Conformal quaternionic contact curvature and the local sphere theorem (Q963014)

A quaternionic contact structure (\(qc\)-structure) on a real (\(4n+3\))-dimensional manifold \(M\) is given by a codimension \(3\) distribution \(H\) locally given as the kernel of a \(1\)-form \(\eta=(\eta_{1},\eta_{2},\eta_{3})\) with values in \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\) such that the three \(2\)-forms \(d\eta_{i}|_{H}\) are the fundamental \(2\)-forms of a quaternionic structure on \(H\), i.e., there exist a Riemannian metric \(g\) on \(H\) and three local almost complex structures \(I_i\) on \(H\), satisfying the commutation relations of the imaginary quaternions, such that \(d\eta_{i}|_{H}=g(I_{i}\cdot,\cdot)\). The \(1\)-form \(\eta\) is determined up to a conformal factor and the action of \(SO(3)\) on \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\), hence \(H\) is equipped with a conformal class \([g]\) of Riemannian metrics and a \(2\)-sphere bundle of almost complex structures. To every metric in the fixed conformal class one can associate a canonical linear connection preserving the \(qc\)-structure, called the Biquard connection. The transformation preserving a given quaternionic contact structure \(\eta\), i.e. \(\bar{\eta}=\mu\Psi\eta\), for a positive smooth function \(\mu\) and an \(SO(3)\)-matrix \(\Psi\) with smooth functions as entries, are called quaternionic contact conformal (\(qc\)-conformal) transformations. In the paper under review, the authors describe a curvature-type tensor \(W^{qc}\), called the quaternionic contact conformal curvature, defined in terms of the curvature and torsion of the Biquard connection, whose form is similar to the Weyl conformal curvature and to the Chern-Moser invariant. Then the authors are able to prove the following main results of the article: Theorem A. The \(qc\)-conformal curvature \(W^{qc}\) is invariant under quaternionic contact conformal transformations. Theorem B. A \(qc\)-structure on a \((4n+3)\)-dimensional smooth manifold is locally quaternionic contact conformal to the standard flat \(qc\)-structure on the quaternionic Heisenberg group \(\mathbf{G}(\mathbb{H})\) if and only if the \(qc\)-conformal curvature \(W^{qc}\) vanishes.