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Geometric Stability of the Schoen-Yau Zero Mass Theorem

Differential Geometry 2026-05-06 v2 Mathematical Physics Metric Geometry math.MP

Abstract

In 1979, Schoen and Yau proved their famous Positive Mass Theorem which is a combination of a comparison theorem: {\em a three dimensional asymptotically flat Riemannian manifold with nonnegative scalar curvature has nonnegative ADM mass}, and a rigidity theorem: {\em if such a manifold has zero ADM mass then it is isometric to Euclidean space}. Here we review results and open questions on the geometric stability of their zero mass rigidity theorem: {\em if such a manifold has almost zero mass, how close is its geometry to that of Euclidean space}? We review the geometry of these spaces, examples of sequences of such spaces with mass approaching zero, and a variety of geometric notions of convergence. Although there has been much progress, it is still an open question (even in dimension three): exactly which geometric notion of convergence works best to capture the geometric stability of this famous rigidity theorem.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.17599,
  title  = {Geometric Stability of the Schoen-Yau Zero Mass Theorem},
  author = {Christina Sormani},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17599},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

v2: minor fixes following referee report including additional citations