A global invariant for three-dimensional CR-manifolds (Q1101854)

The authors define an \({\mathbb{R}}\)-valued biholomorphic invariant of a compact, 3-dimensional, strictly pseudoconvex CR-manifold \({\mathcal M}\) whose holomorphic tangent bundle is trivial. The invariant arises as the evaluation on the fundamental class of the manifold of the de Rham cohomology class of a pulled down on \({\mathcal M}\) three-form on the CR structure bundle \({\mathcal Y}\) over \({\mathcal M}\). This invariant is neither a homotopy nor a concordance invariant. There is an analogy with the \({\mathbb{R}}/{\mathbb{Z}}\) secondary characteristic number associated by Chern and Simons to the conformal class of a Riemannian 3-manifold, which provides an obstruction to the conformal immersion in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 4.\) The authors prove that for \({\mathcal M}\) simply connected their invariant is stationary as a function of the CR structure if and only if \({\mathcal M}\) is locally CR equivalent to the standard three sphere in \({\mathbb{C}}^ 2.\) They also calculate examples which show that the CR invariant can take on any positive real value for hypersurfaces embedded in \({\mathbb{C}}^ 2.\)