A mass for ALF manifolds (Q2391142)

This paper proves a positive mass theorem on manifolds which are asymptotic to a flat \(S^1\) fibration over the Euclidean space with fibers of constant length. More precisely, \((M^{m+1},g)\) is a Riemannian manifold of non-negative Ricci curvature. Outside a compact set, \(M\) is supposed to be diffeomorphic to the total space of a principal \(S^1\) fibration over \(\mathbb R^m\). A model metric \(h\) on this fibration is defined by lifting the Euclidean metric from the base using a connection \(1\)-form \(\eta\), such that the vector field \(T\) of rotation along the fibers has constant length \(L\). The curvature form \(d\eta\) is supposed to decay, together with its derivatives of order \(i\) for \(0\leq i\leq 2\), to the order \(-\tau-i-1\) for some \(\tau>\frac{m-2}{2}\). The metric \(g\) on \(M\) is assumed to be asymptotic to the model metric \(h\) in the following sense: for \(0\leq i\leq 3\), the covariant derivatives of order \(i\) (with respect to \(h\)) of the difference \(g-h\) must decay near infinity to the order \(-\tau-i\). The main result of the paper under review states that the quantity \[ \mu_g:=-\frac{1}{\omega_m L}\limsup_{R\to\infty}\int_{r=R} *_h\bigg(\text{div}_hg+d \operatorname{Tr}_h g -\frac{1}{2} \,dg(T,T)\bigg) \] does not depend on the model metric \(h\), is positive, and vanishes precisely when \((M,g)\) is the product \(\mathbb R^m\times S^1\) with its standard metric. A similar result is proved when \(M\) is spin by only assuming that the scalar curvature is non-negative. The proof relies on constructing harmonic forms asymptotic to the standard \(1\)-forms on the base. The mass is then expressed in terms of these harmonic forms. On the other hand, using a Bochner formula, Stokes formula and the non-negativity of the Ricci curvature, the author proves the non-negativity of the mass, with equality when the above harmonic forms are parallel. This last case implies immediately that the space is the standard \({\mathbb R}^m\times S^1\).