The gradient flow of the \(L^2\) curvature functional with small initial energy (Q692340)

The author proves the global existence of solution of the gradient flow of the \(L^2\)-norm of the Riemannian curvature on four-manifold when the initial metric has small energy with respect to the initial Sobolev constant and the \(H^1\) norm of the gradient vector. He also proves that the solution converges to a flat metric as time goes to infinity and improves the regularity requirement for the flow on a result proved earlier by himself [J. Geom. Anal. 18, No. 1, 249--271 (2008; Zbl 1151.35047)].