Characterization of the unit ball in \(\mathbb{C}^n\) among complex manifolds of dimension \(n\) (Q1768089)

Suppose \(M\) is a connected hyperbolic complex manifold of dimension \(n\) and \(\Aut(M)\) is isomorphic to \(\Aut({\mathbb B}_{n})\), where \({\mathbb B}_{n}\) is the unit ball in \({\mathbb C}^{n}\). Because \(\Aut(M)\) and \(\Aut({\mathbb B}_{n})\) are Lie groups in the compact-open topology, the group isomorphism is actually a Lie group isomorphism. It follows that \(\dim\Aut(M)=n^2+2n\). By a result of \textit{W. Kaup} [Invent. Math. 3, 43--70 (1967; Zbl 0157.13401)], \(M\) is then biholomorphic to \({\mathbb C}^{n}\). In the present paper a connected complex manifold \(M\) of dimension \(n\) (without any hyperbolic assumption) with \(\Aut(M)\) isomorphic to \(\Aut({\mathbb B}_{n})\) is considered. The author shows that such an \(M\) is biholomorphic to \({\mathbb B}_{n}\). If \(\Aut(M)\) and \(\Aut({\mathbb B}_{n})\) are isomorphic, then \(M\) admits an effective action of the unitary group \(U_{n}\). The author and \textit{N. G. Kruzhilin} [Canad. J. Math. 54, 1254--1279 (2002; Zbl 1026.32053)] have classified all \(n\)-dimensional complex manifolds admitting effective \(U_{n}\)-actions. So one has to eliminate all the possibilities in this list except for the ball \({\mathbb B}_{n}\). The paper concludes with the following interesting observation. Not all complex manifolds in the above classification are characterized by their automorphism groups. If \({\mathbb B}_{n}(r)\) denotes the ball of radius \(r\) in \({\mathbb C}^n\), then for \(r>1\) one has \(\Aut({\mathbb B}_{n}(r) \setminus\overline{ {\mathbb B}_{n}})=U_{n}\). But \({\mathbb B}_{n}(r_{1}) \setminus \overline{{\mathbb B}_{n}}\) is not biholomorphic to \({\mathbb B}_{n}(r_{2}) \setminus \overline{{\mathbb B}_{n}}\) unless \(r_{1}=r_{2}\).