Existence and obstructions for the curvature on compact manifolds with boundary

Abstract

We study the set of curvature functions which a given compact manifold with boundary can possess. First, we prove that the sign demanded by the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem is a necessary and sufficient condition for a given function to be the geodesic curvature or the Gaussian curvature of some conformally equivalent metric. Our approach allows us to solve problems that are impossible to solve in the pointwise conformal case. Moreover, we obtain a deep and more delicate information on pointwise conformal deformations. We prove new existence and nonexistence results for metrics with prescribed curvature in the conformal setting, which depend on the Euler characteristic.