Scalar-Flatness for Critical Metrics of the $L^2$-Scalar Curvature Functional in Dimensions $5\le n\le 9$

Abstract

Let $(M^n,g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\geq 5$ endowed with a critical metric of the quadratic scalar-curvature functional $$ \mathcal S^2(g)=\int_M R_g^2\,dV_g . $$ For $n\geq 10$, Catino, Mastrolia and Monticelli [J. Math. Pures Appl. 211 (2026), 103883] established that all complete noncompact critical metrics with finite energy are scalar-flat, and they conjectured that this scalar-flatness result holds for all dimensions $n\geq 5$. In this paper, we settle the conjecture by verifying its validity for the remaining dimension range $5\leq n\leq 9$.