Proper holomorphic mappings and related automorphism groups (Q1298374)

Let \(D\) be a simply connected strictly pseudoconvex bounded domain in \({\mathbb C}^n\) with smooth boundary and \(M\) an \(n\)-dimensional connected complex manifold. For any proper holomorphic map \(f:D\rightarrow M\), it was proved by \textit{E. Bedford} and \textit{S. Bell} [Math. Ann. 272, No. 4, 505-518 (1985; Zbl 0582.32024)] that there is a finite subgroup \(G\) of \(Aut_{\mathcal O}(D)\) such that \(f^{-1}\circ f(z)=\{g(z): g\in G\}\) for any \(z\in \Omega\). In this paper, the authors first show that the groups \[ \Aut_{\mathcal O}(M)={\mathcal N}/G,\;\;\Aut^0_{\mathcal O}(M)={\mathcal Z}^0/G\cap {\mathcal Z}^0 \] where \({\mathcal N}\) and \({\mathcal Z}\) denote the normalized and the centralizer of \(G\) in \(\Aut_{\mathcal O}(D)\). Indeed, they also show that there is a representation from \(\Aut_{\mathcal O}(M) \rightarrow \Aut_{\mathcal O}(D)\), and that if \(M\) is homogeneous, then \(f\) is biholomorphic and both \(M\) and \(D\) are biholomorphic to the ball. Some regularity and rigidity properties of proper holomorphic maps are also established. In particular, they solve a question raised by \textit{K. T. Hahn} and \textit{P. Pflug} [Monatsh. Math. 105, No. 2, 107-112 (1988; Zbl 0638.32005)] regarding the nonexistence of proper holomorphic maps between the Euclidean ball and the complex minimal ball of \({\mathbb C}^n\).