Branson's \(Q\)-curvature in Riemannian and spin geometry (Q2473529)

The Branson \(Q\)-curvature is a scalar function which exhibits interesting conformal behavior that generalizes \(2\)-dimensional phenomena for the scalar curvature to higher dimensional geometry. There are 3 natural operators in conformal geometry: Dirac, Yamabe, and Branson-Paneitz. The author examines relations between the spectra of these three operators similar to that played by the scalar curvature for the Dirac operator through the Lichnerowicz formula. The author establishes a new lower bound for the square of the first eigenvalue of the Yamabe eigenvalue in terms of the total Branson \(Q\)-curvature and, for \(n\geq5\), shows it is at least equal to that of the Paneitz-Branson operator. If the manifold is spin, the Hijazi inequality is used to relate the first eigenvalue of the Dirac operator to the total Branson \(Q\)-curvature if \(n=4\) and to the first eigenvalue of the Paneitz-Branson operator if \(n\geq5\).