On the failure of the Poincaré lemma for the \({\bar\partial}_M\) complex (Q1849700)

The authors generalize a previous result of \textit{A. Andreotti, G. Fredrick} and \textit{M. Nacinovich} [Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, Cl. Sci., IV. Ser. 8, 365-404 (1981; Zbl 0482.35061)] about the absence of the Poincaré lemma for the tangential Cauchy-Riemann complex. The authors consider locally embeddable CR manifolds \(M\). But they weaken the condition on the Levi form. More precisely, the Levi form \({\mathcal L}(\xi,\cdot)\) of \(M\) is nondegenerate for some characteristic codirection \(\xi\in H^0M\). The authors allow the failure of the Poincaré lemma in degree \(q\) when the Levi form \({\mathcal L}(\xi,\cdot)\) has \(q\) positive eigenvalues, with the others being \(\leq 0\), instead of strictly negative as required in A. Andreotti, G. Fredrick and M. Nacinovich's paper. Using their results, the authors can consider some examples where the previous result could not be applied.