A sphere theorem for Bach-flat manifolds with positive constant scalar curvature

A classic gap theorem for complete non-compact Ricci flat manifolds by M. Anderson suggests that one can get the rigidity of certain spaces simply by passing local curvature estimates on geodesic balls to global. Using similar ideas, Kim showed that a 4-dimensional complete non-compact Bach-flat manifold with vanishing scalar curvature and small L2-curvature tensor has to be flat. Unfortunately, this method does not generalize to compact manifolds without boundary. Applying a different approach, we show that a closed Bach-flat Riemannian manifold with positive constant scalar curvature has to be locally spherical if its Weyl and traceless Ricci tensors are small in the sense of either L∞ or Ln2-norm. These results generalize a rigidity theorem of positive Einstein manifolds due to M.-A. Singer. As an application, we can partially recover the well-known Chang–Gursky–Yang's 4-dimensional conformal sphere theorem.