Solution of the qc Yamabe equation on a 3-Sasakian manifold and the quaternionic Heisenberg group (Q6168316)

This paper deals with some questions about the existence and uniqueness of solution of the Yamabe problem for quaternionic-contact metrics. The classical Yamabe problem (for Riemannian metrics) studies the existence of metrics of constant scalar curvature in a closed Riemannian manifold \((M,g_0)\) within a given conformal class \([g_0]\). It is well-known that this problem has always a solution \(g=e^{2f} g_0\), and that this solution is unique for the case of vanishing and negative constant scalar curvature. The case of positive scalar curvature is more intricate because the conformal group acts on the space of solutions. This paper deals with an analogous problem, but for metrics defined in a suitable subbundle of the tangent bundle, related with the existence of a quaternionic structure. Let us define some key concepts for understanding the main results of this article. A quaternionic contact manifold (or qc manifold) \((M, \eta, g, Q)\) is a \((4n+3)\)-dimensional manifold \(M\) with a codimension-\(3\) distribution \(H\) locally given as the kernel of a 1-form \(\eta = (\eta_1, \eta_2, \eta_3)\) with values in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). In addition, \(H\) has an \(\mathrm{Sp}(n) \mathrm{Sp}(1)\) structure, i.e., it is equipped with a Riemannian metric \(g\) and a rank-3 bundle \(Q\) consisting of endomorphisms of \(H\) locally generated by three almost complex structures \(I_1, I_2, I_3\) on \(H\) satisfying the identities of the imaginary unit quaternions, \(I_1 I_2 = -I_2 I_1 = I_3, I_1 I_2 I_3 = -\mathrm{Id}|_H \) and the compatibility condition \(g(I_s \cdot , I_s \cdot) = g(\cdot , \cdot)\) and the contact condition: \(2g(I_s X, Y ) = d\eta_s(X, Y ) \), for \(s=1,2,3\). An important example of a qc manifold is a \(3\)-Sasakian manifold, i.e., a \((4n+3)\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold whose Riemannian cone is a hyper-Kähler manifold and the qc structure is induced from that hyper-Kähler structure. It is known that the locally \(3\)-Sasakian manifolds are precisely the quaternionic-contact Einstein manifolds of positive qc scalar curvature, up to a multiplication with a constant factor and an \(\mathrm{SO}(3)\)-matrix. Quaternionic-contact conformal transformations are the changes of contact form preserving a given quaternionic contact structure \(\eta\), i.e., the contact forms of type \(\bar \eta = \mu \Phi \cdot \eta \) for a positive smooth function \(\mu\), and an \(\mathrm{SO}(3)\)-matrix \(\Phi\) with smooth functions as entries. Such forms \(\bar \eta\) are called quaternionic contact conformal (qc conformal) transformations. A diffeomorphism \(\varphi\) of a qc manifold \((M, [g], Q)\) is called a conformal quaternionic contact automorphism (conformal qc automorphism) if \(\varphi\) preserves the qc structure, i.e., \(\varphi^*\eta = \mu \Phi \cdot \eta\) for some positive smooth function \(\mu\) and some matrix \(\Phi \in \mathrm{SO}(3)\) with smooth functions as entries. The quaternionic contact Yamabe problem on a compact qc manifold \(M,g_0,\eta,Q\) is the problem of finding a metric \(g\) in the qc conformal class \([g_0]\) of a fixed metric on the horizontal space \(H\) for which the qc scalar curvature is constant. The main results of the paper are as follows. The authors obtain a theorem that yields uniqueness of the solution of the qc Yamabe problem on a 3-Sasakian sphere of dimension \(4n+3\): Theorem. Let \(\eta = 2h\bar \eta\) be a qc conformal transformation of the standard qc structure \(\bar \eta\) on a 3-Sasakian sphere of dimension \(4n+3\). If \(\eta\) has constant qc scalar curvature, then up to a multiplicative constant \(\eta\) is obtained from \(\bar \eta \) by a conformal quaternionic contact automorphism. The following results solves the qc Yamabe problem for locally Sasakian 3-manifolds. Note that such manifolds always admit metrics of constant scalar curvature (since they are qc Einstein manifolds), so only the uniqueness of solutions needs to be addressed. Theorem. Let \((M, \bar \eta)\) be a compact locally 3-Sasakian qc manifold of qc scalar curvature \(16n(n +2)\). If \(\eta = 2h \bar \eta \) is qc conformal to an \(\bar \eta\) structure which is also of constant qc scalar curvature, then up to a homothety \((M, \eta)\) is also a locally 3-Sasakian manifold. Furthermore, the function \(h\) is constant unless \((M, \eta)\) is the unit 3-Sasakian sphere.