A NNALI DELLA
S CUOLA N ORMALE S UPERIORE DI P ISA Classe di Scienze
E LISABETTA B ARLETTA
S ORIN D RAGOMIR
New CR invariants and their application to the CR equivalence problem
Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Scienze 4
esérie, tome 24, n
o1 (1997), p. 193-203
<http://www.numdam.org/item?id=ASNSP_1997_4_24_1_193_0>
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Article numérisé dans le cadre du programme Numérisation de documents anciens mathématiques
http://www.numdam.org/
to
the CR Equivalence Problem
ELISABETTA BARLETTA - SORIN DRAGOMIR
1. - Introduction
Let M be a
strictly pseudoconvex
CR manifold(of hypersurface type)
of CR dimension n’- 1. Let
K (M) =
be its canonical bundle andKO(M) = K(M) - {
zerosecti on }.
LetC(M) =
ThenC(M)
is a
principal
circle bundle over Mand, by
work of C.L. Fefferman[4],
with each fixedpseudohermitian
structure 8 on M one may associate a Lorentzmetric g
onC(M).
This is theFefferman
metric of(M, 0).
Itsproperties
are
closely
tied to those of the base CR manifold. Forinstance,
if M isa real
hypersurface
in (Cn then the nullgeodesics
of the Fefferman metricproject
onbiholomorphic
invariant curves(known
as the chains ofM,
cf. S.S.Chem & J. Moser
[1]). Although
notfully
understood as yet, the Fefferman metricproved
useful in a number ofsituations,
e.g.provided
asimpler proof (cf.
L.K. Koch[9])
of thestriking
result of H. Jacobowitz(cf. [6])
that twonearby points
of astrictly pseudoconvex
CR manifold arejoined by
a chain.See also C.R. Graham
[5],
for a characterization of Fefferman metrics among all Lorentz metrics onC(M).
By
classical work of S.S. Chem & J. Simons[2],
thePontrjagin
forms of ariemannian manifold are conformal invariants. On the other
hand,
the restricted conformal class of the Fefferman metric is known(cf.
J.M. Lee[10])
to be aCR invariant. This led us to
investigate
whether the resultby
S.S. Chem & J.Simons may carry over to Lorentz
geometry.
We find(cf.
Theorem2)
that thePontrjagin
formsP(Q~)
of the Fefferman metric are CR invariants of M.Also,
whenever =0,
the De Rhamcohomology
class of thecorresponding transgression
form is a CRinvariant,
as well. As anapplication,
we show thata necessary condition for M to be
globally
CRequivalent
to asphere S2n-1
is that
PI (Q2) =
0(i.e.
the firstPontrjagin
form of(C(M), g)
mustvanish)
and the
corresponding transgression
formgives
anintegral cohomology
class(cf.
Theorem3).
Pervenuto alla Redazione il 26 marzo 1996.
2. - The Fefferman metric
Let
(M,
be an orientable CR manifold(of hypersurface type)
ofCR dimension n -
1,
whereTl,o (M)
cT(M)
0C denotes its CR structure. Its Levi distributionH (M)
=Re { Tl,o (M) ED To, 1 (M) I car_ries
thecomplex
structureJ :
H(M) - H(M) given by J(Z
+Z) = i(Z - Z)
for any Z ETl,o (M).
Here
To,1 (M)
=Ti,o(M).
Overbars denotecomplex conjugation
and i =H.
The annihilator E C
T*(M)
ofH(M)
is a trivial linebundle,
hence it admitsglobal
nowherevanishing
cross sections (} Er°° (E),
each of which is referred to as apseudohermitian
structure. The Levi formLo
isgiven by Le (Z, W) = -i (do)(Z, W)
for anyZ,
W ETI,O(M).
Twopseudohermitian
structures0, 9
are related
by 6
= for some C~ function u : M - R and thecorresponding
Levi forms
satisfy L6
= This accounts for the(already highly exploited,
cf. e.g. D. Jerison & J.M. Lee
[7],
and referencestherein) analogy
between CRand conformal
geometry.
IfLe
isnondegenerate
for some choice of 0(and
thusfor
all)
then(M, Tl,o (M) )
is anondegenerate
CR manifold.Any nondegenerate
CR
manifold,
on which apseudohermitian
structure 0 has beenfixed,
admits aunique
linear connection V(the
Tanaka-Websterconnection) parallelizing
boththe Levi form and the
complex
structure(in
the Levidistribution).
Cf. also[3]
for an axiomatic
description
of the Tanaka-Webster connection.A
complex
valuedp-form
cv on M is a(p, 0)-form
if = 0.Let be the bundle of all
( p, 0)-forms
on M. SetK(M)
=There is a natural action of
R+
=(0, oo)
onx° (M) - K(M) - 101
and thequotient
spaceC(M) =
is aprinciple Sl-bundle
over M. Letx :
C(M) -+
M be theprojection.
A local frame ofTl,o (M) *
onU c
Minduces the trivialization chart:
where with k E
R,
Moreover,
considerthe
(globally defined)
I -form or onC(M) given by:
Here
hati’
and R =hati Rati
arerespectively
the(local) components
of the Leviform,
the connection1-forms (of
the Tanaka-Websterconnection)
and thepseudohermitian
scalar curvature(cf.
e.g.(2.17)
in[12],
p.34).
Let us extend the Hermitian form
(Z,
=Lg (Z, W)
to the whole ofby requesting
thatis a semi-riemannian metric on
C(M).
Assume from now on that M isstrictly pseudoconvex
and choose (} so thatLg
ispositive
definite.Then g
is a Lorentzmetric on
C(M),
known as theFefferman
metric of(M, 0). By
a result of J.M.Lee
(cf. [10],
p.418) if 8
=e2"0
is anotherpseudohermitian
structureand g
the
corresponding
Feffermanmetric, then g - e2(uo1r) g.
3. -
Pontrjagin
forms’
Let
I~(GL(2n))
be the space of all invariantpolynomials
ofdegree l,
i.e.symmetric
multilinear maps P :gl(2n)f
~ R which aread (GL (2n))-invariant.
Here
gl (2n )
is the Liealgebra
ofG L (2n )
=G L (2n, R). Also, if g
is a linear space then~~ _ ~ ® ~ ~ ~
0 9(t terms).
LetQ£
E 1.~ 2n,
bethe natural generators of, the
ring
of invariantpolynomials
ongl(2n) (cf. [2],
p.
57,
for theexplicit expressions
of the Let(M, Tl,o(M))
be astrictly pseudoconvex
CR manifold of CR dimension n - 1 and 0 apseudohermitian
structure on M so that
Lo
ispositive
definite.Let g
be the Fefferman metric of(M,9).
LetF (C (M) ) -~ C (M)
be theprincipal G L (2n) -bundle
of all linear frames onC(M)
and W Egl(2n))
the connection 1-form(of
the Levi-Civitaconnection)
of the Lorentz manifold(C(M), g).
Then:THEOREM 1. The
characteristic forms Q2f+l (Q2l+1)
vanishfor
any 0 ln- 1.
Here Q = Dcv is the curvature 2-form of w.
Also,
for any P E¡l(GL(2n»
we set where
SZ~ = S2 n ~ ~ ~
A Q(l terms).
Let us prove Theorem 1. To thisend,
let£(C(M)) - C(M)
be theprincipal D (2n - 1, 1)-
bundle of all Lorentz
frames,
i.e. u =(c, { X i })
E£(C(M))
ifXj)
=where Ea =
1,
1a 2n - 1
and6~ = -1, c e C(M).
HereO (2n - 1, 1 )
is the Lorentz group. Let
o(2n - 1, 1)
be its Liealgebra. By hypothesis:
be the canonical basis of
gl(2n)
and setWe claim that:
at all
points
of/~(C(M)),
as a formF(C(M). Hereei
= E¡. As S2 ishorizontal,
it suffices to check(2)
on horizontal vectors(hence
tangent to/~(C(M))).
Wehave:
..
on
Tu(£(C(M»)
for any U E£(C(M»,
etc.Next,
note that for any A Eo(2n - 1, 1)
one hasi) tr(A) = 0, ii) tr(AB) = 0,
forany B
EM2n(R) satisfying B
andiii)
= 0. Then:for any
A 1, ~ ~ ~ ,
Eo(2n - 1, 1) (the proof
isby
induction overE).
SinceQ2.~+1 (QU+I)
isinvariant,
we needonly
show that it vanishes at thepoints
of;C(C(M)).
But at thesepoints
the range ofQ2l+1
lies(by (2)-(3))
in the kernel ofQ2t+,.
Our Theorem 1 isproved.
Let P E The
transgression form TP(w)
isgiven by:
where
By
Chem-Weiltheory
By
Theorem1,
thetransgression
areclosed,
hence weget
thecohomology
classesNote that:
is induced
by j :
Indeed
TQ2l+I(W)
may be written as:for some
constants Bi
> 0. iso(2n - 1, l)-valued,
the same argumentas in the
proof
of Theorem 1 shows =0, q.e.d.
One has towork
withj*w (rather
than w at apoint
of.c(C(M»)
because w(unlike
itscurvature
form)
is not horizontal.If go is a riemannian metric on
C(M)
with connection 1-form cvo andO (C (M)) --~ C(M)
is theprincipal O (2n)-bundle
of orthonormal(with
respectto
go)
frames onC(M),
then orthonormalization of framesgives
a deformation retractF(C(M)) - O(C(M))
and hence(cf. Proposition
4.3 in[2],
p.58)
thecorresponding transgression
forms are exact. As to the Lorentz_ case, in
general (4)
need notimply
exactness ofT Q2,.e+1 (cv).
For instanceR 2
is
a
Lorentz manifold for which thehomomorphism
(induced by
has a nontrivial kernel. Hereand
Indeed,
as both are trivial
bundles j *
may be identified with the ho-GL(2)).
The Lorentz groupO ( 1, 1 )
has fourcomponents,
eachdiffeomorphic
to R. Hence
1))
= 0. MoreoverO (2)
CG L (2)
is ahomotopy equiv- alence,
henceker( j *)
=H I (G L (2), R)
=HI(0(2), R)
= R fli R(as O (2)
hastwo
components,
eachdiffeomorphic
toAt this
point,
we may state thefollowing:
THEOREM 2. Let M be a
strictly pseudoconvex
CRmanifold of
CR dimensionn - 1 and P E Then is a CR invariant
of
M.Moreover,
then thecohomology
classCR invariant
of
M. Inparticular
invariant.
4. -
Applications
Let M be a
strictly pseudoconvex
CR manifold. Assume that M is realizableas a real
hypersurface
in en.If cp :
M 2013~ C" is thegiven immersion,
then77 = is a nowhere zero
global (n, 0)-form
onM,
henceC(M)
is a trivial bundle.
By
work of C.L. Fefferman[4],
there is a smoothdefining function *
of Msatisfying
thecomplex Monge-Ampere equation:
to second order
along M,
so that F*h is the Fefferman metric of where h is the Lorentz metricgiven by:
and F :
C(M) ~
M xS’
thediffeomorphism
inducedby
71. Also y is alocal coordinate
on S
1and j :
M xS
1 C Let 8 be anypseudohermitian
structure on M
(so
thatLo
ispositive definite). Then 6 =
for somesmooth function u on
M,
and aninspection
of(1)
shows that F*hand g
areconformally equivalent
Lorentz metrics. On the other hand h= j*G
where Gis the semi-riemannian metric on cCn x
cC* given by:
where
(z, ~ )
=(z ,
... ,zn, Ç)
arecomplex
coordinates.Summing
up, if M is realizable then(C(M), g)
admits aglobal
conformal immersion in((Cn x C*, G),
hence
(in
view of Theorem 5.14 in[2],
p.64)
it is reasonable toexpect
thatsome of the CR invariants furnished
by
Theorem 2 are obstructions towards theglobal embeddability
of agiven, abstract,
CR manifold M. While we leave thisas an open
problem,
we address thefollowing simpler
situation. Assume M to beequivalent
tos2n-l.
ThenC(M)
isdiffeomorphic
to theHopf
manifoldOn the other
hand,
note thatacts
freely
on C" xcC*
as aproperly
discontinuous group ofcomplex analytic
transformations. Hence the
quotient
space = x is acomplex (n + 1 )-dimensional
manifold. Consider thebiholomorphism
p :Yn+ --~ Cn
XcC*
is
I,,+, -invariant,
hencegives
rise to aglobally
defined semi-riemannian metric of index 2 on Note thatGo)
islocally
isometric tois a
conformal
immersion.Indeed,
let A calculation then shows thatFinally,
it may be seen thatmorphism.
is a conformal diffeo-
Let j i be
given by:
i.e. the invariant
polynomials
obtainedby ignoring
the powersÀ 2n-odd .
We obtain thefollowing:
THEOREM 3. Let M be a
strictly pseudoconvex
CRmanifold of
CR dimensionn - 1 and 0 a
pseudohermitian
structure on M so thatLo
ispositive definite.
Letg be the
Fefferman
metricof (M, 0).
Let w be the connectionI -form of
g and Q its curvature2-form. If
M is CRequivalent
toS2n-1
thenPI (Q2) =
0 and[T Pl (cv)]
EH3(F(C(M)), Z), provided
n > 3.To prove Theorem
3,
westudy
thegeometry
of the second fundamen- tal form of theimmersion 0 = p-I 0 j : (cCn
xtC*, G).
SetCn -
n -f- 1 / 2(n ~- 1).
Thetangent
vector fields4~ given by:
are such that
G($1 , ~2) = 0, G (~1, ~l )
= 1 andG (~2, ~2) = - 1,
and form aframe of the normal bundle of
q5.
Since p is abiholomorphism (with
the inverseBy (5)
the Christoffelsymbols
of the Levi-Civita connectionVo
of vanish. The Levi-Civita connection V of(cCn
xC*, G)
is related tofor any A calculation shows that:
Tangent
vector fields on Hn are of the form X + Y withsatisfying
Here
zj
= z~ . It follows that:Let
Aa
=A,~
be theWeingarten operator corresponding
to the normal section~a .
We shall need thefollowing :
LEMMA 2. The
first Pontrjagin form of (Hn, h)
is:where
(with
respect to a local coordinate system(x‘ )
onHn):
We shall prove Lemma 2 later on. Recall the Ricci
equation (of
thegiven
immersion
0,
cf. e.g.(2.7)
in[13],
p.22):
where R,
R 1
denoterespectively
the curvature tensor fields of(C" x C*, G)
andof the normal connection. As a consequence of
(6)-(8) 4~
areparallel
in thenormal
bundle,
hence theimmersion 0
has a flat normal connection =0).
On the other hand R = 0
(because (Vn+1, Go)
isflat)
and the Ricciequation
shows that the
Weingarten operators Aa
commute. ThenW12
= 0 and ourLemmas 1 and 2
together
with Theorem 2yield PI (Q2)
= 0.Let q : H3(F(C(M)), II~) -~ H3(F(C(M)),
be the natural homomor-phism. By
Theorem 3.16 in[2],
p.56,
since =0,
there is a coho-mology
class a EH3 (C (M),
so thatp* ot
= q([T PI (w)]),
where PF :F(C(M)) -~ C(M)
is theprojection. Yet,
for theHopf
manifoldR/Z)
= 0
provided n > 3,
hence[T P, (w)]
Eker(q)
and thenby
the exactness of theBockstein sequence:
it follows that
[TPI(w)]
is anintegral
class.5. - Proof of Theorem 2
Let w
E be the canonical 1-form and set w =~0’
(9 ei, where is the canonical basis inJR2n. Moreover,
letEi =
be thecorresponding
standard horizontal vector fields(cf.
e.g.[8],
vol.I,
p.119).
Let u : M ~ R be a C°° function and
let g
be the Fefferman metric of(M, e2u 9 ) .
Let w be thecorresponding
connection 1-form. Then:at all
points
of,C(C(M)),
as forms onF(C(M)).
Here p = 1r 0 PF. Theproof
is to relate the Levi-Civita connections of the
conformally equivalent
Feffermanmetrics g
andg,
followedby
a translation of the result inprincipal
bundleterminology.
We omit the details. Consider the1-parameter family
of Lorentzmetrics
g(s)
=e2s(uo1f)g, 0 s 1,
onC(M).
Letw(s)
be thecorresponding
connection 1-form and set w’ = s
By (9) (applied
tos(u o p)
insteadof u o
p)
we obtain:at all
points
of£’(C(M»,
as forms onF(C(M)).
Let P EI~(GL(2n)).
Wewish to show that
P(0i)
is invariant under anytransformation 8
=e2u 9 .
Note that a relation of the form:yields
=P (S2i),
hence weonly
need to prove( 11 ).
Since theQi
generate I(GL(2n))
we may assume that P is a monomial in theQi. Using
Proposition
3.7 in[2],
p.53,
an inductive argument shows that it is sufficient to prove(11)
for P =Qi.
It isenough
to prove that:Since each
point
on the curve s Hg(s)
is the initialpoint
of another such curve, it suffices to prove(12)
at s = 0.By Proposition
3.8 in[2],
p.53,
weknow that:
hence it is
enough
to show thatidentity:
Using (10)
and the(cf. (4.2)
in[2],
p.57)
for anygl(2n)-valued form 1/1
onF(C(M)),
we may conduct thefollowing
calculation:Recall the structure
equations,
cf. e.g.[8],
vol.I,
p. 121.As g
isLorentz, w
is torsion free. Hence A521~
= 0. This and(2)
alsoyield
AS2i2
= 0.Hence:
(because
=0)
at allpoints
ofL(C(M)),
as a formon ~F(C(M)).
This suffices because both and are invariant
forms.
6. - Proof of Lemma 2
Recall
(cf.
e.g.[8],
vol.II,
p.313)
that:where ct =
1 / ((27r )2f (2f)!)
and the summation runs over all ordered subsets(i 1, ~ ~ ~ ,
of{1, " -, 2n }
and allpermutations ( j 1, ~ ~ ~ ,
of(i 1, ~ ~ ~ ,
andis the
sign
of thepermutation.
We need the Gaussequation (cf.
e.g.where
R’jj, B~k
arerespectively
the curvature tensor field of(Hn , h)
and thesecond fundamental form
of 0 (with respect
to a local coordinatesystem (U,
on
H’).
AlsoAa ai
=Ajiaj where ai
is short for The Gaussequation
and the
identity:
(cf. [8],
vol.I,
p.133)
for anyX, Y, Z
ETx (Hn)
and somefurnish: I I
(where X) :
are fibre coordinates on andUsing:
-a calculation leads to:
hence:
where is the 2-form on
given by:
Finally,
notethat TI,
=T22
= 0 and21 = -B1112
and Lemma 2 isproved.
Notethat the
proof
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Universita della Basilicata
Dipartimento di Matematica Via N. Sauro 85
85100 Potenza, Italia.
Politecnico di Milano
Dipartimento di Matematica Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32 20133 Milano, Italia.