A modified Morrey-Kohn-Hörmander identity and applications to the \(\overline{\partial}\)-problem (Q1979206)

A domain \(D\) is called weakly \(q\)-convex if at any boundary point the sum of any \(q\) eigenvalues of the Levi-form is positive. These domains were introduced in [\textit{L.-H. Ho}, Math. Ann. 290, No. 1, 3--18 (1991; Zbl 0714.32006)]. We call \(D=D_2\setminus \overline{D_1}\) an annulus-type domain if \(D_1\) is a relatively compact subset of the domain \(D_2\). The authors establish a Morrey-Kohn-Hörmander type identity for pseudoconcave boundaries to prove results about \(\overline{\partial}\)-problem on \(q\)-convex domains with \(C^{1,1}\) boundaries and some annulus-type domains in \(\mathbb{C}^n\). In the results below \(W^1\) denotes the \(L^2\) Sobolev-1 space. Among other results they prove the following results. Theorem 1. Let \(D\) be a weakly \(q\)-convex bounded domain in \(\mathbb{C}^n\) with \(C^{1,1}\) boundary, \(n \geq 2,\) and \(1 \leq q\leq n, 0\leq p\leq n\). Then there exists a constant \(C>0\) such that for every \(\overline{\partial}\)-closed \(f\in W^1_{(p,q)}(D)\) there exists \(u\in W^1_{(p,q-1)}(D)\) satisfying \(\overline{\partial} u = f\) and \(\|u\|_{W^1}\leq C\|f\|_{W^1}\). Theorem 2. Let \(D=D_2\setminus \overline{D_1}\) be an annulus-type domain in \(\mathbb{C}^n\) with \(n\geq 3\) such that \(D_2\) is weakly \(q\)-convex for some \(1 \leq q\leq n -1\) and \(D_1\) is weakly \((n - q)\)-convex with \(C^{1,1}\) boundary. Then for \(0\leq p\leq n\), the \(\overline{\partial}\)-operator has closed range in \(L^2_{(p,q)}(D)\). Furthermore, the authors show that if \(D_2\) is weakly \(q\)-convex for some \(1 \leq q\leq n -2\) and \(D_1\) is weakly \((n - q-1)\)-convex with \(C^{1,1}\) boundary, then \(L^2\)-Dolbeault cohomology group \(H^{p,q}_{L^2}(D)=0\) for \(0\leq p\leq n\). On the other hand, if \(D_2\) is weakly \((n-1)\)-convex and \(D_1\) is pseudoconvex with \(C^{1,1}\) boundary, then \(H^{p,q}_{L^2}(D)\) is Hausdorff and infinite-dimensional.