A fully nonlinear conformal flow on locally conformally flat manifolds (Q4415682)

The authors consider a fully nonlinear flow on metrics from the same conformal class. They show long time existence, and convergence, for locally conformally flat manifolds. The main result leads to a solution to the \(\sigma_k\)-Yamabe problem, \(k \neq n/2\), for locally conformally flat manifolds. This is the problem of finding a metric of constant \(\sigma_k\)-curvature in a conformal class, where \(\sigma_k(A)\) is the \(k\)-th elementary symmetric function of the eigenvalues of an \(n \times n\) matrix \(A\). For \(k=1\), their flow is just the logarithmic version of the Yamabe flow introduced by Hamilton in connection with the Yamabe problem. Recall that the Yamabe problem has been settled by \textit{R. Schoen} [J. Differ. Geom. 20, 479--495 (1984; Zbl 0576.53028)]. The \(\sigma_k\)-Yamabe problem has been considered before [ see work by \textit{J. A. Viaclovsky}, Duke Math. J. 101, 283--316 (2000; Zbl 0990.53035)], but this is the first parabolic approach to it. It allows the authors to use previous techniques which they have developed to establish local estimates of solutions to the flow. On their turn, these estimates imply global existence of the flow.