A gradient flow of isometric \(\text{G}_2\)-structures (Q2659486)

The authors discuss a flow of \(G_2\)-structures that all induce the same Riemannian metric. This isometric flow is the negative gradient flow of an energy functional. Shi-type estimates for the torsion tensor T and Cheeger-Gromov type compactness theorem for the flow are proved. They report an Uhlenbeck-type trick which together with a modification of the underlying connection yields a nice reaction-diffusion equation for the torsion along the flow. An entropy functional, after proving an $\varepsilon$-regularity theorem, is defined and they prove that low entropy initial data lead to solutions of the flow that exist for all time and converge smoothly to a \(G_2\)-structure with divergence-free torsion. In the end, they prove that if the singularity is of type I then a sequence of blow-ups of a solution admits a subsequence that converges to a shrinking soliton for the flow.