Comparison of invariant functions and metrics (Q2447691)

Let \(D \subset \mathbb C^n\) be a domain. By \(c_D\) and \(k_D\) we denote the pseudodistances of Carathéodory and Kobayashi, respectively. The corresponding pseudodifferential metrics will be denoted by \(\gamma_D\) and \(\kappa_D\), respectively. The Lempert functional of \(D\) is denoted by \(l_D\). The author proves the following \smallskip Theorem 1. Assume that \(n\geq 2\). For a domain \(D \subset \mathbb C^n\) with \(C^2\)-boundary there exists a non-empty open set \(U\) such that \(c_D=l_D\) on \(U \times U\). Furthermore, there exists a non-empty open set \(V \subset D\), such that \(\kappa_D(z,X)= \gamma_D(z,X)\) on \(V \times \mathbb C^n\) . \smallskip The assumption \(n\geq 2\) is essential for the truth of Theorem 1, as is pointed out by the author for the planar annulus \(A\), where \(c_A<k_A\) everywhere. Also, as he shows by means of an example in dimension 2, the smoothness assumption on \(\partial D\) cannot be removed. He obtains an in a sense ``local version'' of the above theorem in strongly pseudoconvex domains, namely \smallskip Theorem 2. Let \(D\) be a \(C^2\)-smooth strongly pseudoconvex domain. Then for any \(z^0 \in \partial D\) and any neighborhood \(U\) of \(z^0\) there is a non-empty open subset \(V\) of \(U \times U\) such that \(c_D =k_D\) on \(V\). Finally he shows the existence of Lempert-Burns-Krantz discs in strongly pseudoconvex domains with a \(C^2\)-smooth boundary. Theorem 3. Let \(\Omega\) be a \(C^2\)-smoothly bounded strongly pseudoconvex domain in \(\mathbb C^n\). Fix \(p \in \partial \Omega\). Then there exists a non-empty open subset \(V\) of \(\Omega\) such that for any \(q \in V\) there exists a complex geodesic \(f:E \longrightarrow \Omega\) (for \(c_\Omega\)) which is Hölder-\(\frac{1}{2}\) continuous on \(E\), and such that \(f(1)=p\), while \(q \in f(E)\). (Here \(E\) denotes the unit disc).