16 2 7. NONCOMPACT G R ADIENT RICCI SOLIT O N S
By (27.42) and (27.46), we h ave good estimat es on the potent ial function:
(27.65) ~ [(d(x ,o)- c1)+r::; f(x )::; ~ (d(x,0)+2v'f(o))
2
for some const ant C 1. Choosing c > 0 sufficiently small , we h ave ¢ > 0 inside
B 0 (C1 + 3n). If infM-Bo (C,+3n) ¢ ~ -8 < 0, then by (27.65) there exist s p >
C 1 + 3n such that¢>-~ in M - B 0 (p). Thus a negative minimum of¢ is attained
at some point x 0 outside of B 0 (C 1 + 3n). By the maximum principle, evaluating
(27.64) at x 0 yields f(~o) - n ::; 0. However , (27.65) implies that f (x 0 ) ~^9 ~
2
, a
contradiction. We conclude that
R 2 cf -^1 + cnf -^2 on M.
The theorem now follows from (27.6 5 ). D
REMARK 27.27. M. Feldman , T. Ilmanen , and one of t he authors [111] con-
struct ed complet e noncompact K ahler shr inkers on the total sp aces of k-th powers
of tautological line bundles over the complex projective space c 1pm-l for 0 < k < n.
These examples, which have Euclidean volume growt h and quadratic scala r curva-
ture decay, show that T heorem 27. 26 is sh arp.
As a vari a tion on the proof of Theorem 27.26, define on {f > i } t he function
'ljJ (f) = 1 :_~, where c > 0. In general, we compute tha t
- f (R - 'I/; (f)) = -2 JRc l
2- R + (!-~) 'l/J' (f) - 'l/;
11
(f) IV fl
2
.
- R + (!-~) 'l/J' (f) - 'l/;
Since (f - i )'if/ (f) = -1/J (f) and 'I/;" 2 0, we obtain
(27.66) 6.1 (R - 'I/;(!))::; -2 JR c j^2 + R - 'I/; (f).
Choose c sufficient ly sm all so that R 2 c on {f = i + 1 } , which implies tha t
R - 'ljJ (f) 2 0 on {f = i + l}. By applying the maximum principle to (27.66),
since liminfx-+oo(R - 'ljJ (f))(x ) 2 0, we obtain a contradiction if R -'ljJ (f) < 0
somewhere in {f 2 i + l}. Hence R - 'ljJ (f) 2 0 in {f 2 i + l}.
3.2. Lower estimate of R for steadies.
By a similar argument to the previous subsection we may prove the following
res ult, due to B. Yang and two of t he aut hors, rega rding steady GRS assuming a
condition on the potential function.
THEOREM 27.2 8 (Scala r curvature of nonflat steadies decay at most exponen-
tially ). L et (Mn , g , f ,O) be a complete normalized st ea dy GRS. Iflimx-+oof (x ) =
- oo and f ::; 0, then R 2 A+ 2 ef. Since IV f I ::; 1, this impli es that for any
6 EM we have
(27.67) R(x )^2 ce-d(x,O) for all x EM,
where c = (\/1' + 2)-^1 ef(O)_
PROOF. T he idea is to find a lower barrier function (an expression of f) for
the scalar curvature R. Using (27.9b ), we compute that