Positivity and completeness of invariant metrics (Q282813)

Let \(\Omega\) be an open set in \(\mathbb C^n\). For a boundary point \(p\in\partial\Omega\) a global holomorphic peak function for \(\Omega\) at \(p\) is defined to be a holomorphic function \(f\) on \(\Omega\) such that (i) \(\lim_{\Omega\ni z\to p}f(z)=1\), (ii) for every \(r>0\) there exists \(s>0\) such that \(|f(z)|<1-s\) for every \(z\in\Omega\setminus B(p,r)\). Here \(B(p,r)\) denotes the Euclidean ball in \(\mathbb C^n\) with center at \(p\) and radius \(r\). If a holomorphic function \(f\) is defined on an open neighborhood of the closure \(\overline{\Omega}\) in such a way that it is also a global holomorphic peak function for \(\Omega\) at \(p\), then \(f\) is called a global holomorphic support function of \(\Omega\) at \(p\). By a local holomorphic support function of \(\Omega\) at \(p\in\partial\Omega\) the authors mean a holomorphic function \(g\) defined in an open neighborhood \(V\) of \(p\) in \(\mathbb C^n\) such that \(g\) is a global holomorphic support function of \(V\cap\Omega\) at \(p\). The main technical theorem of the paper shows how to obtain a global holomorphic peak function from a local holomorphic support function. As an application, the authors establish the Carathéodory hyperbolicity (and thus positivity of the Kobayashi and the Berman metrics) of the Kohn-Nirenberg domains \[ \Omega_{\mathrm{HKN}}=\Big\{(z,w)\in\mathbb C^2:\Re w+|z|^8+\frac{15}{7}|z|^2\Re z^6<0\Big\} \] and \[ \Omega_{\mathrm{KN}}=\Big\{(z,w)\in\mathbb C^2:\Re w+|zw|^2+|z|^8+\frac{15}{7}|z|^2\Re z^6<0\Big\}, \] the Fornæss domains \[ \Omega_{\mathrm{HF}}=\big\{(z,w)\in\mathbb C^2:\Re w+|z|^6+t|z|^2\Re z^4<0\big\} \] and \[ \Omega_{\mathrm{F}}=\big\{(z,w)\in\mathbb C^2:\Re w+|zw|^2+|z|^6+t|z|^2\Re z^4<0\big\}, \] where \(t\) is some constant with \(1<t<9/5\), and the \(WB\)-domains (weighted-bumped) \[ \Omega=\big\{z\in\mathbb C^n:\Re z_n+P(z')<0\big\}, \] where \(P\) is a real-valued, weighted-homogeneous polynomial in \(\mathbb C^{n-1}\) of weight \((m_1,\dots,m_{n-1})\), and \(\Omega\) is strongly pseudoconvex at every boundary point outside the set \(\partial\Omega\cap(\{0'\}\times i\mathbb R)\). Finally, the authors prove that the WB-domains are complete with respect to the Carathéodory metric, the Kobayashi metric, and the Bergman metric.