Classification of Solutions to a Critical Fourth-Order Equation on Complete Non-compact Manifolds

Abstract

We study the critical biharmonic equation \[ \Delta^2 u=u^{\frac{n+4}{n-4}}, \] on a complete, connected, and non-compact Riemannian manifold \((M^n,g)\) of dimension \(n\geq 5\) with non-negative Ricci curvature. We establish an optimal pointwise second-order derivative estimate by Bernstein's method and the continuity method. Using invariant tensors, we derive a differential inequality that yields a rigidity result. More precisely, if there exists a positive finite energy solution, then the manifold is isometric to the Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and the solution is given by \[ u(x)= \frac{ \left[\lambda^2 n(n-4)(n^2-4)\right]^{\frac{n-4}{8}} } {\left(1+\lambda |x-x_0|^2\right)^{\frac{n-4}{2}}}, \qquad \lambda>0,\quad x_0\in\mathbb{R}^n . \]