Ricci flatness of asymptotically locally Euclidean metrics

Abstract

In this article we study the metric property and the function theory of asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) Kähler manifolds. In particular, we prove the Ricci flatness under the assumption that the Ricci curvature of such manifolds is either nonnegative or nonpositive. The result provides a generalization of previous gap type theorems established by Greene and Wu, Mok, Siu and Yau, etc. It can also be thought of as a general positive mass type result. The method also proves the Liouville properties of plurisubharmonic functions on such manifolds. We also give a characterization of Ricci flatness of an ALE Kähler manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature in terms of the structure of its cone at infinity.