arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Claude LeBrun.
This expository article is based in part on the author's lecture series, "Einstein Metrics, Four-Manifolds, and Differential Topology," which was delivered as a 2026 Cours de la Chaire d'Excellence for the Fondation Sciences Math\'ematiques de Paris.
We display 4-dimensional counter-examples to a restricted form of Rosenberg's S^1-Stability Conjecture recently proposed by Jie Xu. Namely, we show that there are smooth compact 4-manifolds M with Euler characteristic zero that do not admit positive-scalar-curvature Riemannian metrics, but for which the corresponding Cartesian products M x S^1 nevertheless do admit such metrics.
Let {(M,g_i)} be a sequence of smooth compact oriented Einstein 4-manifolds of fixed Einstein constant $\lambda > 0$ that Gromov-Hausdorff converges to a 4-dimensional Einstein orbifold X. Suppose, moreover, that the limit metric is Hermitian with respect to some complex structure on the limit orbifold X, that X has at least one singular point, and that every gravitational instanton that bubbles off from the sequence is anti-self-dual. Then, for all sufficiently large i, the given (M,g_i) are all Kaehler-Einstein. As a consequence, the limit orbifold X is also Kaehler-Einstein, and must in fact be one of the orbifold limits classified by Odaka, Spotti, and Sun.
It was first shown in (Catanese-LeBrun 1997) that certain high-dimensional smooth closed manifolds admit pairs of Einstein metrics with Ricci curvatures of opposite sign. After reviewing subsequent progress that has been made on this topic, we then prove various related results, with the ultimate goal of stimulating further research on associated questions.
In a previous paper, the first two authors classified complete Ricci-flat ALF Riemannian 4-manifolds that are toric and Hermitian, but non-Kaehler. In this article, we consider general Ricci-flat deformations of such spaces, assuming only suitable fall-off conditions. Quite generally, we are able to show that such a deformation must be Hermitian, and must carry a non-trivial Killing vector field with fixed asymptotics. With mild additional hypotheses, we are then able to show that the new Ricci-flat metric must in fact belong to the family of previously classified metrics.
The Yamabe invariant is a diffeomorphism invariant of smooth compact manifolds that arises from the normalized Einstein-Hilbert functional. This article highlights the manner in which one compelling open problem regarding the Yamabe invariant appears to be closely tied to static potentials and the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian.
The infimum of the Weyl functional is shown to be surprisingly small on many compact 4-manifolds that admit positive-scalar-curvature metrics. Results are also proved that systematically compare the scalar and self-dual Weyl curvatures of certain almost-Kaehler 4-manifolds.
Dimension four provides a peculiarly idiosyncratic setting for the interplay between scalar curvature and differential topology. Here we will explain some of the peculiarities of the four-dimensional realm via a careful discussion of the Yamabe invariant (or sigma constant). In the process, we will also prove some new results, and point out open problems that continue to represent key challenges in the subject.
For compact complex surfaces (M^4, J) of Kaehler type, it was previously shown that the sign of the Yamabe invariant Y(M) only depends on the Kodaira dimension Kod (M, J). In this paper, we prove that this pattern in fact extends to all compact complex surfaces except those of class VII. In the process, we give a simplified proof of a result that explains why the exclusion of class VII is essential here.
The fact that every compact oriented 4-manifold admits spin$^c$ structures was proved long ago by Hirzebruch and Hopf. However, the usual proof is neither direct nor transparent. This article gives a new proof using twistor spaces that is simpler and more geometric. After using these ideas to clarify various aspects of four-dimensional geometry, we then explain how related ideas can be used to understand both spin and spin$^c$ structures in any dimension.
Building on previous results, we complete the classification of compact oriented Einstein 4-manifolds with det (W^+) > 0. There are, up to diffeomorphism, exactly 15 manifolds that carry such metrics, and, on each of these manifolds, such metrics sweep out exactly one connected component of the corresponding Einstein moduli space.
Peng Wu recently announced a beautiful characterization of conformally Kaehler, Einstein metrics of positive scalar curvature on compact oriented 4-manifolds via the condition det (W^+) > 0. In this note, we buttress his claim by providing an entirely different proof of his result. We then present further consequences of our method, which builds on techniques previously developed in (LeBrun 2015).
The author has elsewhere given a complete classification of those compact oriented Einstein 4-manifolds on which the self-dual Weyl curvature is everywhere positive in the direction of some self-dual harmonic 2-form. In this article, similar results are obtained when the self-dual Weyl curvature is everywhere non-negative in the direction of a self-dual harmonic 2-form that is transverse to the zero section of the bundle of self-dual 2-forms. However, this transversality condition plays an essential role in the story; dropping it leads one into wildly different territory where entirely different phenomena predominate.
In the author's previous joint work with Hans-Joachim Hein, a mass formula for asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) Kaehler manifolds was proved, assuming only relatively weak fall-off conditions on the metric. However, the case of real dimension 4 presented technical difficulties that led us to require fall-off conditions in this special dimension that are stronger than the Chrusciel fall-off conditions that sufficed in higher dimensions. The present article, however, shows that techniques of $4$-dimensional symplectic geometry can be used to obtain all the major results of the previous paper, assuming only Chrusciel-type fall-off. In particular, the present article presents a new a proof of our Penrose-type inequality for the mass of an asymptotically Euclidean Kaehler manifold that only requires Chrusciel metric fall-off.
It is known that the almost-Kaehler anti-self-dual metrics on a given 4-manifold sweep out an open subset in the moduli space of anti-self-dual metrics. However, we show here by example that this subset is not generally closed, and so need not sweep out entire connected components in the moduli space. Our construction hinges on an unexpected link between harmonic functions on certain hyperbolic 3-manifolds and self-dual harmonic 2-forms on associated 4-manifolds.
A Riemannian metric on a compact 4-manifold is said to be Bach-flat if it is a critical point for the L2-norm of the Weyl curvature. When the Riemannian 4-manifold in question is a Kaehler surface, we provide a rough classification of solutions, followed by detailed results regarding each case in the classification. The most mysterious case prominently involves 3-dimensional CR manifolds.
A theorem of Kuranishi tells us that the moduli space of complex structures on any smooth compact manifold is always locally a finite-dimensional space. Globally, however, this is simply not true; we display examples in which the moduli space contains a sequence of regions for which the local dimension tends to infinity. These examples naturally arise from the twistor theory of hyper-Kaehler manifolds.
We prove a simple, explicit formula for the mass of any asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) Kähler manifold, assuming only the sort of weak fall-off conditions required for the mass to actually be well-defined. For ALE scalar-flat Kähler manifolds, the mass turns out to be a topological invariant, depending only on the underlying smooth manifold, the first Chern class of the complex structure, and the Kähler class of the metric. When the metric is actually AE (asymptotically Euclidean), our formula not only implies a positive mass theorem for Kähler metrics, but also yields a Penrose-type inequality for the mass.