On the positivity of Yamabe invariant and Paneitz operator

Abstract

Let $(M^n,g)$ be a smooth compact Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\ge 5$. We show that the existence of a conformal metric with positive $Q$-curvature $Q_g$ and positive scalar curvature $R_g$ is equivalent to the positivity of both the Yamabe invariant $Y(M^n,[g])$ and the Paneitz operator $P_g$. For $n=5$, this equivalence confirms a conjecture of Gursky-Hang-Lin (2016, IMRN). Furthermore, assuming $Y(M^n,[g])>0$, $Q_g\ge 0$, and $Q_g\not\equiv 0$, we prove that both $R_g$ and $P_g$ are positive which resolves a problem of Hang-Yang (2016, CPAM). As a corollary, we show that the hypotheses of Gursky-Malchiodi (2015, JEMS) are equivalent to those of Hang-Yang (2016, CPAM).