Relative Yamabe Invariant

Abstract

We define a relative Yamabe invariant of a smooth manifold with given conformal class on its boundary. In the case of empty boundary the invariant coincides with the classic Yamabe invariant. We develop approximation technique which leads to gluing theorems of two manifolds along their boundaries for the relative Yamabe invariant. We show that there are many examples of manifolds with both positive and non-positive relative Yamabe invariants.