Quantitative stability for minimizing Yamabe metrics

Abstract

On any closed Riemannian manifold of dimension <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="n greater-than-or-equal-to 3"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo> ≥ </mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">n\geq 3</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> , we prove that if a function nearly minimizes the Yamabe energy, then the corresponding conformal metric is close, in a quantitative sense, to a minimizing Yamabe metric in the conformal class. Generically, this distance is controlled quadratically by the Yamabe energy deficit. Finally, we produce an example for which this quadratic estimate is false.