The second Yamabe invariant

Abstract

Let $(M,g)$ be a compact Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\ge 3$. We define the second Yamabe invariant as the infimum of the second eigenvalue of the Yamabe operator over the metrics conformal to $g$ and of volume 1. We study when it is attained. As an application, we find nodal solutions of the Yamabe equation.