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Claude LeBrun

Publications and source records attributed to Claude LeBrun.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2005

Nonlinear Gravitons, Null Geodesics, and Holomorphic Disks

We develop a global twistor correspondence for pseudo-Riemannian conformal structures of signature (++--) with self-dual Weyl curvature. Near the conformal class of the standard indefinite product metric on S^2 x S^2, there is an infinite-dimensional moduli space of such conformal structures, and each of these has the surprising global property that its null geodesics are all periodic. Each such conformal structure arises from a family of holomorphic disks in CP_3 with boundary on some totally real embedding of RP^3 into CP_3. An interesting sub-class of these conformal structures are represented by scalar-flat indefinite Kähler metrics, and our methods give particularly sharp results in this more restrictive setting.

math.DG↗
arXiv2004

Einstein Metrics, Four-Manifolds, and Differential Topology

This article presents a new and more elementary proof of the main Seiberg-Witten-based obstruction to the existence of Einstein metrics on smooth compact 4-manifolds. It also introduces a new smooth manifold invariant which conveniently encapsulates those aspects of Seiberg-Witten theory most relevant to the study of Riemannian variational problems on 4-manifolds.

math.DG↗
arXiv2004

Curvature Functionals, Optimal Metrics, and the Differential Topology of 4-Manifolds

This paper investigates the question of which smooth compact 4-manifolds admit Riemannian metrics that minimize the L2-norm of the curvature tensor. Metrics with this property are called OPTIMAL; Einstein metrics and scalar-flat anti-self-dual metrics provide us with two interesting classes of examples. Using twistor methods, optimal metrics of the second type are constructed on the connected sums kCP_2 for k > 5. However, related constructions also show that large classes of simply connected 4-manifolds do not admit any optimal metrics at all. Interestingly, the difference between existence and non-existence turns out to delicately depend on one's choice of smooth structure; there are smooth 4-manifolds which carry optimal metrics, but which are homeomorphic to infinitely many distinct smooth 4-manifolds on which no optimal metric exists.

math.DG↗
arXiv2003

Curvature, Covering Spaces, and Seiberg-Witten Theory

The Yamabe invariant Y(M) of a smooth compact manifold is roughly the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume constant-scalar-curvature Riemannian metrics g on M. (To be precise, one only considers those constant-scalar-curvature metrics which are Yamabe minimizers, but this technicality does not, e.g. affect the sign of the answer.) In this article, it is shown that many 4-manifolds M with Y(M) < 0 have have finite covering spaces \tilde{M} with Y(\tilde{M}) > 0.

math.DG↗
arXiv2003

Curvature, Connected Sums, and Seiberg-Witten Theory

We consider several differential-topological invariants of compact 4-manifolds which directly arise from Riemannian variational problems. Using recent results of Bauer and Furuta, we compute these invariants in many cases that were previously intractable. In particular, we are now able to calculate the Yamabe invariant for certain connected sums of complex surfaces.

math.DG↗
arXiv2002

Zoll Manifolds and Complex Surfaces

We classify compact surfaces with torsion-free affine connections for which every geodesic is a simple closed curve. In the process, we obtain completely new proofs of all the major results concerning the Riemannian case. In contrast to previous work, our approach is twistor-theoretic, and depends fundamentally on the fact that, up to biholomorphism, there is only one complex structure on CP2.

math.DG↗
arXiv2001

Hyperbolic Manifolds, Harmonic Forms, and Seiberg-Witten Invariants

New estimates are derived concerning the behavior of self-dual hamonic 2-forms on a compact Riemannian 4-manifold with non-trivial Seiberg-Witten invariants. Applications include a vanishing theorem for certain Seiberg-Witten invariants on compact 4-manifolds of constant negative sectional curvature.

math.DG↗
arXiv2001

Spin Manifolds, Einstein Metrics, and Differential Topology

We show that there exist smooth, simply connected, four-dimensional spin manifolds which do not admit Einstein metrics, but nonetheless satisfy the strict Hitchin-Thorpe inequality. Our construction makes use of the Bauer/Furuta cohomotopy refinement of the Seiberg-Witten invariant, in conjunction with curvature estimates previously proved by the second author. These methods also easily allow one to construct examples of topological 4-manifolds which admit an Einstein metric for one smooth structure, but which have infinitely many other smooth structures for which no Einstein metric can exist.

math.DG↗
arXiv2000

Diffeomorphisms, symplectic forms, and Kodaira fibrations

As was recently pointed out by McMullen and Taubes [Math. Res. Lett. 6 (1999) 681-696], there are 4-manifolds for which the diffeomorphism group does not act transitively on the deformation classes of orientation-compatible symplectic structures. This note points out some other 4-manifolds with this property which arise as the orientation-reversed versions of certain complex surfaces constructed by Kodaira [J. Analyse Math. 19 (1967) 207-215]. While this construction is arguably simpler than that of McMullen and Taubes, its simplicity comes at a price: the examples exhibited herein all have large fundamental groups.

math.SG↗
arXiv2000

Curvature and Smooth Topology in Dimension Four

Seiberg-Witten theory leads to a delicate interplay between Riemannian geometry and smooth topology in dimension four. In particular, the scalar curvature of any metric must satisfy certain non-trivial estimates if the manifold in question has a non-trivial Seiberg-Witten invariant. However, it has recently been discovered that similar statements also apply to other parts of the curvature tensor. This article presents the most salient aspects of these curvature estimates in a self-contained manner, and shows how they can be applied to the theory of Einstein manifolds. We then probe the issue of whether the known estimates are optimal by relating this question to a certain conjecture in Kaehler geometry.

math.DG↗
arXiv2000

Ricci Curvature, Minimal Volumes, and Seiberg-Witten Theory

We derive new, sharp lower bounds for certain curvature functionals on the space of Riemannian metrics of a smooth compact 4-manifold with a non-trivial Seiberg-Witten invariant. These allow one, for example, to exactly compute the infimum of the L2-norm of Ricci curvature for all complex surfaces of general type. We are also able to show that the standard metric on any complex hyperbolic 4-manifold minimizes volume among all metrics satisfying a point-wise lower bound on sectional curvature plus suitable multiples of the scalar curvature. These estimates also imply new non-existence results for Einstein metrics.

math.DG↗
arXiv1998

On Einstein Manifolds of Positive Sectional Curvature

Let (M,g) be a compact oriented Einstein 4-manifold. If M has positive intersection form and g has non-negative sectional curvature, we show that, up to rescaling and isometry, (M,g) is CP2, equipped with its standard Fubini-Study metric.

math.DG↗
arXiv1998

Weyl Curvature, Einstein Metrics, and Seiberg-Witten Theory

We show that solutions of the Seiberg-Witten equations lead to non-trivial lower bounds for the L2-norm of the Weyl curvature of a compact Riemannian 4-manifold. These estimates are then used to derive new obstructions to the existence of Einstein metrics. These results considerably refine those previously obtained using scalar-curvature estimates alone.

math.DG↗
arXiv1998

Topology versus Chern Numbers for Complex 3-Folds

We show by example that the Chern numbers c_1^3 and c_1 c_2 of a complex 3-fold are not determined by the topology of the underlying smooth compact 6-manifold. In fact, we observe that infinitely many different values of a Chern number can be achieved by (integrable) complex structures on a fixed 6-manifold.

math.AG↗
arXiv1997

Yamabe Invariants and Spin^c Structures

The Yamabe Invariant of a smooth compact manifold is by definition the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume Yamabe metrics on the manifold. For an explicit infinite class of 4-manifolds, we show that this invariant is positive but strictly less than that of the 4-sphere. This is done by using spin^c Dirac operators to control the lowest eigenvalue of a perturbation of the Yamabe Laplacian. These results dovetail perfectly with those derived from the perturbed Seiberg-Witten equations, but the present method is much more elementary in spirit.

dg-ga↗
arXiv1997

On the Scalar Curvature of Einstein Manifolds

We show that there are high-dimensional smooth compact manifolds which admit pairs of Einstein metrics for which the scalar curvatures have opposite signs. These are counter-examples to a conjecture considered by Besse. The proof hinges on showing that the Barlow surface has small deformations with ample canonical line bundle.

dg-ga↗
arXiv1997

Kodaira Dimension and the Yamabe Problem

The Yamabe invariant Y(M) of a smooth compact manifold is roughly the supremum of the scalar curvatures of unit-volume constant-scalar curvature Riemannian metrics g on M. (To be absolutely precise, one only considers constant-scalar-curvature metrics which are Yamabe minimizers, but this does not affect the sign of the answer.) If M is the underlying smooth 4-manifold of a complex algebraic surface (M,J), it is shown that the sign of Y(M) is completely determined by the Kodaira dimension Kod (M,J). More precisely, Y(M) < 0 iff Kod (M,J)=2; Y(M) = 0 iff Kod (M,J)=0 or 1; and Y(M) > 0 iff Kod (M,J)= -infinity.

dg-ga↗