The Fischer-Marsden conjecture and contact geometry (Q722334)

Let \((M^n,g)\) be a compact orientable Riemannian manifold. The operator \(\mathcal{L}_g^\ast\) is defined as \[ \mathcal{L}_g^\ast(\lambda)=-(\Delta_g\lambda)g+\operatorname{Hess}_g\lambda-\lambda\operatorname{Ric}_g, \] where \(\Delta_g\) is the negative Laplacian of \(g\), \(\operatorname{Ric}_g\) is its Ricci tensor and \(\operatorname{Hess}_g\lambda(X,Y)=g(\nabla_XD\lambda,Y)\) is the Hessian of the smooth function \(\lambda\) on \(M\). A contact metric manifold \(M^{2n+1}(\phi,\xi,\eta,g)\) is said to be \(K\)-contact if the vector field \(\xi\) is Killing. A \((\kappa,\mu)\)-contact manifold is a contact metric manifold \(M^{2n+1}(\phi,\xi,\eta,g)\) whose curvature tensor satisfies \[ R(X,Y)\xi=\kappa\{\eta(Y)X-\eta(X)Y\}+\mu\{\eta(Y)hX-\eta(X)hY\}\,, \] for all vector fields \(X\), \(Y\) on \(M\) and for some real numbers \(\kappa\), \(\mu\). In the reviewed paper the authors consider the equation \(\mathcal{L}_g^\ast(\lambda)=0\), called the Fischer-Marsden equation, on \(K\)-contact and \((\kappa,\mu)\)-contact manifolds. They prove that a complete \(K\)-contact manifold satisfying \(\mathcal{L}_g^\ast(\lambda)=0\) is Einsteinian and is isometric to a unit sphere \(S^{2n+1}\). Next the authors show that if a non-Sasakian \((\kappa,\mu)\)-contact metric manifold satisfies \(\mathcal{L}_g^\ast(\lambda)=0\) then \(M^3\) is flat, and for \(n>1\), \(M^{2n+1}\) is locally isometric to \(E^{n+1}\times S^n(4)\).