Curvature, connected sums, and Seiberg-Witten theory (Q2386781)

The authors consider several differential-topological invariants of compact 4-manifolds which directly arise from Riemannian variational problems. Let \(M^n\) be a smooth compact manifold. On space of Riemannian metrics on \(M\) we shall consider a functional of the normalized total scalar curvature \(S(g)=\text{Vol}_g^{(2-n)/n}\int_Ms_g d\mu_g\). The Yamabe invariant of the manifold \(M^n\) is defined as \(\mathcal{Y}(M)=\sup_{[g]}\inf_{g\in[g]}S(g)\), where \([g]\) is the conformal class of metrics \(g\). Until recently, the only available non-trivial exact computations of the Yamabe invariant concerned the underlying 4-manifolds of complex algebraic surfaces, or their connected sums with copies \(S^1\times S^3\). The primary objective in the present article is to remedy this dearth of knowledge, by proving the following result. Theorem A. Let \(X_j\), \(j=1,\dots,4\), be minimal complex surfaces with: \text{ (1)} \(b_1(X_j)=0\),\ \text{ (2)} \(b_+(X_j)\equiv 3\mod 4\),\ \text{ (3)} \(\sum_{j=1}^4b_+(X_j)\equiv 4\mod 8\). Let \(N\) be a smooth compact orientable 4-manifold with \(b_+(N)=0\) which admits a metric of scalar curvature \(\geq 0\). Then, for each \(m=1,\dots,4\), \[ \mathcal{Y}([\sharp_{j=1}^m X_j]\sharp N)=-4\pi\sqrt{2\sum_{j=1}^{m}c_1^2(X_j)}. \] Here \(\sharp\) denotes the connected sum operations. The Yamabe invariant \(\mathcal{Y}(M)\) is closely related to the diffeomorphism invariant defined by \(\mathcal{I}_s(M)=\inf_g\int_M| s_g| ^{n/2}d\mu_g\). In this paper the following result is obtained also. Theorem B. Let \(X_j\), \(j=1,\dots,4\) and \(N\) be as in Theorem A. Then, for each \(m=1,\dots,4\), \[ \mathcal{I}_s([\sharp_{j=1}^m X_j]\sharp N) = \mathcal{I}_s(\sharp_{j=1}^m X_j)= 32\pi^2 \sum_{j=1}^{m}c_1^2(X_j). \] Similar results for functionals of the Ricci curvature \(\mathcal{I}_r(M)=\inf_g\int_M| r| _g^{n/2}d\mu_g\) are obtained, where \(r\) is the Ricci tensor. Theorem C. Let \(X_j\), \(j=1,\dots,4\) be minimal complex surfaces satisfying (1--3). Let \(N\) be a smooth compact orientable 4-manifold which admits an anti-self-dual metric of positive scalar curvature. Then, for each \(m=1,\dots,4\), \[ \mathcal{I}_r([\sharp_{j=1}^m X_j]\sharp N) = 8\pi^2 \left[ 4m-2(2\chi+3\tau)(N)+ \sum_{j=1}^{m}c_1^2(X_j)\right] . \] The condition at which the manifold \(M= [\sharp_{j=1}^m X_j]\sharp N\) does not admit Einstein metrics is obtained also.