The Calabi metric and desingularization of Einstein orbifolds

Calabi-Yau theory (complex-analytic aspects) (32Q25) Methods of global Riemannian geometry, including PDE methods; curvature restrictions (53C21) Special Riemannian manifolds (Einstein, Sasakian, etc.) (53C25) Topology and geometry of orbifolds (57R18)

Abstract: Consider an Einstein orbifold

(M_{0}, g_{0})

of real dimension

2 n

having a singularity with orbifold group the cyclic group of order

n

in

m S U (n)

which is generated by an

n

th root of unity times the identity. Existence of a Ricci-flat K"ahler ALE metric with this group at infinity was shown by Calabi. There is a natural "approximate" Einstein metric on the desingularization of

M_{0}

obtained by replacing a small neighborhood of the singular point of the orbifold with a scaled and truncated Calabi metric. In this paper, we identify the first obstruction to perturbing this approximate Einstein metric to an actual Einstein metric. If

M_{0}

is compact, we can use this to produce examples of Einstein orbifolds which do not admit any Einstein metric in a neighborhood of the natural approximate Einstein metric on the desingularization. In the case that

(M_{0}, g_{0})

is asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein and non-degenerate, we show that if the first obstruction vanishes, then there does in fact exist an asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein metric on the desingularization. We also obtain a non-existence result in the asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein case, provided that the obstruction does not vanish. This work extends a construction of Biquard in the case

n = 2

, in which case the Calabi metric is also known as the Eguchi-Hanson metric, but there are some key points for which the higher-dimensional case differs.

Review text

This paper studies the problem of gluing the Calabi model metric into an Einstein orbifold with cyclic singularity, which generalizes the previous work of Biquard for the real dim 4 case. The Calabi metric is a Ricci flat Kähler metric on the total space of \(\mathcal{O}(-n)\to \mathbb{P}^{n-1}\), which is asymptotically Euclidean, with group at infinity being \(\mathbb Z/n\mathbb Z\subset SU(n)\). The authors consider the deformation of the Calabi metric within Einstein metrics, and identify a one-dimensional obstruction space for the linearized operator, with an explicit generator. The gluing problem is then treated by the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method, namely, using the implicit function theorem in weighted Hölder spaces to solve the Einstein equation up to the one dimensional obstruction. In the compact setting, there is an explicit curvature expression which captures the first-order obstruction; when this does not vanish, the authors show a nonexistence result within a small neighbourhood of the gluing ansatz. When the curvature expression vanishes, the answer is inconclusive, as there are possible higher order obstructions. The authors then change the setting to asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein metrics, where they are able to obtain an existence result when the obstruction vanishes. This relies on quite intricate interplay between the function germ at the orbifold point where gluing occurs, and the boundary behaviour at the conformal infinity. Roughly speaking, the obstruction issue is removed by deforming the conformal infinity.

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