The decomposition of global conformal invariants. IV: A proposition on local Riemannian invariants (Q990743)

Let \((M,g)\) be a closed Riemannian manifold of dimension \(m\). Let \(P(g)\) be a local polynomial invariant of the derivatives of the metric with coefficients which depend smoothly on the metric tensor; equivalently, \(P\) is expressible universally as a complete contraction of the curvature \(R\), the covariant derivative \(\nabla R\) of the curvature, and the \(k\)th covariant derivative \(\nabla^kR\) of the curvature for some \(k\). Let \[ P[M,g]:=\int_MP(g)\,d\text{vol}\,. \] One says that \(P\) is a global conformal invariant if \(P[M,e^{2\phi}g]=P[M,g]\) for every \(\phi\in C^\infty(M)\). The author shows: Theorem 1.1: Let \(P\) be a global conformal invariant. Then \(P(g)=W(g)+\text{div}(T(g))+c\,\text{Pfaff}(g)\) where \(\text{Pfaff}(g)\) denotes the Pfaffian -- i.e., the integral of the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet theorem, where \(T(g)\) is a local \(1\)-form polynomial invariant of the metric, and where \(W(g)\) is a local conformal invariant of the weight \(-m\), i.e., \(W(e^{2\phi}g)=e^{-n\phi}W(g)\). The present paper is the fourth in a series of papers -- it proves certain purely algebraic statements regarding local Riemannian invariants which were used extensively in the first two papers of the series. For part II, see Zbl 1124.53013.