvature is found, and this proves the non-existence of metrics with positive \(Q\)-curvature near the reference metric.