A new class of polynomially convex sets (Q810688)

Let M be a Stein manifold and D a domain, \(D\subset \subset M\). A compact subset E of bD, the boundary of D, is removable if \(bD-E=F\) is a \({\mathcal C}^ 1\) submanifold of M-E such that every continuous function f on F which satisfies the tangential Cauchy-Riemann equations weakly can be extended to a function holomorphic in D and continuous on \(\bar D.\) It is known that if M is of dimension 2 and D is strongly pseudoconvex, then \(E\subset bD\) is removable if and only if E is convex with respect to \({\mathcal O}(\bar D)\), the holomorphic functions on D continuous on \(\bar D.\) The authors show that if the complex dimension of M is 2, if \(D\subset \subset M\) is strongly pseudoconvex with \({\mathcal C}^ 2\) boundary, and if \(E\subset bD\) has the properties: i) there is a Stein neighborhood \(\Omega\) of E such that E is \({\mathcal O}(\Omega)\)-convex; ii) for \(p\in E\), there exists a neighborhood U of p in bD with \(U\subset \Omega\) and bU\(\cap E\) empty such that U is homeomorphic to the unit ball in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 3\). Then E is removable and so is \({\mathcal O}(\bar D)\)-convex. As an application, they show that every two-dimensional compact totally real disc \(\Delta\) of class \({\mathcal C}^ 1\) in bD (or even if \(\Delta\) has a finite number of hyperbolic points) is removable. Other interesting results are given.