Einstein Metrics, Harmonic Forms, and Symplectic Four-Manifolds

Claude LeBrun

Published 2014-08-05, updated 2015-04-28Version 2

If $M$ is the underlying smooth oriented $4$-manifold of a Del Pezzo surface, we consider the set of Riemannian metrics $h$ on $M$ such that $W^+(\omega , \omega )> 0$, where $W^+$ is the self-dual Weyl curvature of $h$, and $\omega$ is a non-trivial self-dual harmonic $2$-form on $(M,h)$. While this open region in the space of Riemannian metrics contains all the known Einstein metrics on $M$, we show that it contains no others. Consequently, it contributes exactly one connected component to the moduli space of Einstein metrics on $M$.