Scattering theory of the Hodge-Laplacian under a conformal perturbation (Q528819)

Let \(M\) be a non-compact manifold. Let \(g\) and \(\tilde g\) be conformally equivalent metrics on \(M\). Let \(\Delta_g^p\) and \(\Delta_{\tilde g}^p\) be the associated Laplace operators on the space of smooth \(p\)-forms. Given a suitable first order control on the conformal factor, the authors show that the associated wave operators exist and are complete. This observation is applied to warped product Riemannian manifolds in the context of bounded geometry. The absolutely continuous spectrum is examined for a wide class of warped product metrics. The authors address the question ``To what extent can one prove a scattering result for the form valued Hodge Laplacian which only requires a lower order control on the deviation of the metrics'' and generalize previous results for the scalar Laplacian. The first section is an introduction to the matter at hand. In the second section, the authors review some results concerning conformal geometry. Harmonic Sobolev coordinates are introduced in the second section. The existence of the wave operators in question is presented in the third section. The fourth section uses the results of the paper to treat various examples.