Quaternionic contact structures in dimension 7 (Q877531)

Let \(g\) be a metric on a manifold \(M\) with boundary \(N\). A conformal class \([b]\) of metrics on \(N\) is said to be the conformal infinity of \(g\) if there exists a function \(\rho\), positive in \(M\) and vanishing to first-order on \(N\), such that \(\rho^2 g\) extends continuously on \(N\) with \(\rho^p2g|_{TS^3}\in[b]\). The standard example is given by the hyperbolic metric \(g_{hyp}= {4\over\rho^2} g_0\) on the ball \(B^{n+1}\), where \(g_0\) is the Euclidean metric on \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) and \(\rho(x)= 1-|x|^2\). The problem of finding complete Einstein metrics with prescribed conformal infinity on the ball was solved in [\textit{C. R. Graham} and \textit{J. M. Lee}, Adv. Math. 87, No. 2, 186--225 (1991; Zbl 0765.53034)]. The degenerate version of the problem above is modeled on the quaternionic hyperbolic metric on the ball \(B^{4n}\subset\mathbb{H}^n\), and was positively solved in dimension \(4n- 1> 7\) in [\textit{O. Biquard}, Métriques d'Einstein asymptotiquement symétriques, Astérisque 265, Société Mathématique de France (2000; Zbl 0967.53030)]. In the paper under review, the author deals with the remaining 7-dimensional case, obtaining a criterion for quaternionic contact structures to be the conformal infinity of a quaternionic-Kähler metric. More precisely, a real analytic quaternionic contact structure \(H\) on a manifold \(N^7\) is the conformal infinity of an asymptotically hyperbolic quaternionic-Kähler metric if and only if \(H\) is integrable. The author also constructs a 25-parameters family of \(\text{Sp}(1)\)-invariant complete quaternionic-Kähler metrics on the 8-ball and the corresponding 25-parameters family of metrics on their boundaries.