Non-linear partial differential equations in conformal geometry

We discuss conformally covariant differential operators, which under local rescalings of the metric, \delta_\sigma g^{\mu\nu} = 2 \sigma g^{\mu\nu}, transform according to \delta_\sigma \Delta = r \Delta \sigma + (s-r) \sigma \Delta for some r if \Delta is s-th order. It is shown that the flat space restrictions of their associated Green functions have forms which are strongly constrained by flat space conformal invariance. The same applies to the variation of the Green funct...

Conformal invariance plays a significant role in many areas of Physics, such as conformal field theory, renormalization theory, turbulence, general relativity. Naturally, it also plays an important role in geometry: theory of Riemannian surfaces, Weyl tensors, $Q$-curvature, Yang-Mills fields, etc... We shall be concerned with the study of conformal invariance in analysis. More precisely, we will focus on the study of nonlinear PDEs arising from conformally invariant two dime...

We investigate the singular sets of solutions of conformally covariant elliptic operators of fractional order with the goal of developing generalizations of some well-known properties of solutions of the singular Yamabe problem.

The article contains a brief description on the study of conformal scalar curvature equations, and discusses selected topics and questions concerning the equations in open spaces.

We discuss a general scheme for a construction of linear conformally invariant differential operators from curved Casimir operators; we then explicitly carry this out for several examples. Apart from demonstrating the efficacy of the approach via curved Casimirs, this shows that this method applies both in regular and in singular infinitesimal character, and also that it can be used to construct standard as well as non--standard operators. The examples treated include conform...

We study the conformal plate buckling equation (Laplace--Beltrami)^2 u =1, where the L-B operator is for the metric g = e^{2u}g_0, with $g_0$ the standard Euclidean metric on R^2. This conformal elliptic PDE of fourth order is equivalent to the nonlinear system of elliptic PDEs of second order, Delta u +K_g e^(2u)=0, Delta K_g + e^(2u)=0, with x in R^2, describing a conformally flat surface with a Gauss curvature function K_g that is generated self-consistently through the me...

We present some results on a fully nonlinear version of the Yamabe problem and a Harnack type inequality for general conformally invariant fully nonlinear second order elliptic equations.

This article uses the iterative schemes and perturbation methods to completely solve the Han-Li conjecture, i.e. the general boundary Yamabe problem with prescribed constant scalar curvature and constant mean curvature on compact manifolds $ (M, \partial M, g) $ with non-empty smooth boundary, $ \dim M \geqslant 3 $. It is equivalent to show the existence of a real, positive, smooth solution of $ -\frac{4(n -1)}{n - 2} \Delta_{g} u + R_{g} u = \lambda u^{\frac{n+2}{n - 2}} $ ...

We study a behavior of the conformal Laplacian operator $\L_g$ on a manifold with \emph{tame conical singularities}: when each singularity is given as a cone over a product of the standard spheres. We study the spectral properties of the operator $\L_g$ on such manifolds. We describe the asymptotic of a general solution of the equation $\L_g u = Q u^{\alpha}$ with $1\leq \alpha\leq \frac{n+2}{n-2}$ near each singular point. In particular, we derive the asymptotic of the Yamab...

This paper surveys some selected topics in the theory of conformal metrics and their connections to complex analysis, partial differential equations and conformal differential geometry.