The Cauchy problem for the homogeneous Monge-Ampère equation. I: Toeplitz quantization (Q431631)

This paper is the first in a series proposing a new approach to solving the Cauchy problem for the homogeneous complex Monge-Ampère equation, combining and making precise arguments suggested by Semmes, Donaldson, Yau, Tian, Phong, Sturm and others for the study of the initial value problem for geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics equipped with the Mabuchi metric -- a problem that can indeed be reduced to a Cauchy problem for a homogeneous complex Monge-Ampère equation. In this paper the authors use a quantization method to construct a subsolution of the homogeneous complex Monge-Ampère equation on a general projective variety, and they conjecture that it solves the equation as long as the unique solution exists. To substantiate this conjecture, they show that in the case of torus invariant metrics (where the equation reduces to the homogeneous real Monge-Ampère equation) the subsolution coincides with the Legendre transform potential, and thus solves the equation as long as it is smooth. In the second paper in the series [Adv. Math. 228, No. 6, 2989--3025 (2011; Zbl 1273.35147)], they prove that the Legendre transform potential ceases to be a solution once it ceases to be smooth. The subsolution is obtained by (i) Toeplitz quantizing the Hamiltonian flow determined by the Cauchy data, (ii) analytically continuing in the complex plane the quantization, and (iii) taking a suitable logarithmic classical limit.