Weyl connections and the local sphere theorem for quaternionic contact structures (Q621328)

The author computes the Weyl connection associated to a Carnot-Carathéodory metric in the conformal class (i.e., a choice of scale) for a quaternionic contact structure (qc structure from now on). A qc structure is a type of parabolic geometry and as such can be studied using the representation theory of semi-simple groups and their parabolic subgroups by identifying a qc structure with its associated canonical Cartan geometry. In particular, given a qc structure, the author is concerned with the question of whether or not it is locally isomorphic to the flat homogeneous model (i.e., local flatness) and derives an explicit tensorial formula for a conformally covariant tensor \(W^{qc(2)}\) whose vanishing determines the vanishing of the full curvature, and which is the analogue of the Weyl curvature tensor in conformal geometry and the Chern-Moser tensor in CR geometry. Here is a sample result from the paper (Theorem 4.4): The homogeneity two component \(W^{qc(2)}\) of the Weyl curvature \(\omega^{qc}\) is given by the following formula, viewed as a section of \(\Lambda^2(D^*)\otimes\Lambda^2(D)\) \[ W^{qc(2)}(u,v,w,z)=\dots\,. \] This tensor is conformally covariant and it vanishes identically if and only if the qc manifold \((M,D,Q,[g])\) is locally qc-isomorphic to the sphere \(S^{4n+3}\) with the standard qc structure. It agrees with the tensor \(WR\) derived in [\textit{S. Ivanov} and \textit{D. Vassilev}, J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 93, No.~3, 277--307 (2010; Zbl 1194.53044)].