Variational problems in conformal geometry (Q2659533)

This paper is about special almost Hermitian metrics on almost complex manifolds. To introduce them, as the critical points, the authors discuss four functionals on the space of normalized almost Hermitian metrics. The Euler-Lagrange equations for all these functionals are computed -- as a tool for characterizing these metrics. Two functionals, \(\mathcal{F}\) and \(\mathcal{G}\), are given by the \(L^2\) norm of the quantities being the differentials of the Lee form associated to the almost Hermitian metric. These are discussed in Sections 2 and 3 respectively. The two other functionals discussed in Sections 4 and 5, \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{R}\), are the \(L^2\) norms of certain differentials of the almost Hermitian form itself. It turns out that the extremal points for the functional \(\mathcal{G}\) restricted to the conformal class are precisely the Gauduchon metrics. Section 3 contains the results on the functional \(\mathcal{F}\); this is the main part of the paper. After elaborating on the associated Euler-Lagrange equation and its consequences the authors prove that in any conformal class there exists a unique minimizer of the functional. These metrics are called \textit{distinguished} by the authors. It is shown what is an explicit form of the conformal factor for these metrics with respect to the Gauduchon metric. For the functional \(\mathcal{A}\) the authors restrict to computing the Euler-Lagrange equation and discussing the consequences for the critical points provided they satisfy additional properties, like being Gauduchon or SKT. For the functional \(\mathcal{R}\) the characterization of the critical points is provided only for almost complex surfaces.