Total mean curvature, scalar curvature, and a variational analog of Brown-York mass (Q525126)

The paper studies the supremum of the total boundary mean curvature of compact, connected Riemannian \(3\)-manifolds of non-negative scalar curvature with prescribed boundary metrics and positive boundary mean curvature (mean-convex boundary). It turns out that the supremum is additive, i.e. its value for manifolds with multiple boundary components is the sum of values for manifolds with the boundary isometric to each component separately. Moreover, if the total mean curvature over at least one component attains its supremum value then this is the only component, and the manifold is isometric to a mean-convex handlebody with flat interior. If its genus is zero the manifold is an Alexandrov embedded mean-convex ball in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). When the boundary consists of \(2\)-spheres the supremum is proved to be finite based on previous results of Shi-Tam and Wang-Yau, similar result was independently obtained by Lu. When the boundary is a single \(2\)-sphere the authors are able to generalize the definition of the Brown-York quasi-local mass and prove its positivity without assuming that the boundary Gaussian curvature is positive, as in the previous result of Shi-Tam. The motivation comes from general relativity, where the \(3\)-manifold is a compact space, like a hypersurface with boundary, and the proof is based on cutting manifolds across minimal surfaces and filling in the holes with \(3\)-balls of positive scalar curvature.