On the Gauduchon Curvature of Hermitian Manifolds

Abstract: It is shown that many results, previously believed to be properties of the Lichnerowicz Ricci curvature, hold for the Ricci curvature of all Gauduchon connections. We prove the existence of $t$--Gauduchon Ricci-flat metrics on the suspension of a compact Sasaki--Einstein manifold, for all $t \in (-\infty,1)$; in particular, for the Bismut, Minimal, and Hermitian conformal connection. A monotonicity theorem is obtained for the Gauduchon holomorphic sectional curvature, illustrating a maximality property for the Chern connection and furnishing insight into known phenomena concerning hyperbolicity and the existence of rational curves. Moreover, we show a rigidity result for Hermitian metrics which have a pair of Gauduchon holomorphic sectional curvatures that are equal, elucidating a duality implicit in the recent work of Chen--Nie.