Calabi conjecture

In mathematics, the Calabi conjecture was a conjecture about the existence of certain "nice" Riemannian metrics on certain complex manifolds, made by Eugenio Calabi (1954, 1957) and proved by Shing-Tung Yau (1977, 1978). Yau received the Fields Medal in 1982 in part for this proof.

The Calabi conjecture states that a compact Kähler manifold has a unique Kähler metric in the same class whose Ricci form is any given 2-form representing the first Chern class. In particular if the first Chern class vanishes there is a unique Kähler metric in the same class with vanishing Ricci curvature; these are called Calabi–Yau manifolds.

More formally, the Calabi conjecture states:

The Calabi conjecture is closely related to the question of which Kähler manifolds have Kähler–Einstein metrics.

Kähler–Einstein metrics

A conjecture closely related to the Calabi conjecture states that if a compact Kähler variety has a negative, zero, or positive first Chern class then it has a Kähler–Einstein metric in the same class as its Kähler metric, unique up to rescaling. This was proved for negative first Chern classes independently by Thierry Aubin and Shing-Tung Yau in 1976. When the Chern class is zero it was proved by Yau as an easy consequence of the Calabi conjecture.