A Fourth Order Curvature Flow on a CR 3-manifold

Abstract

Let $({\mathbf{M}}^3,J,{\theta }_0)$ be a closed pseudohermitian 3-manifold. Suppose the associated torsion vanishes and the associated $Q$-curvature has no kernel part with respect to the associated Paneitz operator. On such a background pseudohermitian 3-manifold, we study the change of the contact form according to a certain version of normalized $Q$-curvature flow. This is a fourth order evolution equation. We prove that the solution exists for all time and converges smoothly to a contact form of zero $Q$ -curvature. We also consider other background conditions and obtain a priori bounds up to high orders for the solution.

35 pages