On conformally flat Lorentz parabolic manifolds

conformally flat Lorentz structure developing map Fefferman-Lorentz manifold holonomy group Lorentz parabolic structure similarity structure uniformization

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Issues of holonomy in differential geometry (53C29) Global differential geometry of Lorentz manifolds, manifolds with indefinite metrics (53C50) Groups acting on specific manifolds (57S25) Discontinuous groups of transformations (57S30)

Abstract: We study conformal Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds introduced by Fefferman. To do so, we introduce Fefferman-Lorentz structure on (2n+2)-dimensional manifolds. By using causal conformal vector fields preserving that structure, we shall establish two theorems on compact Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds: One is the coincidence of vanishing curvature between Weyl conformal curvature tensor of Fefferman metrics on a Lorentz manifold

S^{1} i m e s N

and Chern-Moser curvature tensor on a strictly pseudoconvex CR-manifold

N

. Another is the analogue of the conformal rigidity theorem of Obata and Lelong to the compact Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds admitting noncompact closed causal conformal Fefferman-Lorentz transformations.

Review text

A manifold \(M\) of dimension \(2n+2\) is called a \textit{conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifold of parabolic type} if it is locally modelled on \((\hat{\mathrm U}(n+1,1), S^{2n+1,1})\). Here, \(S^{2n+1,1}\) denotes the projectivisation of the null-cone in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+4}_2\). The universal cover \(\tilde{M}\) of such a manifold \(M\) admits a map \(\tilde{M}\to S^1\times S^{2n+1}\), which is a covering onto its image \(\Omega\), and if the holonomy group \(\Gamma\) acts properly discontinuously, then \(M\) finitely covers \(\Omega/\Gamma\). The author studies \textit{compact} conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds of parabolic type via these quotients \(\Omega/\Gamma\). The main result is Theorem 2.1: Let \(\Omega/\Gamma\) be a \((2n+2)\)-dimensional compact conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifold of parabolic type. If it admits a one-parameter group \(H\) that does not lift to a central subgroup in \(\text{U}(n+1,1)\), then \(\Omega/\Gamma\) is a Seifert fibre space over a spherical CR-orbifold. Therefore, a finite covering of \(\Omega/\Gamma\) is a Fefferman-Lorentz manifold. It follows a list of the five classes of compact conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds of parabolic type. An outline of the proof, as given by the author: (i) There exists an \(S^1\)-action on \(\Omega\) such that \(S^1 H\) belongs to the centraliser of \(\Gamma\) in \(\text{U}(n+1,1)\). (ii) The conformal action of \(S^1H\) on \(\Omega\) induces a spherical CR-action of \(G=S^1H/S^1\) on \(W=\Omega/S^1\). There is an equivariant principal bundle \(S^1\to(\Gamma,\Omega)\to(Q,W)\), where the action of \(Q=\Gamma/(\Gamma\cap S^1)\) is a spherical CR-action on \(W\). (iii) The fixed point set \(F\) of \(G\) in \(S^{2n+1}\) is invariant under \(Q\) since \(Q\) commutes with \(G\). The (hyperbolic) limit set \(L(Q)\) of \(Q\) lies in \(F\) whenever \(F\) contains more than one point. (iv) Hence \(W\) is determined as \(S^{2n+1}\backslash L(Q)\). The \(\Omega/\Gamma\) is a Seifert fibration over a spherical CR-orbifold. In particular, a Heisenberg infra-nilmanifold \(N/Q\) and an infra-Hopf orbifold \(S^{2n}\times_F S^1\) occur as spherical CR-orbifolds. Section 3 contains some examples of compact conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds of parabolic type that are not conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds. Then the author characterises development maps in the following two theorems. Theorem 4.1: Let \(M\) be a \((2n+2)\)-dimensional compact conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifold of parabolic type which admits a one-parameter group \(H\) in \(\text{Conf}_F(M)\). Let \(\rho(H)\) be the holonomy image of a lift of \(H\) to \(\tilde{M}\). If the group \(\mathbb{R}\rho(H)\) has a two-dimensional orbit at every point in the image \(\text{dev}(\tilde{M})\), then \(\text{dev}\) is a covering map. Theorem 4.5: Suppose that the holonomy group \(\rho(\pi)\) is discrete in \(\tilde{\mathrm U}(n+1,1)\). If the development map \(\text{dev}:\tilde{M}\to\mathbb{R}\times S^{2n+1}\) is not surjective, then \(\text{dev}\) is a covering map onto its image. In Section 5, compact conformally flat Fefferman-Lorentz manifolds of parabolic type are compared to Lorentz similarity manifolds. The author finds that one of the former type cannot be conformally equivalent to one of the latter.

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