Regularity in the \(\overline{\partial }\)-Neumann problem, D'Angelo forms, and Diederich-Fornæss index (Q6940430)

This article is an expanded version of a lecture given at the Erwin Schrödinger Institute in Vienna during a workshop on Analysis and Geometry in Several Complex Variables, 2023. It starts with a brief history on the \(L^2\)-Sobolev theory of the \(\bar \partial\)-Neumann problem concentrating on the theory of domains in \(\mathbb C^n\) with scalar valued forms. The following section gives the needed definitions and some of the basic results. It introduces forms commonly known as D'Angelo forms and commutators relevant for the \(\bar \partial\)-Neumann problem. In addition, the Diederich-Fornaess index is discussed; this index can be seen as a measure of how close a domain is to having a plurisubharmonic defining function. In the next section sufficient conditions in terms of D'Angelo forms are given for which the \(\bar \partial\)-Neumann operators are continuous on \(W^s_{(0,q)}(\Omega)\) for \(s \ge 0.\) Finally results are discussed that relate the DF-index with D'Angelo forms. The author mentions that recent new results support the conjecture that DF-index 1 should imply global regularity in the \(\bar \partial\)-Neumann problem. Over 100 references are helpful for a profound study of \(\bar \partial\)-Neumann operator.