Scalar curvature along Ebin geodesics (Q6582264)

This article shows that there are many Riemannian metrics \(g\) on a given compact manifold \(M\) of dimension \(\geq5\) with the same volume form and having negative scalar curvature \(R(g)\) of arbitrarily large absolute value.\N\NThe proof recurs to geometric analysis on the open subspace \(\mathcal{M}\) of smooth positive definite sections of \(S^2(T^*M)\) endowed with the \(C^\infty\) topology and the Ebin or \(L^2\)-metric \(\langle h,k\rangle_g=\int_Mg^{ij}h_{il}g^{lm}k_{jm}\, \mu_{g}\) at each point \(g\in\mathcal{M}\). It deals further with the Fréchet submanifold \(\mathcal{N}_\mu\subset\mathcal{M}\) given by the \(g\in\mathcal{M}\) with a same fixed volume density \(\mu_g=\mu\). Then \[T_{g}\mathcal{N}_\mu=\{h\in\Gamma(S^2(T^*M)):\ \mathrm{tr}_{g}(h)=0\}.\]\N\NThe main theorem is the following statement.\N\NTheorem. Let \((M,g_0)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold with volume density \(\mu\). Then, if \(\dim M\geq5\), there exists an open and dense subset \(\mathcal{Y}_{g_0}\subset T_{g_0}\mathcal{N}_\mu\) in the \(C^\infty\) topology such that, for every \(h\in\mathcal{Y}_{g_0}\), we have \[\lim_{t\rightarrow\infty} R(\gamma_h(t))=-\infty\] uniformly on \(M\).\N\NThe curve of metrics in \(\mathcal{N}_\mu\) is defined by \[\gamma_h(t)(\cdot,\cdot)=g_0(\mathrm{exp}(tH)\cdot,\cdot),\] where \(h=g_0(H\cdot,\cdot)\) for a self-adjoint and traceless \(H\). Hence such that \(\gamma_h(0)=g_0\) and \(\gamma_h'(0)=h\in T_{g_0}\mathcal{N}_\mu\). This is what the authors call an Ebin geodesic.\N\NThe article has other striking results on the so-called genericity of those directions \(h\) and the topology of the multiplicity locus \(S_H\) of the respective endomorphism \(H\); this being the place where \(H\) has less than \(\dim (M)\) distinct eigenvalues.\N\NFor instance, let us mention the following result:\N\NTheorem. Let \((M,g_0)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension \(n\geq 2\) with volume density \(\mu\). Then the multiplicity locus \(S_h\) of a generic direction \(h\in T_{g_0}\mathcal{M}_\mu\) is either empty or a compact Whitney stratified subspace of \(M\) of codimension two.