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In this thesis, we introduce a new type of geometric flow of Riemannian metrics based on Bach tensor and the gradient of Weyl curvature functional and coupled with an elliptic equation which preserves a constant scalar curvature along with this flow. We named this flow by conformal Bach flow. In this thesis, we first establish the short-time existence of the conformal Bach flow and its regularity. After that, some evolution equations of curvature tensor along this flow are derived and we use them to obtain the $L^2$ estimates of the curvature tensors. After that, these estimates help us characterize the finite-time singularity. We also prove a compactness theorem for a sequence of solutions with uniformly bounded curvature norms. Finally, some singularity model is investigated.

It has been observed by Maldacena that one can extract asymptotically anti-de Sitter Einstein 4-metrics from Bach-flat spacetimes by imposing simple principles and data choices. We cast this problem in a conformally compact Riemannian setting. Following an approach pioneered by Fefferman and Graham for the Einstein equation, we find formal power series for conformally compactifiable, asymptotically hyperbolic Bach-flat 4-metrics expanded about conformal infinity. We also consider Bach-flat metrics in the special case of constant scalar curvature and in the special case of constant Q-curvature. This allows us to determine the free data at conformal infinity and to select those choices that lead to Einstein metrics. The asymptotically hyperbolic mass is part of that free data, in contrast to the pure Einstein case. Higher-dimensional generalizations of the Bach tensor lack some of the geometrical meaning of the 4-dimensional case, but for a generalized Bach equation suited to the Fefferman–Graham technique, we are able to obtain a relatively complete result illustrating an interesting splitting of the free data into low-order “Dirichlet” and high-order “Neumann” pairs.

We study static spherically symmetric solutions to the vacuum field equations of quadratic gravity in the presence of a cosmological constant $\Lambda$. Motivated by the trace no-hair theorem, we assume the Ricci scalar to be constant throughout a spacetime. Furthermore, we employ the conformal-to-Kundt metric ansatz that is valid for all static spherically symmetric spacetimes and leads to a considerable simplification of the field equations. We arrive at a set of two ordinary differential equations and study its solutions using the Frobenius-like approach of (infinite) power series expansions. While the indicial equations considerably restrict the set of possible leading powers, careful analysis of higher-order terms is necessary to establish the existence of the corresponding classes of solutions. We thus obtain various non-Einstein generalizations of the Schwarzschild, (anti-)de Sitter [or (A)dS for short], Nariai, and Pleba\'{n}ski-Hacyan spacetimes. Interestingly, some classes of solutions allow for an arbitrary value of $\Lambda$, while other classes admit only discrete values of $\Lambda$. For most of these classes, we give recurrent formulas for all series coefficients. We determine which classes contain the Schwarzschild-(A)dS black hole as a special case and briefly discuss the physical interpretation of the spacetimes. In the discussion of physical properties, we naturally focus on the generalization of the Schwarzschild-(A)dS black hole, namely the Schwarzschild-Bach-(A)dS black hole, which possesses one additional Bach parameter. We also study its basic thermodynamical properties and observable effects on test particles caused by the presence of the Bach tensor. This work is a considerable extension of our letter [Phys. Rev. Lett., 121, 231104, 2018]., Comment: 68 pages, matches the published version + contains the table of contents

In this paper we study spaces of conformal torsion-free connection of dimension 4 whose connection matrix satisfies the Yang–Mills equations. Here we generalize and strengthen the results obtained by us in previous articles, where the angular metric of these spaces had Minkowski signature. The generalization is that here we investigate the spaces of all possible metric signatures, and the enhancement is due to the fact that additional attention is paid to calculating the curvature matrix and establishing the properties of its components. It is shown that the Yang–Mills equations on 4-manifolds of conformal torsion-free connection for an arbitrary signature of the angular metric are reduced to Einstein's equations, Maxwell's equations and the equality of the Bach tensor of the angular metric and the energy-momentum tensor of the skew-symmetric charge tensor. It is proved that if the Weyl tensor is zero, the Yang–Mills equations have only self-dual or anti-self-dual solutions, i.e the curvature matrix of a conformal connection consists of self-dual or anti-self-dual external 2-forms. With the Minkowski signature (anti)self-dual external 2-forms can only be zero. The components of the curvature matrix are calculated in the case when the angular metric of an arbitrary signature is Einstein, and the connection satisfies the Yang–Mills equations. In the Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean 4-spaces we give some particular self-dual and anti-self-dual solutions of the Maxwell equations, to which all the Yang–Mills equations are reduced in this case.

We study static, spherically symmetric vacuum solutions to Quadratic Gravity, extending considerably our previous Rapid Communication [Phys. Rev. D 98, 021502(R) (2018)] on this topic. Using a conformal-to-Kundt metric ansatz, we arrive at a much simpler form of the field equations in comparison with their expression in the standard spherically symmetric coordinates. We present details of the derivation of this compact form of two ordinary differential field equations for two metric functions. Next, we apply analytical methods and express their solutions as infinite power series expansions. We systematically derive all possible cases admitted by such an ansatz, arriving at six main classes of solutions, and provide recurrent formulas for all the series coefficients. These results allow us to identify the classes containing the Schwarzschild black hole as a special case. It turns out that one class contains only the Schwarzschild black hole, three classes admit the Schwarzschild solution as a special subcase, and two classes are not compatible with the Schwarzschild solution at all since they have strictly nonzero Bach tensor. In our analysis, we naturally focus on the classes containing the Schwarzschild spacetime, in particular on a new family of the Schwarzschild-Bach black holes which possesses one additional non-Schwarzschild parameter corresponding to the value of the Bach tensor invariant on the horizon. We study its geometrical and physical properties, such as basic thermodynamical quantities and tidal effects on free test particles induced by the presence of the Bach tensor. We also compare our results with previous findings in the literature obtained using the standard spherically symmetric coordinates., 50 pages, 5 figures; various typos were corrected and formulations improved

On a compact $n$-dimensional manifold, it is well known that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with unit volume is Einstein. It has been conjectured that a critical metric of the total scalar curvature, restricted to the space of metrics with constant scalar curvature of unit volume, will be Einstein. This conjecture, proposed in 1987 by Besse, has not been resolved except when $M$ has harmonic curvature or the metric is Bach flat. In this paper, we prove some gap properties under divergence-free Bach tensor condition for $n \geq 5$, and a similar condition for $n = 4$.

In this paper we introduce the notion of Einstein-type structure on a Riemannian manifold $\varrg$, unifying various particular cases recently studied in the literature, such as gradient Ricci solitons, Yamabe solitons and quasi-Einstein manifolds. We show that these general structures can be locally classified when the Bach tensor is null. In particular, we extend a recent result of Cao and Chen.

Einstein manifolds, being critical for the Hilbert-Einstein functional, are central in Riemannian Geometry and Mathematical Physics. A strategy to construct Einstein metrics consists on deforming a given metric by a conformal factor so that the resulting metric is Einstein. In the present Thesis we follow this approach with special emphasis in dimension four. This is the first non-trivial case where the conformally Einstein condition is not tensorial and there are topological obstructions to the existence of Einstein metrics. The conformally Einstein condition is given by a overdetermined PDE-system. Hence the consideration of necessary conditions to be conformally Einstein are of special relevance: the Bach-flat condition is central. In this Thesis we classify four-dimensional homogeneous conformally Einstein manifolds and provide a large family of strictly Bach-flat gradient Ricci solitons. We show the existence of Bach-flat structures given as deformations of Riemannian extensions by means of the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem.

We present, in an explicit form, the metric for all spherically symmetric Schwarzschild-Bach black holes in Einstein-Weyl theory. In addition to the black hole mass, this complete family of spacetimes involves a parameter that encodes the value of the Bach tensor on the horizon. When this additional "non-Schwarzschild parameter" is set to zero the Bach tensor vanishes everywhere and the "Schwa-Bach" solution reduces to the standard Schwarzschild metric of general relativity. Compared with previous studies, which were mainly based on numerical integration of a complicated form of field equations, the new form of the metric enables us to easily investigate geometrical and physical properties of these black holes, such as specific tidal effects on test particles, caused by the presence of the Bach tensor, as well as fundamental thermodynamical quantities., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures: accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review D

In three dimensions, there exist modifications of Einstein's gravity akin to the topologically massive gravity that describe massive gravitons about maximally symmetric backgrounds. These theories are built on the three-dimensional version of the Bach tensor (a curl of the Cotton-York tensor) and its higher derivative generalizations; and they are on-shell consistent without a Lagrangian description based on the metric tensor alone. We give a generic construction of these models, find the spectra and compute the conserved quantities for the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black hole., Comment: 17 pages, a note added on MMG

We compute the holographic stress tensor and the logarithmic energy-momentum tensor of Einstein-Weyl gravity at the critical point. This computation is carried out performing a holographic expansion in a bulk action supplemented by the Gauss-Bonnet term with a fixed coupling. The renormalization scheme defined by the addition of this topological term has the remarkable feature that all Einstein modes are identically cancelled both from the action and its variation. Thus, what remains comes from a nonvanishing Bach tensor, which accounts for non-Einstein modes associated to logarithmic terms which appear in the expansion of the metric. In particular, we compute the holographic $1$-point functions for a generic boundary geometric source., 21 pages, no figures,extended discussion on two-point functions, final version to appear in JHEP

Since all Einstein spacetimes are vacuum solutions to quadratic gravity in four dimensions, in this paper we study various aspects of non-Einstein vacuum solutions to this theory. Most such known solutions are of traceless Ricci and Petrov type N with a constant Ricci scalar. Thus we assume the Ricci scalar to be constant which leads to a substantial simplification of the field equations. We prove that a vacuum solution to quadratic gravity with traceless Ricci tensor of type N and aligned Weyl tensor of any Petrov type is necessarily a Kundt spacetime. This will considerably simplify the search for new non-Einstein solutions. Similarly, a vacuum solution to quadratic gravity with traceless Ricci type III and aligned Weyl tensor of Petrov type II or more special is again necessarily a Kundt spacetime. Then we study the general role of conformal transformations in constructing vacuum solutions to quadratic gravity. We find that such solutions can be obtained by solving one non-linear partial differential equation for a conformal factor on any Einstein spacetime or, more generally, on any background with vanishing Bach tensor. In particular, we show that all geometries conformal to Kundt are either Kundt or Robinson-Trautman, and we provide some explicit Kundt and Robinson-Trautman solutions to quadratic gravity by solving the above mentioned equation on certain Kundt backgrounds., Comment: 13 pages, matches the published version

Inspired by the Bach tensor on Riemannian manifolds, we introduce the B -tensor ( B i j ≔ n + 2 n ∇ k ∇ l W i j k l − W i j k l R k l ) on Kahler manifolds. We prove that a compact gradientKahler–Ricci soliton with vanishing B -tensor is Kahler–Einstein. Moreover, we show that a complete non-compact extremal gradient shrinking Kahler–Ricci soliton with vanishing B -tensor is Kahler–Einstein.

The purpose of this article is to investigate Bach-flat critical metrics of the volume functional on a compact manifold \(M\) with boundary \(\partial M\). Here, we prove that a Bach-flat critical metric of the volume functional on a simply connected 4-dimensional manifold with boundary isometric to a standard sphere must be isometric to a geodesic ball in a simply connected space form \(\mathbb {R}^{4}, \mathbb {H}^{4}\) or \(\mathbb {S}^{4}\). Moreover, we show that in dimension three the result even is true replacing the Bach-flat condition by the weaker assumption that \(M\) has divergence-free Bach tensor.

We formulate off-shell N=1 superconformal higher spin multiplets in four spacetime dimensions and briefly discuss their coupling to conformal supergravity. As an example, we explicitly work out the coupling of the superconformal gravitino multiplet to conformal supergravity. The corresponding action is super-Weyl invariant for arbitrary supergravity backgrounds. However, it is gauge invariant only if the supersymmetric Bach tensor vanishes. This is similar to linearised conformal supergravity in curved background., 24 pages; V2: published version; V3: sign factor in (5.12) corrected

We compute the evolution equation of the Cotton and the Bach tensor under the Ricci flow of a Riemannian manifold, with particular attention to the three dimensional case, and we discuss some applications., Comment: 28 pages

We classify complete gradient Ricci solitons satisfying a fourth-order vanishing condition on the Weyl tensor, improving previously known results. More precisely, we show that any $n$-dimensional ($n\geq 4$) gradient shrinking Ricci soliton with fourth order divergence-free Weyl tensor is either Einstein, or a finite quotient of $N^{n-k}\times \mathbb{R}^k$, $(k > 0)$, the product of a Einstein manifold $N^{n-k}$ with the Gaussian shrinking soliton $\mathbb{R}^k$. The technique applies also to the steady and expanding cases in all dimensions. In particular, we prove that a three dimensional gradient steady soliton with third order divergence-free Cotton tensor, i.e. with vanishing double divergence of the Bach tensor, is either flat or isometric to the Bryant soliton., Minor typos

We provide a simple derivation of the equivalence between Einstein and Conformal Gravity (CG) with Neumann boundary conditions given by Maldacena. As Einstein spacetimes are Bach flat, a generic solution to CG would contain both Einstein and non-Einstein part. Using this decomposition of the spacetime curvature in the Weyl tensor, makes manifest the equivalence between the two theories, both at the level of the action and the variation of it. As a consequence, we show that the on-shell action for Critical Gravity in four dimensions is given uniquely in terms of the Bach tensor., Comment: Improved discussion on Einstein spaces in CG. Reference list updated. Final version for PRD

The goal of this paper is to express the Bach tensor of a four dimensional conformal geometry of an arbitrary signature by the Cartan normal conformal (CNC) connection. We show that the Bach tensor can be identified with the Yang-Mills current of the connection. It follows from that result that a conformal geometry whose CNC connection is reducible in an appropriate way has a degenerate Bach tensor. As an example we study the case of a CNC connection which admits a twisting covariantly constant twistor field. This class of conformal geometries of this property is known as given by the Fefferman metric tensors. We use our result to calculate the Bach tensor of an arbitrary Fefferman metric and show it is proportional to the tensorial square of the four-fold eigenvector of the Weyl tensor. Finally, we solve the Yang-Mills equations imposed on the CNC connection for all the homogeneous Fefferman metrics. The only solution is the Nurowski-Plebanski metric., Comment: 30 pages, no figures, LaTeX, to be published in Class. Quant. Grav

We show that a (2n + 1)-dimensional Sasakian manifold (M, g) with a purely transversal Bach tensor has constant scalar curvature ≥2n(2n+1), equality holding if and only if (M, g) is Einstein. For dimension 3, M is locally isometric to the unit sphere S3. For dimension 5, if in addition (M, g) is complete, then it has positive Ricci curvature and is compact with finite fundamental group π1(M).

In this paper we prove that any n-dimensional (n ≥ 4) complete Bach-flat gradient steady Ricci soliton with positive Ricci curvature is isometric to the Bryant soliton. We also show that a three-dimensional gradient steady Ricci soliton with divergence-free Bach tensor is either flat or isometric to the Bryant soliton. In particular, these results improve the corresponding classification theorems for complete locally conformally flat gradient steady Ricci solitons in Cao and Chen (Trans Am Math Soc 364:2377–2391, 2012) and Catino and Mantegazza (Ann Inst Fourier 61(4):1407–1435, 2011).

We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a Riemannian four-dimensional manifold $(M, g)$ with anti-self-dual Weyl tensor to be locally conformal to a Ricci--flat manifold. These conditions are expressed as the vanishing of scalar and tensor conformal invariants. The invariants obstruct the existence of parallel sections of a certain connection on a complex rank-four vector bundle over $M$. They provide a natural generalisation of the Bach tensor which vanishes identically for anti-self-dual conformal structures. We use the obstructions to demonstrate that LeBrun's anti-self-dual metrics on connected sums of $\CP^2$s are not conformally Ricci-flat on any open set. We analyze both Riemannian and neutral signature metrics. In the latter case we find all anti-self-dual metrics with a parallel real spinor which are locally conformal to Einstein metrics with non-zero cosmological constant. These metrics admit a hyper-surface orthogonal null Killing vector and thus give rise to projective structures on the space of $\beta$-surfaces., Comment: 22 pages. Sections about local twistor transport, and LeBrun metrics on connected sums partially rewritten. To appear in Communications in Mathematical Physics

The equations of motion of four-dimensional conformal gravity, whose Lagrangian is the square of the Weyl tensor, require that the Bach tensor $E_{\mu\nu}= (\nabla^\rho\nabla^\sigma + \ft12 R^{\rho\sigma})C_{\mu\rho\nu\sigma}$ vanishes. Since $E_{\mu\nu}$ is zero for any Einstein metric, and any conformal scaling of such a metric, it follows that large classes of solutions in four-dimensional conformal gravity are simply given by metrics that are conformal to Einstein metrics (including Ricci-flat). In fact it becomes more intriguing to find solutions that are {\it not} conformally Einstein. We obtain five new such vacua, which are homogeneous and have asymptotic generalized Lifshitz anisotropic scaling symmetry. Four of these solutions can be further generalized to metrics that are conformal to classes of pp-waves, with a covariantly-constant null vector. We also obtain large classes of generalized Lifshitz vacua in Einstein-Weyl gravity., Comment: 19 pages, references added

We establish the existence of solvable Lie groups of dimension 4 and left-invariant Riemannian metrics with zero Bach tensor which are neither conformally Einstein nor half conformally flat., 4 pages

We use conformal, but ghostful, Weyl gravity to study its ghost-free, second derivative, partially massless (PM) spin 2 component in presence of Einstein gravity with positive cosmological constant. Specifically, we consider both gravitational- and self- interactions of PM via the fully non-linear factorization of conformal gravity's Bach tensor into Einstein times Schouten operators. We find that extending PM beyond linear order suffers from familiar higher-spin consistency obstructions: it propagates only in Einstein backgrounds, and the conformal gravity route generates only the usual safe, Noether, cubic order vertices., Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX

In this paper we show that a compact warped product Einstein manifold with vanishing Bach tensor of dimension $n \geq 4$ is a finite quotient of a warped product with $(n-1)$-dimensional Einstein fiber. The fiber has constant curvature if $n=4$., 12 pages. Minor changes and references updated. Submitted version

In this paper we characterize the source-free Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes which have a trace-free Chevreton tensor. We show that this is equivalent to the Chevreton tensor being of pure-radiation type and that it restricts the spacetimes to Petrov types \textbf{N} or \textbf{O}. We prove that the trace of the Chevreton tensor is related to the Bach tensor and use this to find all Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes with a zero cosmological constant that have a vanishing Bach tensor. Among these spacetimes we then look for those which are conformal to Einstein spaces. We find that the electromagnetic field and the Weyl tensor must be aligned, and in the case that the electromagnetic field is null, the spacetime must be conformally Ricci-flat and all such solutions are known. In the non-null case, since the general solution is not known on closed form, we settle with giving the integrability conditions in the general case, but we do give new explicit examples of Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes that are conformal to Einstein spaces, and we also find examples where the vanishing of the Bach tensor does not imply that the spacetime is conformal to a $C$-space. The non-aligned Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes with vanishing Bach tensor are conformally $C$-spaces, but none of them are conformal to Einstein spaces., 22 pages. Corrected equation (12)

In a previous paper we showed that the electromagnetic superenergy tensor, the Chevreton tensor, gives rise to a conserved current when there is a hypersurface orthogonal Killing vector present. In addition, the current is proportional to the Killing vector. The aim of this paper is to extend this result to the case when we have a two-parameter Abelian isometry group that acts orthogonally transitive on non-null surfaces. It is shown that for four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with a source-free electromagnetic field, the corresponding superenergy currents lie in the orbits of the group and are conserved. A similar result is also shown to hold for the trace of the Chevreton tensor and for the Bach tensor, and also in Einstein-Klein-Gordon theory for the superenergy of the scalar field. This links up well with the fact that the Bel tensor has these properties and the possibility of constructing conserved mixed currents between the gravitational field and the matter fields., Comment: 15 pages

We construct consistent interacting gauge theories for M conformal massless spin-2 fields ("Weyl gravitons") with the following properties: (i) in the free limit, each field fulfills the equation ${\cal B}^{\mu \nu} = 0$, where ${\cal B}^{\mu \nu}$ is the linearized Bach tensor, (ii) the interactions contain no more than four derivatives, just as the free action and (iii) the internal metric for the Weyl gravitons is not positive definite. The interacting theories are obtained by gauging appropriate non-semi-simple extensions of the conformal algebra $so(4,2)$ with commutative, associative algebras of dimension M. By writing the action in terms of squares of supercurvatures, supersymmetrization is immediate and leads to consistent conformal supergravities with M interacting gravitons., Comment: 19+1 pages, LaTeX. Reference added

The Bach tensor and a vector which generates conformal symmetries allow a conserved four-current to be defined. The Bach four-current gives rise to a quasilocal two-surface expression for power per luminosity distance in the Vaidya exterior of collapsing fluid interiors. This is interpreted in terms of entropy generation., to appear in Class. Quantum Grav

We investigate various aspects of a geometric flow defined using the Bach tensor. Firstly, using a well-known split of the Bach tensor components for $(2,2)$ unwarped product manifolds, we solve the Bach flow equations for typical examples of product manifolds like $S^2\times S^2$, $R^2\times S^2$. In addition, we obtain the fixed point condition for general $(2,2)$ manifolds and solve it for a restricted case. Next, we consider warped manifolds. For Bach flows on a special class of asymmetrically warped four manifolds, we reduce the flow equations to a first order dynamical system, which is solved exactly to find the flow characteristics. We compare our results for Bach flow with those for Ricci flow and discuss the differences qualitatively. Finally, we conclude by mentioning possible directions for future work., to appear in IJGMMP (2012)

We study conformal transformations in four-dimensional manifolds. In particular, we present a new set of two necessary and sufficient conditions for a space to be conformal to an Einstein space. The first condition defines the class of spaces conformal to C spaces, whereas the last one (the vanishing of the Bach tensor) gives the particular subclass of C spaces which are conformally related to Einstein spaces. © 1985 Plenum Publishing Corporation.