Uniform K-stability and asymptotics of energy functionals in K\"ahler geometry

Abstract

Consider a polarized complex manifold (X,L) and a ray of positive metrics on L defined by a positive metric on a test configuration for (X,L). For most of the common functionals in K\"ahler geometry, we prove that the slope at infinity along the ray is given by evaluating the non-Archimedean version of the functional (as defined in our earlier paper) at the non-Archimedean metric on L defined by the test configuration. Using this asymptotic result, we show that coercivity of the Mabuchi functional implies uniform K-stability.