Geometric conditions which imply compactness of the \({\overline\partial}\)-Neumann operator. (Q1890167)

In this paper the following theorem is proved: Let \(\Omega \) be a \(\mathcal C^{\infty }\)-smooth bounded pseudoconvex domain in \(\mathbb C^2.\) Denote by \(K\) the set of boundary points of infinite type. Assume that there exist constants \(C_1, C_2>0, \;C_3\) with \(1\leq C_3 < 3/2,\) and a sequence \((\epsilon_j >0)_{j=1}^{\infty }\) with \(\lim_{j \to \infty }\epsilon_j =0\) so that the following holds. For every \(j\in \mathbb N\) and \(P\in K\) there is a (real) complex tangential vector field \(Z_{P,j}\) of unit length defined in some neighborhood of \(P\) in \(b\Omega \) with \(\max | \text{div} Z_{P,j} | \leq C_1 \) such that \(\mathcal F_{Z_{P,j}}^{\epsilon_j}(B(P,C_2 (\epsilon_j)^{C_3})\cap K)\subseteq b\Omega \setminus K.\) (Here \(\mathcal F_Z^t \) denotes the flow generated by \(Z.\) ) Then the \(\overline \partial \)-Neumann operator on \(\Omega \) is compact. The author also points out that the assumptions of the theorem are satisfied with \(C_3=1\) if \(b\Omega \setminus K\) satisfies what might be called a weak complex tangential cone condition. The geometric conditions here imply compactness via showing the so-called compactness estimates but not via demonstrating property \((P)\) [\textit{D. W. Catlin}, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 41, 39--49 (1984; Zbl 0578.32031)] or \((\tilde P)\) [\textit{J. D. McNeal}, J. Funct. Anal. 195, No. 1, 190--205 (2002; Zbl 1023.32029)].