\(G\)-monopole classes, Ricci flow, and Yamabe invariants of 4-manifolds (Q2248881)

This paper is a continuation of the author's paper [``Finite group actions and \(G\)-monopole classes on smooth 4-manifolds'', Preprint, \url{arXiv 1108.3875}]. Here the author presents some geometric applications. Consider a smooth closed oriented \(4\)-manifold \(M\). An element of \(H^2(M,\mathbb{Z})\) is called a monopole class if it arises as the first Chern class of a \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\) structure on \(M\) for which the Seiberg-Witten equations \(D_A\Phi =0,\;F_A^+=\Phi\otimes \Phi^*-{{1}\over {2}} |\Phi|^2\mathrm{Id}\), admit a solution \((A,\Phi)\) for every choice of a Riemannian metric on \(M\). In the present paper the author uses the \(G\)-monopole classes to derive a lower bound of the \(L^2\)-norm of the Ricci curvature of a \(G\)-invariant Riemannian metric, even if there is no monopole class, and give a new topological obstruction to the existence of a quasi-nonsingular solution of the normalized Ricci flow for any \(G\)-invariant initial metric. In particular, this implies the nonexistence of a \(G\)-invariant metric or an orbifold Einstein metric on its quotient manifold. The author applies the main theorem proved in his paper quoted above to compute the \(\mathbb{Z}_k\)-Yamabe invariant of \(\widetilde{M}_k\), which is the \(\mathbb{Z}_k\)-equivariant version of the Yamabe invariant constructed using only metrics invariant under a \(\mathbb{Z}_k\) action, and the orbifold Yamabe invariant of \(\widetilde{M}_k/\mathbb{Z}_k=M\# N/\mathbb{Z}_k\).