Lorentzian twistor spinors and CR-geometry (Q1303774)

The article studies the relation between the twistor equation on a Lorentzian manifold and CR-geometry. The twistor operator \(D\) is a conformally covariant differential operator acting on spinor fields of a semi-Riemannian spin manifold. Elements of the kernel are called twistor spinors. Twistor spinors were introduced by \textit{R. Penrose} [J. Math. Phys. 8, 345-366 (1967; Zbl 0163.22602)]. They are related to Killing vector fields in semi-Riemannian supergeometry [\textit{D. V. Alekseevsky, V. Cortés, C. Devchand} and \textit{U. Semmelmann}, J. Geom. Phys. 26, 37-50 (1998)]. Twistor spinors on Riemannian manifolds have been intensively studied since the late 80's [\textit{A. Lichnerowicz}, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 306, 381-385 (1988; Zbl 0641.53014); \textit{T. Friedrich}, Suppl. Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo, II. Ser. 72, 59-75 (1990; Zbl 0703.53012)]. In contrast to the Riemannian setting, not much is known in the Lorentzian case. \textit{J. Lewandowski} [Classical Quantum Gravity 8, L11--L17 (1991; Zbl 0714.53052)] proved that a 4-dimensional manifold with a nowhere vanishing twistor spinor is locally conformally equivalent to a Fefferman space. A Fefferman space is a square root of a circle bundle over a strictly pseudoconvex spin manifold. In the article under review, the author generalizes Lewandowski's results to other dimensions and to more global results. She proves that the Fefferman space of any strictly pseudoconvex spin manifold is a Lorentzian manifold with a non-trivial twistor spinor satisfying certain relations. And vice versa, any Lorentzian manifold with such a twistor spinor is an \(S^1\)-bundle over a strictly pseudoconvex spin manifold and is locally isometric to the associated Fefferman space. Before the proof of the main results, a very readable and well-written introduction into Lorentzian twistor spinors, pseudo-Hermitian geometry and Fefferman spaces is given.