Normal \(CR\) structures on compact 3-manifolds (Q5953574)

The classification of compact CR manifolds is a very interesting question whose resolution have been resisting efforts of differential geometers for quite some time. The classification has been first solved in situations with high order of local symmetry, such as in the case of compact flat CR manifolds or simply-connected homogeneous CR 3-manifolds. The present paper is a contribution towards a classification of compact normal CR 3-manifolds, relying on the fact that, in dimension 3, the normal CR structures are always deformations of a flat one. The normal CR manifolds admit global Reeb vector fields preserving the CR structure, and their CR automorphisms group has dimension at least 1. The author proves that in the case of 3-dimensional normal CR manifolds, the underlying manifolds are topologically finite quotients of \(S^3\) or quotients of a non-flat circle bundle over a Riemann surface of positive genus. Leaving the former case aside, the latter case is amenable to complete classification in that the author proves first that their CR automorphism group is a finite extension of \(S^1\) and consequently the Reeb vector field is unique up to a constant. If \(T\) is a CR Reeb vector field on the normal CR 3-manifold, then there is a compatible Sasakian metric for which \(T\) is the corresponding Killing vector field. The classification of compact Sasakian 3-manifolds leads then to the classification of nonspherical normal CR structures in dimension 3. The author treats the spherical case (\(S^3\)) in his paper in Math. Ann. 317, 1-40 (2000; Zbl 0988.32017).