L^2 curvature and volume renormalization of AHE metrics on 4-manifolds

Abstract

This paper relates the boundary term in the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula on 4-manifolds M with the renormalized volume V, as defined in the AdS/CFT correspondence, for asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein metrics on M. In addition, we compute and discuss the differential or variation dV of V, or equivalently the variation of the L^2 norm of the Weyl curvature, on the space of such Einstein metrics.

15 pages, several corrections made. To appear in Math. Research Letters