Eigenvalues of the Kohn Laplacian and deformations of pseudohermitian structures on compact embedded strictly pseudoconvex CR manifolds

Abstract

We study the eigenvalues of the Kohn Laplacian on a closed embedded strictly pseudoconvex CR manifold as functionals on the set of positive oriented contact forms $\mathcal{P}_+$. We show that the functionals are continuous with respect to a natural topology on $\mathcal{P}_+$. Using a simple adaptation of the standard Kato-Rellich perturbation theory, we prove that the functionals are (one-sided) differentiable along 1-parameter analytic deformations. We use this differentiability to define the notion of critical contact forms, in a generalized sense, for the functionals. We give a necessary (also sufficient in some situations) condition for a contact form to be critical. Finally, we present explicit examples of critical contact form on both homogeneous and non-homogeneous CR manifolds.Comment: 19 pages. Comments are welcom