Regular multi-types and the Bloom conjecture (Q2224716)

In a fundamental paper [J. Differ. Geom. 6, 523--542 (1972; Zbl 0256.35060)], \textit{J. J. Kohn} first introduced a finite-type condition for a smooth hypersurface in \(\mathbb{C}^2\) to investigate the subellipticity of \(\overline{\partial}\)-Neumann operators over a bounded weakly pseudoconvex domain in \(\mathbb{C}^2\). Kohn's finite-type condition has various generalizations to higher dimensions by many mathematicians such as Bloom-Graham, Bloom, D'Angelo, Catlin and Sibony, etc. These conditions played important roles in answering fundamental problems in several complex variables. For an integer \(s\) with \(1\leq s \leq n-1\) and a point \(p\) on a smooth hypersurface \(M\subset {\mathbb C}^n\) with \(n\ge 2\), \textit{T. Bloom} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 263, 515--529 (1981; Zbl 0459.32005)] defined three notions of type taking values in \([2,\infty]\): regular contact type \(a^{(s)}(p)\), iterated commutator type \(t^{(s)}(p)\) and Levi-form type \(c^{(s)}(p)\). Bloom conjectured that these three invariants, though defined very differently, are the same when \(M\) is pseudoconvex. This famous problem is now known as the Bloom conjecture. In the same paper, Bloom proved \(a^{(1)}=c^{(1)}\) for a hypersurface in \(\mathbb{C}^3\). Earlier, \textit{T. Bloom} and \textit{I. Graham} [J. Differ. Geom. 12, 171--182 (1977; Zbl 0436.32013)] and \textit{T. Bloom} [in: Several complex variables, Proc. int. Conf., Cortona/Italy 1976--77, 14--22 (1978; Zbl 0421.32022)] have already achieved the conjecture for \(s=n-1\). The paper under review confirms the Bloom conjecture for \(s=n-2\), which is the first affirmative result on the Bloom conjecture where the pseudoconvexity is fundamentally needed. Notice that the previous theorem of Bloom-Graham for \(s=n-1\) holds for any smooth hypersurfaces and there are many examples for \(s=n-2\) where the Bloom conjecture fails for non-pseudoconvex hypersurfaces. As a corollary, the two authors provide a complete solution of the conjecture for a smooth hypersurface in \(\mathbb{C}^3\), making the first important progress 40 years after Bloom proposed his conjecture. A major difficulty of working on the Bloom conjecture is to find a good use of the pseudoconvexity. The authors use these conditions in a very clever way to validate the Hopf lemma and to obtain a uniqueness of solutions of a complex linear partial differential equation with real part plurisubharmonic functions. It is also interesting to notice the important role played by the Euler vector field in their proof.