Boundary characterization of holomorphic isometric embeddings between indefinite hyperbolic spaces (Q2006094)

The paper proves a complete boundary characterization for holomorphic isometric embedding maps between indefinite hyperbolic spaces of general codimensions in terms of some boundary CR invariant associated to the map, called the geometric ranks. The geometric rank was first defined by the first author [J. Differ. Geom. 51, No. 1, 13--33 (1999; Zbl 1042.32008)] for CR mappings between spheres of different dimensional. The authors generalize this notion to mappings between generalized spheres under some transversality condition, and justify the well-definedness. Then the main result of the paper is formulated as follows: Theorem. Let \(N \geq n \geq 3\), \(0 \leq l \leq n-1\), \(l \leq l'\leq N-1\). Let \(U\) be an open subset in \(\mathbb{P}^n\) containing some \(p\in \partial \mathbb{B}_l^n\) and \(F\) be a holomorphic map from \(U\) into \(\mathbb{P}^{N}\). Assume \(U\cap \mathbb{B}_l^n\) is connected and \(F(U\cap \mathbb{B}_l^n)\subset \mathbb{B}_{l'}^{N}\), \(F(U\cap \partial \mathbb{B}_l^n)\subset \partial \mathbb{B}_{l'}^{N}\). Then the following are equivalent. (1) \(F\) is CR transversal and has geometric rank zero at generic points on \(U \cap \partial \mathbb{B}_l^n\) near \(p\). (2) \(F\) is an isometric embedding from \(U\cap \mathbb{B}_l^n\) to \(\mathbb{B}_{l'}^{N}\) with respect to the canonical indefinite hyperbolic metrics of the generalized balls. Roughly speaking, the zero geometric rank is equivalent to the condition that the value of the CR second fundamental form stays in the null cone of the Levi form. The main theorem implies several earlier results as corollaries.