Anomaly flow: Shi-type estimates and long-time existence (Q6932416)

In [Nuclear Phys. B 258, No. 1, 46--74 (1985; \url{doi:10.1016/0550-3213(85)90602-9})], \textit{P. Candelas} et al. proposed the system of equations on a compact complex 3-fold \(X\) with nowhere-vanishing holomorphic \((3,0)\)-form \(\Omega\) and a holomorphic vector bundle \(E\) over \(X\), which is called the Hull-Strominger system. The equations seek Hermitian metrics \(\omega\) on \(X\) and \(H\) on \(E\) such that \(\omega\) is conformally balanced and \(H\) is Hermitian-Yang-Mills, and these metrics satisfy the heterotic Bianchi identity. The anomaly flow was motivated by finding solutions to the Hull-Strominger system (cf. [\textit{D. H. Phong} et al., Math. Z. 288, No. 1--2, 101--113 (2018; Zbl 1407.32011)]), which is given by \N\[\N\frac{\partial}{\partial t}(\|\Omega\|_\omega\omega^2)=i\partial\bar{\partial}\omega-\alpha'(\mathrm{tr}(\mathrm{Rm}\wedge\mathrm{Rm})-\Phi),\N\]\Nwhere \(\Phi\) is given closed \((2,2)\)-form in \(c_2(X)\) that evolves with time, and \(\|\Omega\|_\omega^2:=i\Omega\wedge\bar{\Omega}\omega^{-3}\). According to Chern-Weil theory, the anomaly flow preserves the conformally balanced condition. In [Commun. Anal. Geom. 26, No. 4, 955--1008 (2018; Zbl 1400.32012)] \textit{D. H. Phong} et al. derived its convergence on a compact Kähler manifold of complex dimension \(n\ge3\) with vanishing first Chern class. They proved that the anomaly flow with zero slope has a long-time solution that converges to the unique Ricci-flat Kähler metric in \(C^\infty\)-topology.\N\NIn this paper, the author studies the long-time existence of the anomaly flow on a compact complex \(3\)-fold with a general slope parameter \(\alpha'\). The author derives Shi-type estimates for the evolution of the covariant derivatives of the Chern curvature and the torsion. When \(\alpha'>0\), handling the additional terms is difficult because they contain many non-Laplacian derivatives. To address these additional terms, the author applies an integration-by-parts type argument and the divergence theorem to absorb them into negative terms. Since the maximum principle argument cannot be applied due to the existence of too many derivative terms, the author uses Grönwall's inequality instead. Assuming that \(\alpha'\) is sufficiently small, these tools provide a bound for \(L^{2p}\)-norms of the covariant derivatives of curvature and torsion. Using the Sobolev embedding theorem and the bootstrapping argument, this bound can be upgraded to uniform \(L^\infty\)-estimates on covariant derivatives of the curvature and torsion along the anomaly flow under the assumption that the lower derivatives are also uniformly bounded [\textit{R. S. Hamilton}, J. Differ. Geom. 17, 255--306 (1982; Zbl 0504.53034)]. Based on these estimates and the assumption that the Chern curvature, the torsion and the first-order covariant derivatives of the torsion are uniformly bounded, and the assumption that \(\alpha'\) is sufficiently small, the author concludes that the anomaly flow can be smoothly extended to the maximal time \(t=\tau\) and by the short-time existence, then the flow can be further extended it to \([0,\tau+\varepsilon)\) for some \(\varepsilon>0\).