Nondegeneracy of nodal solutions to the critical Yamabe problem (Q748456)

The interesting paper under review deals with the critical Yamabe problem \[ -\Delta u= \dfrac{n(n-2)}{4}|u|^\frac{4}{n-2}u,\quad u\in \mathcal{D}^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^n), \] where \(n\geq 3\) and \(\mathcal{D}^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^n)\) is the completion of \(C^\infty_0(\mathbb{R}^n)\) with respect to the norm \(\sqrt{\int_{\mathbb{R}^n} |\nabla u|^2}\). If \(u>0,\) the problem is the conformally invariant Yamabe problem and the set \[ \Sigma=\left\{Q\in \mathcal{D}^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^n)\setminus \{0\}:\quad -\Delta Q= \dfrac{n(n-2)}{4}|Q|^\frac{4}{n-2}Q \right\} \] of the non-zero finite energy solutions has been completely characterized by the classical work of \textit{L. A. Caffarelli} et al. [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 42, No. 3, 271--297 (1989; Zbl 0702.35085)]. Precisely, all positive solutions turn out to be radially symmetric around some point \(a\in \mathbb{R}^n\) and have the form \[ W_{\lambda,a}(x)=\left(\dfrac{\lambda}{\lambda^2+|x-a|^2}\right)^\frac{n-2}{n},\quad \lambda>0. \] Much less is known in the case of sign-changing solutions when a direct approach of the Pokhozhaev identity gives that these are non-radial. The authors of the paper under review prove existence of a sequence of nondegenerate (in the sense of \textit{T. Duyckaerts}, \textit{C. E. Kenig} and \textit{F. Merle} [``Solutions of the focusing nonradial critical wave equation with the compactness property'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1402.0365}]) nodal nonradial solutions to the critical Yamabe problem, which are rigid up to the transformations of the equation.