Parametric CR-umbilical locus of ellipsoids in \(\mathbb{C}^2\) (Q1701511): Difference between revisions

In their seminal work [Acta Math. 133 (1974), 219--271 (1975; Zbl 0302.32015)], \textit{S.-S. Chern} and \textit{J. Moser} posed the question of whether the CR-umbilical \(\mathsf{Umb}_{\mathrm{CR}}(M)\) of a compact Levi nondegenerate \(\mathcal C^\omega\) hypersurface \(M\subset\mathbb C^N\) is empty or not -- by definition, \(\mathsf{Umb}_{\mathrm{CR}}(M)\) is the set of all points \(p\in M\) in which the Cartan curvature associated to \(M\) vanishes. In this paper, the authors aim to consider this problem in the specific case \(N=2\) and to provide even a more explicit answer than what Chern and Moser asked. As confirmed by \textit{J. Merker} and the referee in [Cent. Eur. J. Math. 10, No. 5, 1801--1835 (2012; Zbl 1262.32040)] -- see in particular Sections 8 and 9 of that paper -- the explicit expression of the coefficients of the Cartan connection associated with a Levi nondegenerate hypersurface \(M\subset\mathbb C^2\) are certain polynomials admitting millions of monomials. Accordingly, computing the kernel of such a Cartan connection, namely the CR umbilical of \(M\), is much difficult even by means of computer softwares. It is much complicated even in one of the simplest non-spherical cases, i.e., the case of ellipsoids. In this specific case, \textit{X. Huang} and \textit{S. Ji} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 359, No. 3, 1191--1204 (2007; Zbl 1122.32027)] proved that \(\text{dim}_{\mathbb R}\mathsf{Umb}_{\mathrm{CR}}(\mathsf{E})\geq 1\) for each ellipsoid \(\mathsf E\subset\mathbb C^2\). In other words, this means that \(\mathsf{Umb}_{\mathrm{CR}}(\mathsf E)\) contains at least some curve. In this paper, the authors find an explicit expression of a curve \(\gamma:\mathbb R\rightarrow \mathbb C^2\) the image of which is contained in \(\text{dim}_{\mathbb R}\mathsf{Umb}_{\mathrm{CR}}(\mathsf E)\).