Grauert tubes and the homogeneous Monge-Ampère equation (Q1179975)

The Bruhat-Whitney ``thickening'' theorem for a real analytic (r.a.) \(n\)- manifold \(X\) gives a r.a. imbedding of \(X\) as a totally real submanifold of some complex \(n\)-manifold \(M\). In this paper this theorem is extended on analytic Riemann manifolds. Namely, for a r.a. manifold \(X\), equipped with a r.a. metric \(ds^ 2\), it is proved that one can choose a Kähler form \(ds^ 2_ M=-i\partial\overline\partial\rho\) on \(M\) such that the inclusion \(X\hookrightarrow M\) to be an isometry of \(X\) into \(M\). In order to obtain the uniqueness of the potential function \(\rho\), the authors impose a complementary condition: a square root of \(\rho\) to satisfy the homogeneous Monge-Ampère equation, and surprisingly find a short solution based on simple considerations related with the geodesic distance, the geodesic coordinates on \((X,ds^ 2)\) and their holomorphic extensions on \(M\). An interesting interconnection with symplectic geometry is established using an isometric imbedding of the above described type of \(X\) into the cotangent bundle \(T^*X\). The existence of a strictly plurisubharmonic function \(\rho\) on a neighborhood of \(X\), vanishing on \(X\), (Grauert result), is used just here for to obtain the symplectic 2-form \(\omega=d\alpha\), where \(\alpha=\text{im} \overline\partial\rho\) is the standard symplectic 1-form. What is interesting is that the function \(\sqrt\rho\) satisfy the Monge-Ampère equation iff it satisfies the equation \(\Xi\rho=2\rho\), where \(\Xi\) is the vector field on \(M\) defined by the identity \(\iota(\Xi)\omega=\alpha\). The relation of \(\rho\) with the symbol \(g\) of the Laplace operator associated with \(ds^ 2\) is obtained via a theorem of Kostant and Sternberg.