K-stability and parabolic stability (Q887347)

The existence of extremal metrics is an unsettled issue, even in low dimensions (for surfaces). In absence of holomorphic vector fields, a Kähler metric is extremal if and only if it has constant scalar curvature (cscK). The Donaldson-Tian-Yau conjecture attempts to transfer the problem to the stability of a polarised complex manifold. This paper focuses on geometrically ruled surfaces (projectivizations \(\mathcal{X}=\mathbb{P}(E)\) of holomorphic rank-two vector bundles \(E\to \Sigma\) over closed Riemann surfaces) equipped with parabolic structures. The parabolic weights, if rational, define an iterated blow-up \(\hat \mathcal{X}\) [\textit{Y. Rollin} and \textit{M. Singer}, Invent. Math. 162, No. 2, 235--270 (2005; Zbl 1083.32021)]. The author proves that the DTY conjecture is true for this class of surfaces and polarisations lying near the boundary of the Kähler cone. Precisely: Let \(\mathcal{X}\to\Sigma\) be a parabolic ruled surface with rational weights, and \(\hat \mathcal{X}\to\mathcal{X}\) denote the induced iterated blow-up. If \(\hat \mathcal{X}\) has no non-trivial holomorphic vector fields, the following properties are equivalent: (i) \(\hat \mathcal{X}\) is basically cscK (ii) \(\hat \mathcal{X}\) is basically K-stable (iii) \(\mathcal{X}\to\Sigma\) is parabolically stable. The result follows along the path of the author's earlier work with \textit{M. Singer} [J. Geom. Anal. 19, No. 1, 107--136 (2009; Zbl 1204.53062)] and [J. Eur. Math. Soc. 11, No. 5, 979--997 (2009; Zbl 1181.32028)]. The proof relies on the computation of the Futaki invariant, interesting by its own means. See also [\textit{C. LeBrun} and \textit{S. R. Simanca}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 4, No. 3, 298--336 (1994; Zbl 0801.53050); \textit{C. LeBrun} and \textit{M. Singer}, Invent. Math. 112, No. 2, 273--313 (1993; Zbl 0793.53067)]. As a consequence of the above theorem, parabolically stable ruled surfaces \(\mathcal{X}\to\Sigma\) correspond to cscK metrics on the blow-up \(\hat \mathcal{X}\), under mild assumptions on the latter's Kähler cone. Related must-reads include [\textit{J. Ross} and \textit{R. Thomas}, J. Differ. Geom. 72, No. 3, 429--466 (2006; Zbl 1125.53057)], [\textit{V. Apostolov} and \textit{C. Tønnesen-Friedman}, Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 38, No. 3, 494--500 (2006; Zbl 1122.53042); \textit{V. Apostolov} et al., Adv. Math. 227, No. 6, 2385--2424 (2011; Zbl 1232.32011)].