Laplacian eigenvalue functionals and metric deformations on compact manifolds

In this paper, we investigate critical points of the eigenvalues of the Laplace operator considered as functionals on the space of Riemannian metrics or a conformal class of metrics on a compact manifold. We introduce a natural notion of the critical metric of such a functional and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for a metric to be critical. We derive specific consequences concerning possible locally maximizing metrics. We also characterize critical metrics of the ratio of two consecutive eigenvalues.