Positive mass theorem for the Yamabe problem on spin manifolds

Let (M, g) be a compact connected spin manifold of dimension n ≥ 3 whose Yamabe invariant is positive. We assume that (M, g) is locally conformally flat or that n ∈ {3, 4, 5}. According to a positive mass theorem by Schoen and Yau the constant term in the asymptotic development of the Green’s function of the conformal Laplacian is positive if (M, g) is not conformally equivalent to the sphere. The proof was simplified by Witten with the help of spinors. In our article we will give a proof which is even considerably shorter. Our proof is a modification of Witten’s argument, but no analysis on asymptotically flat spaces is needed.Received: March 2004 Revised: June 2004 Accepted: June 2004