A new mass for asymptotically flat manifolds

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a mass for asymptotically flat manifolds by using the Gauss-Bonnet curvature. We first prove that the mass is well-defined and is a geometric invariant, if the Gauss-Bonnet curvature is integrable and the decay order $\tau$ satisfies $\tau > \frac {n-4}{3}.$ Then we show a positive mass theorem for asymptotically flat graphs over ${\mathbb R}^n$. Moreover we obtain also Penrose type inequalities in this case.