No label defined (Q4801302)

Let \(P(M^4,G)\) be a principal bundle over a 4-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold \(M^4\) with a compact simple Lie group \(G\) as its structure group. Twenty years ago, \textit{K. Uhlenbeck} [Commun. Math. Phys. 83, 31-42 (1982; Zbl 0499.58019)] and \textit{S. Sedlacek} [Commun. Math. Phys. 86, 515-527 (1982; Zbl 0506.53016)] studied the asymptotic behavior of certain sequences of Yang-Mills connections on \(P(M^4,G)\) and proved their so-called weak compactness theorems on the existence of limiting connections. A few years later, in 1988, \textit{H. Nakajima} [J. Math. Soc. Japan 40, 383-392 (1988; Zbl 0647.53030)] generalized Uhlenbeck's weak compactness theorem to the case of dimension \(n\geq 4\). Now, in the paper under review, the authors turn to the problem of describing the asymptotic behavior of a Yang-Mills flow \(\{A_t \}\) with initial connection \(A_0\) on a principal bundle \(P(M^n,G)\) over a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension \(n>4\). Whereas it is well-known that such Yang-Mills flows do exist in the short-time range, the problem of the long-time existence for Yang-Mills flows (and their asymptotic behavior) appears to be rather complicated. Based upon the methods developed in an earlier paper by one of the first author and \textit{M. Struwe} [Math. Z. 201, 83-103 (1989; Zbl 0652.58024)], where the related evolution problem for harmonic flows \(u_t: M^m\to N^n\) was investigated, the authors of the present article provide a complete proof of the following general theorem: Let \(P(M^n,G)\) be a principal bundle over an \(n\)-dimensional \((n>4)\) compact Riemannian manifold \(M^n\) with compact simple Lie group \(G\), and let \(\{A_t\}\) be a regular Yang-Mills flow with an initial connection \(A_0\) for any time parameter \(t\geq 0\). Then there is a subsequence \(\{A_{t_i}\}\) of the flow \(\{A_t\}\) and a sequence \(\{\sigma_i\}\) of gauge transformations such that the gauge-transformed sequence \(\{\sigma^*_i (A_{t_i})\}_{i\in\mathbb{N}}\) is \(C^\infty\)-convergent to a Yang-Mills connection \(A_\infty\) which is regular off a subset \(\Sigma_\infty\) in \(M^n\), whose Hausdorff measure \(H^{n-4+k} (\Sigma_\infty)\) is zero for any \(k>0\). The proof of this deep theorem is obtained by utilizing (and combining) several general inequalities, a monotonicity formula, a partial regularity theorem, and estimates for higher gauge-covariant derivatives of curvatures for Yang-Mills flows, all of which are proved in the course of the paper. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1007.00074].