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# Automorphism groups of normal 𝐶𝑅 3-manifolds

## 1. Introduction

A pseudoconvex $`CR`$ manifold is called normal if it admits a Reeb vector field whose flow preserves the $`CR`$ structure (in other words, it admits a symmetry transversal to the underlying contact structure). If the manifold has dimension 3, this is equivalent to the fact that it admits a compatible Riemannian Sasakian structure, for which the above mentioned Reeb vector field is a unitary Killing vector field.

In a previous paper  we have classified the Sasakian structures on compact 3-manifolds and shown that the underlying (therefore normal) $`CR`$ structures essentially determine the Sasakian structure (in other words, the symmetry group of the $`CR`$ structure is one-dimensional), in the case where the manifold is not a finite quotient of the 3-sphere. We obtained therefore the classification of the normal $`CR`$ structures on these manifolds. On the other hand, finite quotients of $`S^3`$ admit normal $`CR`$ structures with bigger automorphism groups (for example the standard flat (see next section) $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$ admits $`PSU(2,1)`$ as automorphism group), and in this case the problem of classifying these structures was still open.

The first purpose of this paper is to complete the classification of the normal $`CR`$ structures on compact 3-manifolds by solving the remaining case of $`S^3`$ and its quotients. To do that, we study the automorphisms of the normal $`CR`$ structures on $`S^3`$ and use the classification of the Sasakian structures .

It turns out that the only (locally) homogeneous normal $`CR`$ structure is the standard one, and otherwise the (connected component of the) automorphism group is either a circle or a 2-torus (section 3, Theorem 1). There are other examples of homogeneous $`CR`$ structures on compact 3-manifolds, but they are not normal: a left-invariant $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$ admits no infinitesimal automorphism transversal to the contact distribution unless it is also right-invariant, i.e. flat.

The classification of the normal $`CR`$ structures on $`S^3`$ is then achieved in terms of the wrapping numbers of a certain uniquely defined $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T_0`$, whose orbits are all closed, and of the metric $`g^{T_0}`$ induced by projection on the orbit space of $`T_0`$ (this space is topologically $`S^2`$, possibly with 1 or 2 conical points) — see section 3 and Theorem 3. Note that, a priori, the invariant tensor of a $`CR`$ structure in dimension 3 is the Tanaka curvature tensor (an analogue of the Cotton-York tensor from conformal geometry), which, even in the simple case of a normal $`CR`$ structure, depends on a second order derivative of the curvature of $`g^T`$.

Finally, we consider the following question: which contact structures admit compatible normal $`CR`$ structures? In dimension 3, any contact manifold $`(M,Q)`$ admits an infinity of compatible $`CR`$ structures on it : to pick such a complex structure $`J`$ on $`Q`$, all we need is to choose a positive definite metric on $`Q`$, as there is no integrability condition for $`J`$ required. So, the existence of a $`CR`$ structure in dimension 3 implies no topological condition at all (except orientability), because every 3-manifold admits a contact structure . But if we want to find compatible normal $`CR`$ structures on $`(M,Q)`$, then we already know that $`M`$ has to be a finite quotient of a principal circle bundle over a Riemann surface, of non-zero Chern class , .

Moreover, we want to know what contact structures, up to diffeomorphism, on such a manifold admit compatible normal $`CR`$ structures. It turns out that there exists at most one, which turns out to be tight (Proposition 2).

The paper is organized as follows: in section 2 we recall the classification of Sasakian structures on $`S^3`$ and we study in detail the orbits of the occurring $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields; in section 3 we consider, in general, the differential equation related to the existence of multiple $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields and describe the structure of the Lie algebra of the $`CR`$ automorphism group. The proof of the main result (Theorem 1, stated at the beginning of section 3) is contained in section 4 and 5. The classification result (Theorem 3) follows in section 6 from the previous sections and the investigation of the flat structures on $`S^3`$. In section 7 we describe the contact structures underlying a normal $`CR`$ structure in dimension 3.

Acknowledgments:  The author benefited from useful discussions with Th. Friedrich and A. Zeghib.

## 2. Preliminaries: Sasakian structures on $`S^3`$

In this paper, we call a $`CR`$ structure $`(Q,J)`$ on an odd-dimensional oriented manifold $`M^{2n+1}`$ with a contact distribution of hyperplanes $`QTM`$ (such that, if $`\eta `$ is a non-vanishing (contact) 1-form for which $`Q=\mathrm{ker}\eta `$, then $`\eta (d\eta )^n`$ is a non-vanishing volume form on $`M`$), endowed with a compatible complex structure $`J`$, i.e., for $`\eta `$ as above, $`d\eta |_Q=d\eta (J,J)|_Q`$.

In this case, $`d\eta (J,)`$ is a bilinear symmetric non-degenerate form on $`Q`$. If $`2n+1=3`$, we will always consider positive contact forms $`\eta `$, i.e. such that $`h:=\frac{1}{2}d\eta (J,)`$ is a positive definite Hermitian metric on $`Q`$ (the renormalization factor is useful when considering Sasakian structures — to be defined below). The canonical orientation of the manifold is then, by definition, given by the volume form $`\eta d\eta `$.

Remark.

With this convention, the canonical orientation of $`S^3`$ with its standard $`CR`$ structure induced from its embedding in $`^2`$ is reverse to the usual one.

In general, in contact geometry one can associate to each contact form $`\eta `$ a canonical vector field $`V`$, called a Reeb vector field, such that $`\eta (V)=1`$ and $`_V\eta =0`$, where $``$ stands for the Lie derivative. $`V`$ is called a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field if, in addition, $`_V|_QJ=0`$. Here we follow the convention from  and consider as a tensor on a contact manifold any tensorial combination of elements in the tensorial algebras of $`TM`$, $`Q`$, $`TM/Q`$ and their duals; with respect to that, $`JEnd(Q)`$ is a tensor and the Lie derivative $`_V`$ can be restricted to $`End(Q)`$ because $`Q`$ is $`V`$-invariant, so the equation $`_V|_QJ=0`$ makes sense. If $`V`$ satisfies this equation, it is an infinitesimal automorphism of the $`CR`$ structure of $`M`$, transverse to $`Q`$; conversely, any such vector field is a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field for an appropriate contact form. A Reeb vector field is positive if associated to a positive contact form, negative otherwise.

###### Definition 1.

A CR structure is called normal if it admits a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field.

###### Definition 2.

A Sasakian structure $`(g,T)`$ on a 3-dimensional manifold $`M`$ is a Riemannian metric $`g`$ admitting a unitary Killing vector field $`T`$ such that $`T`$ is a complex structure $`J`$ on $`Q:=T^{}`$.

Remark.

If $`T`$ is unitary Killing, then $`T`$ is antisymmetric and vanishes on $`T`$; the above condition ensures, in addition, that its square is minus the identity on $`Q`$. In higher odd dimensions $`J`$ has to satisfy some integrability conditions, which are vacuous in dimension 3.

It is easy to see that, if $`(M,g,T)`$ is Sasakian, then $`(M,Q,J)`$, with the notations above, is a normal $`CR`$ structure, because $`T`$ is a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field. Conversely, it turns out that for any positive $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`V`$, the Riemannian metric defined to be equal to $`h=\frac{1}{2}d\eta (J,)`$ on $`Q`$, for $`\eta (V)=1`$, $`Q=\mathrm{ker}\eta `$, and such that $`V`$ is unitary and orthogonal to $`Q`$, is Sasakian , .

The Sasakian structures on a compact 3-manifold have been completely classified  using the theory of locally conformally Kähler metrics with parallel Lee form on compact complex surfaces , and, if we could tell which Sasakian metrics on $`M`$ have the same underlying $`CR`$ structure, we could reduce the problem of classification of the normal $`CR`$ structures on $`M`$ to the previous one, which is solved.

It turns out , , , that $`M`$ is then always a finite quotient of a non-flat (i.e. with non-zero Chern class) circle bundle over a Riemann surface (and endowed with the appropriate orientation), and if this surface has positive genus, the orbits of a Reeb vector field are always the fibers of such a fibration (The corresponding Sasakian metrics are called then regular). In this case, it follows  that each normal $`CR`$ structure on $`M`$ admits, up to multiplication by a constant, exactly one $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, and, if we fix the length of its orbits to be equal to $`2\pi `$, the $`CR`$ structures on $`M`$ are in 1–1 correspondence to the Sasakian structures satisfying the above normalization condition. That closes the classification of normal CR structures on 3-manifolds which are not covered by $`S^3`$.

Locally, every Sasakian structure can be realized as a fibration over a surface, with a suitable connection on it, and we are frequently going to use the terminology from fiber bundles: we will often refer to the vectors in $`Q`$ as horizontal, and to $`T`$ as vertical.

From the classification  we retain the following facts concerning Sasakian structures on $`S^3`$ (and its quotients) : On $`S^3`$ there are regular Sasakian structures (with respect to the Hopf fibration of $`S^3`$ over $`^1`$), but also quasi-regular (i.e. all the orbits of the Reeb vector field are closed, but of different lengths) or irregular (some orbits of the Reeb vector field are not closed). The structure of the orbits will be discussed below in detail.

The orbits of a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field are the fibers of a Seifert fibration of $`S^3`$ over a simply-connected orbifold with 1 conical point, or with 2 conical points with different angles. In general, an orbifold is a topological space endowed with a differential structure with singularities, and it is given by an atlas of charts pointing to open sets in $`^n`$ or in quotients of $`^n`$ by finite linear groups. In dimension 2, a conical point of angle $`2\pi /k`$ has a neighborhood diffeomorphic to the quotient of the unit disc in $``$ by the cyclic group generated by multiplication by a $`k`$-th root of unity. It is well-known that the orbifolds that occur above are not finite quotients of any smooth surface.

Convention.  From now on, the manifold denoted by $`M`$ will be implicitly considered to be diffeomorphic to $`S^3`$ and endowed with a normal $`CR`$ structure. Except otherwise stated, the symbol $`S^3`$, when used to denote a $`CR`$ manifold, will be reserved to the standard (flat) $`CR`$ structure on the three-sphere.

As already mentioned, the Sasakian structures on $`MS^3`$ have been investigated by considering the Riemannian product $`M\times S^1`$, endowed naturally with a complex structure (we extend $`J`$ such that it sends $`T`$ into a unitary vector field on the $`S^1`$ factor); this complex surface is a primary Hopf surface without resonance (or of class 1) , i.e. it is the quotient of $`^2\{0\}`$ by an infinite cyclic group generated by a contraction

(1)
$$\gamma (x,y):=(\alpha x,\beta y),\text{ where }0<|\alpha ||\beta |<1,$$

and the metric on it is a Hermitian metric with Kähler form $`\omega `$ and with parallel Lee form $`\theta `$ (defined by the equation $`d\omega =2\theta \omega `$) equal to (a constant times) $`ds`$, the length form on the factor $`S^1`$ . The key information that we will use here is that the Lee vector field, which is the dual of the Lee form, and equal to (a constant times) $`JT`$ (where $`T`$ is the Reeb vector field on the Sasakian manifold $`(M,g,T)`$), turns out (, Proposition 8) to be, up to a constant, identified on $`^2`$ with

$$\mathrm{log}|\alpha |x_x+\mathrm{log}|\beta |y_y,$$

and to get the expression that corresponds to $`T`$ we have to multiply this with $`i`$ and, possibly, a real constant.

The condition to get the above product structure on $`^2\{0\}`$ (for example, it is necessary, but not sufficient, the orbits of $`JT`$ to be closed) is that $`\alpha =|\alpha |`$ and $`\beta =|\beta |`$, so both are real positive numbers . The regularity of the Sasakian structure $`(S^3,g,T)`$ is then decided by the ratio $`\mathrm{log}\alpha /\mathrm{log}\beta `$:

###### Lemma 1.

$`T`$ is regular, quasi-regular, resp. irregular if and only if $`\mathrm{log}\alpha /\mathrm{log}\beta `$ is equal to 1, rational or irrational. This ratio is exactly the ratio of the lengths of the exceptional orbits of $`T`$ contained in the complex lines $`\{x=0\}`$, resp. $`\{y=0\}`$. If $`\mathrm{log}\alpha /\mathrm{log}\beta =p/q`$, an irreducible fraction, the lengths of the orbit in $`\{x=0\}`$, in $`\{y=0\}`$, resp. generic (i.e., different from the 2 exceptional ones) orbit are $`qc`$, $`pc`$ and $`pqc`$, where $`c`$ is a positive constant. If $`\mathrm{log}\alpha /\mathrm{log}\beta `$ is irrational, then a generic orbit of $`T`$ is dense in a 2-dimensional torus; outside the exceptional orbits, the rest of $`S^3`$ is foliated by these tori, to which are tangent all $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields (which commute with $`T`$) and are represented in $`^2`$ by $`iax_x+iby_y`$, for $`a,b`$ (in particular, this set contains the regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field represented by $`ix_x+iy_y`$).

###### Proof.

It is enough to note that the orbits of $`T`$ in $`M`$ can be identified to the orbits of $`i\mathrm{log}\alpha x_x+i\mathrm{log}\beta y_y`$ on $`^2`$. ∎

Remark.

Let $`(M,g,T)`$ be a Sasakian structure such that its product with $`S^1`$ leads to the Hopf surface $`^2\{0\}/\gamma `$, where $`\gamma (x,y)=(a^{1/p}x,a^{1/q}y)`$, for $`p,q`$ mutually prime and $`0<a<1`$ is a constant. Then $`Tpx_xqy_y`$ is quasi-regular, and the space $`B`$ of its orbits in $`MS^3`$ (seen as a factor in the Riemannian product $`M\times S^1`$, and not as the standard 3-sphere in $`^2`$) is the space of the complex orbits of $`T`$ – seen as a holomorphic vector field – in $`^2\{0\}`$. It is topologically $`^1`$, and the projection from $`^2\{0\}`$ is the holomorphic map $`(x,y)[x^p:y^q]`$, but this fails to be a submersion at the poles $`[1:0]`$ and $`[0:1]`$.

To recover the orbifold structure of the basis $`B`$ we proceed as follows: around the exceptional orbit contained in $`\times \{0\}`$ we consider a covering $`^{}\times ^{}\times `$ defined by $`(x,y)(x^q,y)`$. The pull-back of $`T`$ is $`\stackrel{~}{T}=pqx_xqy_y`$, the space of its orbits $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ (in $`^{}\times `$) is $``$, seen as the open set in $`^1`$ outside the point $`[0:1]`$. The corresponding projection $`^{}\times ^1`$ is equivalent with $`(x,y)[x^p:y]`$ which is a submersion everywhere. The map from $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ to $`B`$, which assigns to each orbit of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ the corresponding orbit of $`T`$, is then the ramified covering $`[x:y][x^q:y^q]`$, which gives the orbifold structure around the pole $`[1:0]`$ — this is thus a conical point of angle $`2\pi /q`$ (a smooth point has angle $`2\pi `$). Note that the orbits of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ have the same length as the generic orbits of $`T`$, over each of which project $`q`$ different orbits of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$. Over the exceptional orbit contained in $`\times \{0\}`$ is “wrapped” one orbit of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ $`q`$ times. An analogue statement holds for the other pole: $`[0:1]`$ is then a conical point of angle $`2\pi /p`$, there is a ramified covering with $`p`$ leaves over it, the source smooth manifold being the orbit space of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$, the lift of $`T`$ on some $`p`$-fold smooth covering of $`\times ^{}`$, these orbits generating a fibration, and the generic orbits of $`T`$ are covered by $`p`$ different $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ orbits, the exceptional one by only one, “wrapped” $`p`$ times.

The situation where one of $`p`$ or $`q`$ is equal to 1 corresponds to the teardrop orbifold (a sphere with one conical point), if both are superior to one we get two conical points.

###### Definition 3.

The ratios between the lengths of a generic orbit and an exceptional one, in case of a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T`$, are called the wrapping numbers of $`T`$.

Of course, the wrapping numbers coincide with the multiplicity, at the conical points, of the ramified coverings defined above.

## 3. Main statement. The structure of the Lie algebra of infinitesimal automorphisms of a normal $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$

An important fact, that does not directly follow from the section above, but from , , is the following:

###### Proposition 1.

The $`CR`$ structure of an irregular Sasakian metric $`(M,g,T)`$ always admits a regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T_0`$ which commutes with $`T`$; on the other hand, if $`(g_0,T_0)`$ is a regular Sasakian metric on $`S^3`$, it admits a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field commuting with $`T_0`$ if and only if the metric induced by $`g_0`$ on the basis $`^1`$ (recall that the orbits of $`T_0`$ are the fibers of a $`S^1`$ fibration on $`^1`$) admits a Killing vector field.

To summarize, there are three types of normal $`CR`$ structures on $`S^3`$: with a regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field; with a regular and an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, commuting; with a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field. The last situation can be described, locally around each Reeb orbit, as (a finite quotient of) a regular Sasakian structure (see the construction in the remark above; the lifted vector $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ is regular). Note that we do not know yet whether these types overlap or not. In the next sections, we are going to prove:

###### Theorem 1.

If a normal $`CR`$ structure admits no irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, then it admits a unique (up to a constant) regular or quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field; the connected component of its $`CR`$ automorphism group is then $`S^1`$.

If a normal $`CR`$ structure admits an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, then it is either the standard flat one (in which case the automorphism group is $`PSU(2,1)`$) or it admits an unique regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field; in this latter case, the 2 $`CR`$ Reeb fields span the (Abelian) Lie algebra of the $`CR`$ automorphism group, whose connected component is a 2-dimensional torus.

To prove this theorem we will investigate the existence, on a Sasakian manifold $`(S^3,g,T)`$, of other $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields

(2)
$$T^{}=fT+X_f,$$

where $`X_f`$ is the component in $`Q=T^{}`$ of $`T^{}`$, and $`f`$, a positive function. It turns out  that $`T^{}`$ is a Reeb vector field if and only if

(3)
$$X_f=\frac{1}{2}J(df|_Q)^{\mathrm{}},$$

and that it is a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field if and only if

(4)
$$\mathrm{}_Xf:=X.JX.f+JX.X.f_XJX.f_{JX}X.f=0,XQ,$$

where $``$ is the Tanaka-Webster connection on $`(M,Q,J,T)`$, defined as follows:

$$T=0;XQXQ,J=0,$$

and the following conditions on its torsion $`\tau `$:

$$\tau (T,X)=0XQ,\tau (X,JX)=2TX^2,$$

where the norm is relative to the Sasakian metric. The Tanaka-Webster connection can easily be related to the Levi-Civita connection of the above Sasakian metric , but it is more suitable than this one in the case of a regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T`$, because it is easily constructed from the fibration (following the orbits of $`T`$) data ; in particular, the operator $`\mathrm{}_Xf`$, if $`f`$ is a function constant along $`T`$, can be computed using formally the same expression above, but replacing $``$ with $`^B`$, the Levi-Civita connection on the basis $`B`$ (the space of the orbits of $`T`$). Such functions appear when we look for $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields $`T^{}=fT+X_f`$ commuting with $`T`$, when $`T.f=0`$ and $`X_f`$ is the horizontal lift of the vector field $`\frac{1}{2}Jdf^{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`B`$; the following Lemma holds:

###### Lemma 2.

The horizontal part $`X_f`$ of a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field commuting with the (quasi)-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T`$ on $`S^3`$ projects on the basis $`B`$ as a Killing vector field, whose orbits, with the exception of two, which are points (among which the one or two possible conic points of the orbifold $`B`$), are all circles.

###### Proof.

The regular case has been treated in . The fact that $`X_f`$ projects on a Killing vector field follows from a local computation, so it holds also in the quasi-regular case. As any isometry of an orbifold has to fix (or interchange) the conical points, it follows that $`X_f`$ vanishes at the conical points. Now, if a Killing vector field on a (even open) surface has a zero, then it is isolated and has index 1; we can smoothen the conical points and deform a little $`X_f`$ such as the resulting vector field on $`S^2`$ has the same number of zeros, each with the same index as before. They must be thus exactly 2, as the Euler characteristic of $`S^2`$; we will call these degenerate orbits of $`X_f`$ poles. The other orbits of $`X_f`$ are smooth submanifolds, because they coincide with the level sets of $`f`$ (recall that $`X_f=\frac{1}{2}Jdf^{\mathrm{}}`$), and that $`df`$ is non-degenerate away from the 2 poles). ∎

###### Lemma 3.

Let $`T`$ be an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field on $`S^3`$. Then there is a unique regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T_0`$ which commutes with $`T`$.

###### Proof.

We know that there exists such a $`T_0`$ . Suppose $`T_0^{}`$ is another regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field such that $`[T,T_0^{}]=0`$. Consider the closure of an orbit of $`T`$: this is a torus $`𝒯`$. From the standpoint of $`T_0^{}`$, $`T`$ is a commuting $`CR`$ Reeb vector field: as such, $`T=f^{}T_0^{}+X_f^{}`$, $`X_f^{}`$ is a Killing vector field on $`B_0^{}`$, the space of the orbits of $`T_0^{}`$, and we know from Lemma 1 that the orbits of $`T`$ — as an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field commuting with $`T_0^{}`$ — are dense in tori to which $`T_0^{}`$ is tangent. So $`T_0^{}`$, as well as $`T_0`$, is tangent to the closures of $`T`$’s orbits. On a dense set of such a torus $`𝒯`$, $`T_0^{}`$ is determined by its value at a point $`x`$ (as $`T_0^{}`$ commutes with $`T`$, we transport, through the flow of $`T`$, this vector to all the points situated on the orbit of $`T`$ passing through $`x`$, and this set is dense). The same holds for $`T_0`$, so if $`T_0^{}`$ coincides with $`T_0`$ at a point of $`𝒯`$, it coincides everywhere. In any case we get that $`[T_0,T_0^{}]=0`$ on $`𝒯`$, and, as $`𝒯`$ was arbitrarily chosen, $`T_0`$ and $`T_0^{}`$ commute on $`S^3`$. As they are both regular, they coincide (Lemma 1, see also the remark below). ∎

Remark.

Any $`CR`$ Reeb vector field has at least 2 closed orbits; for example, if we consider a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T^{}`$ commuting with a regular one, $`T`$, the orbits of $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ over the two poles $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$ coincide, but they have different lengths; if they both have length 1 for $`T`$ (measured using the dual contact form $`\eta `$), their lengths for $`T^{}`$ (measured using the contact 1-form $`\eta ^{}:=f^1\eta `$ dual to $`T^{}`$) are $`f(P_1)^1`$, resp. $`f(P_2)^1`$. Unless $`f`$ is everywhere constant, these are then different, because the values of $`f`$ at the poles are the only critical points of $`f`$, thus its 2 extrema. So there is no other regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field commuting with $`T`$, and if $`T`$ admits other commuting $`CR`$ Reeb fields, one can always find irregular ones among them (we can modify the ratio of the maximum and minimum of $`f`$, if $`f`$ is not constant, by adding to $`f`$ some positive constant). The last statement also holds if $`T`$ is a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field: any solution $`f`$ of the equation $`\mathrm{}_Xf=0,XQ`$ still has only 2 critical points (see above), hence they coincide with its extrema.

Of course, the equation $`\mathrm{}_Xf=0`$ being linear, the space of its solutions is a vector space, containing the constants; this space can be identified with the Lie algebra of the $`CR`$ automorphisms group, the solution corresponding to $`T`$ is the constant $`1`$, and the solutions corresponding to $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields form the cone of everywhere-positive solutions. If $`T`$ is regular, then we can integrate $`f`$ on the fibers (the orbits of $`T`$) using the contact 1-form $`\eta `$ dual to $`T`$, and get the function $`\text{I}^Tf`$, which is constant on the orbits of $`T`$, and still verifies the equation $`\mathrm{}_X\text{I}^Tf=0`$; it thus corresponds to a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field (more generally, if $`f`$ is not everywhere positive, a $`CR`$ infinitesimal automorphism) which commutes with $`T`$. We can consider then $`\text{I}^T:𝔤𝔤`$ as a linear projection on the commutator of $`T`$ (it is even a projector if we fix, by no loss of generality, the length of the orbits of $`T`$ to be equal to 1). This commutator is 1-dimensional if $`B`$ admits no Killing vector fields, 2-dimensional if it admits one, and 4-dimensional if $`BS^2`$ has a round metric.

If $`T`$ is a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, whose generic orbits have length $`pql`$, and its exceptional orbits $`C_p`$ and $`C_q`$ have lengths $`pl`$, resp. $`ql`$ (for $`p,q^{}`$ mutually prime, and $`l>0`$), and if $`f`$ is a solution to the equation $`\mathrm{}_Xf=0,XQ`$, we define $`\text{I}^Tf`$ on a generic orbit as the integral of $`f`$ on it, and on an exceptional orbit, say, $`C_p`$, as $`q`$ times the integral of $`f`$ on it. The resulting function $`\text{I}^Tf`$ on $`B`$, the space of the $`T`$ orbits, is smooth in all the smooth points of $`B`$, and continuous at the conical points. Moreover, if we lift it to one of the local ramified coverings of one of the poles, say, $`\{C_p\}`$ (see above), $`\stackrel{~}{B}_p`$, we get a smooth function, which is actually obtained by integration along the orbits of the regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ on some smooth covering of a neighborhood of $`C_p`$ (see above). It follows that $`\text{I}^Tf`$ satisfies the equation for $`CR`$ infinitesimal automorphisms commuting with $`T`$, and $`\text{I}^T:𝔤𝔤`$ is, also in this case, a linear projection (a projector if $`pql=1`$) on the commutator of $`T`$, which can be 1-dimensional (no Killing vector field on $`B`$), or 2-dimensional. As a non-smooth orbifold cannot admit more than 1 linear independent Killing fields, these are the only cases.

Remark.

If a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb field $`T`$ admits no linearly independent commuting $`CR`$ Reeb field, and if $`\mathrm{}_Xf=0,XQ`$, then $`\text{I}^Tf`$ is constant everywhere.

We are going to use, in the next section, a criterion that will allow us to conclude, in certain circumstances, that 2 $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields $`T`$ and $`T^{}=fT+X_f`$ coincide:

###### Lemma 4.

1. If $`f1`$ in a neighborhood of an orbit of $`T`$, then $`f1`$ everywhere.

2. Suppose that the commutator of $`T`$ in $`𝔤`$ is 1-dimensional. Then both $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ are regular or quasi-regular, in the latter case with the same exceptional orbits, and same wrapping numbers. If the lengths of the generic orbits of both $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ are equal to 1, and if $`\text{I}^Tf=1`$ and $`\text{I}^T^{}f^1=1`$, then $`f1`$ and $`TT^{}`$.

###### Proof.

In the first case, $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ coincide in a neighborhood of one of their common generic orbits. If they are irregular, we consider the uniquely (see Lemma 3) associated regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields $`T_0`$, resp. $`T_0^{}`$, and we easily get, as in Lemma 3, that they commute in a neighborhood of a torus $`𝒯`$, which is the closure of a common orbit of $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$. Then, for a suitable constant $`k`$, $`T_0+k[T_0,T_0^{}]`$ is a CR Reeb vector field, and it coincides with $`T_0`$ on a neighborhood of an orbit of $`T_0`$. If we prove that they coincide everywhere, it follows that $`T_0`$ and $`T_0^{}`$ are two regular CR Reeb vector fields that commute, so (Lemma 3 and the Remark thereafter) they coincide.

We can suppose thus that $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ are both (quasi-) regular, and they coincide on a neighborhood of some orbit, which we may suppose generic. Then $`f`$ (the function defining $`T^{}`$ starting from $`T`$) is constant in such a neighborhood, and $`\text{I}^Tf`$ is constant on an open set of $`B`$, the orbit space of $`T`$. But $`\mathrm{}_X\text{I}^Tf=0,XTB`$, so $`J(d\text{I}^Tf)^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a Killing vector field, vanishing in an open set, thus everywhere. So $`\text{I}^Tf`$ is constant. At this point we can apply , Corollary 2, or the method below, to conclude that $`f`$ is constant.

The method we apply to prove the second claim in the Lemma is the same we used — in the regular case — in , Lemma 1; we recall it briefly: Using the Hölder inequality

$$\left(_Mf^2\frac{1}{2}\eta d\eta \right)\left(_{S^3}f\frac{1}{2}\eta d\eta \right)^2\left(_M\frac{1}{2}\eta d\eta \right)^3=v^3,$$

we get the implication

$$(\text{I}^Tf1\text{ and }l^T=1)vv^{},$$

with equality if and only if $`f`$ is constant. Here, $`\eta `$ is the contact form such that $`\eta (T)1`$, $`v`$ is the volume of $`M`$ with respect to the Sasakian metric defined by $`T`$, and $`l^T`$ is the length of the orbits of $`T`$. The hypothesis of the Lemma ensures that the parenthesis of the above implication, as of the following one, are true, so we get $`v=v^{}`$ and $`f=cst.`$:

$$(\text{I}^T^{}f^11\text{ and }l^T^{}=1)v^{}v.$$

If $`T`$ is quasi-regular, we denote by $`l^T`$ the length of the generic orbits of $`T`$ ; besides, all the integrals above will be taken over the complement of the exceptional orbits in $`S^3`$. Note that the exceptional orbits, as well as the wrapping numbers of $`T`$ and $`T^{}`$ coincide (otherwise a linear combination of them would be irregular — see the Remark at the end of Lemma 3 —, and this implies that $`𝔤`$ is even-dimensional (see Corollary 1 below), but if the commutator of $`T`$ is 1-dimensional, then $`𝔤`$ is odd-dimensional, contradiction). The proof follows as in the regular case (we get equality in the Hölder inequality, thus $`f`$ is a constant). ∎

The Lemma above is useful because we can describe Sasakian metrics , but have a priori no simple criterion to check if two different Sasakian structures are $`CR`$-isomorphic, or if they admit other $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields (except for the commuting ones); as our goal is to prove, roughly, that there are very few cases when $`dimG>1`$ — where $`G`$ is the group of $`CR`$ automorphisms of $`M`$ —, we will investigate the orbits of $`G`$ and search for geometric facts that would imply the technical hypotheses in Lemma 4.

###### Lemma 5.

Let $`𝔤`$ be the Lie algebra of infinitesimal automorphisms of a $`CR`$ structure on $`MS^3`$, and let $`T𝔤`$ be a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field. Then the Lie bracket with $`T`$ is $`\text{ad}_T:𝔤𝔤`$, and the integration along the orbits of $`T`$ yields a projection $`\text{I}^T:𝔤𝔤`$. Let $`K:=K^T:=\mathrm{ker}\text{ad}_T`$ and $`W:=W^T:=\mathrm{ker}\text{I}^T`$.

Then $`\text{ad}_T(𝔤)=\text{ad}_T(W)=W`$ and $`\text{ad}_T|_W`$ is an endomorphism of $`W`$ whose eigenvalues are all pure imaginary (non-zero). In particular, $`𝔤=K^TW^T`$, and $`W^T`$ is even-dimensional.

###### Proof.

The exponential of $`\text{ad}_T`$ is the adjoint action of the flow of $`T`$ on $`𝔤`$; as this flow is periodic, it follows that the eigenvalues of $`\text{ad}_T`$ are imaginary. The image of $`\text{ad}_T`$ lies in $`W`$, because, for an infinitesimal $`CR`$ automorphism $`T^{}=fT+X_f`$, $`\text{ad}_T(T^{})=f^{}T+X_f^{}`$, where $`f^{}=T.f`$, and, of course, the integral of $`f^{}`$ along the orbits of $`T`$ is zero.

It remains to prove that if $`T^{}=fT+X_fWK`$, then $`f0`$. $`T^{}K`$ implies that $`f`$ is constant on the orbits of $`T`$, and $`T^{}W`$ implies that this constant is 0. ∎

###### Corollary 1.

If $`(M,Q,J)`$ admits an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, then $`dim𝔤`$ is even; if it admits a (quasi-regular) $`CR`$ Reeb vector field whose commutator has dimension 1, then $`dim𝔤`$ is odd.

###### Proof.

It follows from the previous Lemma that $`dimW^T`$ is always even. The second claim readily follows. For the first claim, we take $`T`$ to be the regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field which commutes with an irregular one, and then $`dimK^T`$ is 2 or 4 (see above). ∎

We consider in the next sections the cases when the commutator of a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field is 1 or 2-dimensional (the remaining case, where the commutator is 4-dimensional, is the flat $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$; a detailed study of this structure is contained in Section 5).

## 4. Proof of Theorem 1: case with an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field

Suppose we have a normal $`CR`$ structure on $`MS^3`$ with an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T^{}`$; denote by $`T`$ the (unique) regular one that commutes to it. We suppose that the $`CR`$ structure is not flat; then $`dimK^T=2`$ and $`dim𝔤2`$ is even. We have to prove that $`dim𝔤=2`$.

If $`dim𝔤4`$, then all the open orbits of $`G`$ in $`S^3`$ are $`CR`$ flat. Indeed, E. Cartan proved that the automorphism group of a non-flat 3-dimensional $`CR`$ manifold has dimension 3 . If the union of these orbits is a dense open set in $`S^3`$, the $`CR`$ structure is flat. The orbits of $`G`$ already contain the closures of the orbits of $`T^{}`$, which are tori, and 2 exceptional orbits. If the $`CR`$ structure is not flat, then, in a neighborhood of such a torus $`𝒯`$, these tori need to coincide with the orbits of $`G`$. As $`dim𝔤>dimK^T=2`$, there is an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`\stackrel{~}{T}^{}`$ which does not commute with $`T`$ or $`T^{}`$; denote by $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ the corresponding regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, such that $`[\stackrel{~}{T},\stackrel{~}{T}^{}]=0`$. Let the function $`f`$ be such that $`\stackrel{~}{T}=fT+X_f`$. We will prove that, on a neighborhood of $`𝒯`$, $`f`$ is constant on the above mentioned tori. From this it will follow that $`[T,\stackrel{~}{T}]`$ vanishes on a neighborhood of an orbit of $`T`$, thus, from Lemma 4, everywhere.

Suppose $`f`$ is not constant on $`𝒯`$. As $`\stackrel{~}{T}=fT+X_f`$ is tangent to $`𝒯`$, it follows that $`df(Y)=2g(JX_f,Y)=0`$, where $`YQT𝒯`$; so $`f`$ is constant on the horizontal curves that project on circles on $`B`$, the space of orbits of $`T`$. If $`x`$ is a regular point of $`f`$ in $`𝒯`$, then the horizontal curve $`C_x𝒯`$ containing $`x`$ is included in a level set of $`f`$, thus it is a circle, “wrapping” $`p`$ times over the circle on $`B`$ on which $`𝒯`$ projects. For neighboring points $`x^{}𝒯`$, the same thing holds, and the length of $`C_x^{}`$, in the Sasakian metric determined by $`T`$, is the same as the length of $`C_x`$. If we look at $`C_x`$ and $`C_x^{}`$ as the horizontal curves for the Sasakian metric associated to $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$, they should still have the same length in this other Sasakian metric; but the horizontal part of this latter one is multiplied by $`f^1`$, which is not locally constant, contradiction.

So $`f`$ is constant on all the 2-dimensional orbits of $`G`$; as we supposed that their union contains a non-empty neighborhood of $`𝒯`$, then $`T`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ commute on this open set, thus (see Lemma 4, first point) everywhere.

The Lie algebra $`𝔤`$ is thus 2-dimensional and Abelian, so $`G`$ is a quotient of $`^2`$. In order to prove that $`G`$ is actually a torus, we proceed as follows: let $`T`$ be the regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, whose orbits are of length 1, and let $`f`$ be a function on the orbit space $`B`$ of $`T`$, such that its differential is the dual of a Killing vector field on $`B`$, and such that the image of $`f`$ is the interval $`[0,1]`$. Then any infinitesimal $`CR`$ automorphism of $`M`$ is of the type $`T_{a,b}:=(a+(ba)f)T+X_{a+(ba)f}`$, where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are real numbers, positive if and only if $`T_{a,b}`$ is a $`CR`$ Reeb vector field. For example $`T=T_{1,1}`$, and $`T_{2,1}`$ and $`T_{1,2}`$ are both quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields with one exceptional orbit of length $`1/2`$, all the others being of length $`1`$; the exponentials of these elements of $`𝔤`$ act trivially on $`M`$, thus they are equal to $`1G`$. From this it follows that $`\mathrm{exp}(T_{p,q})=1G,p,q`$, thus $`G𝔤/Z^2`$ is a torus.

This proves the Theorem in case where there exists an irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, and the $`CR`$ structure is not flat.

## 5. Proof of Theorem 1: case without irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields

Suppose every $`CR`$ Reeb vector field on $`(M,Q,J)`$ is quasi-regular, and denote by $`p:=p^T,q:=q^T`$ the wrapping numbers of such a field $`T`$. Suppose that the exceptional orbits $`C_1^T,C_2^T`$ have length length $`p`$, resp. $`q`$ (if $`p`$ or $`q`$, or if both of them are equal to 1, there is only one, resp. no exceptional orbit), and all other orbits have length $`pq`$, with respect to the dual 1-form $`\eta ^T`$. It is then clear that, if $`p^T`$ or/and $`q^T`$ are greater that 1, then the exceptional orbits $`C_1^{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$ or/and $`C_2^{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$, and the numbers $`p^{\stackrel{~}{T}},q^{\stackrel{~}{T}}`$ have to be the same for all $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ close to $`T`$: this is because the quotient of the lengths of 2 orbits passing through 2 fixed points $`a,b`$ is always a rational number, and it must vary continuously when deforming $`T`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$, it is thus constant; hence $`p^{\stackrel{~}{T}}=p^T`$ and $`q^{\stackrel{~}{T}}=q^T`$ and the orbits of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ passing through points in the open set $`M(C_1^TC_2^T)`$ have all the same length, which proves that the exceptional orbits of $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ coincide with the ones of $`T`$, as claimed.

We study now the orbits of the connected component of $`1`$ in $`G`$, the Lie group of $`CR`$ automorphisms. The following Lemmas can be proven using Lemmas 4 and 5, by the same method as in :

###### Lemma 6.

There are no 2-dimensional orbits of $`G`$.

###### Lemma 7.

There is at most a finite set of 1-dimensional orbits of $`G`$

We have thus one open, dense orbit, and a finite number of circular orbits of $`G`$, in $`MS^3`$. $`G`$ is odd-dimensional (see Corollary 1) and, if its dimension is greater that 3, the open dense orbit (hence the whole manifold) is $`CR`$ flat , case which we exclude (it admits irregular $`CR`$ Reeb fields). So, if we suppose that there are at least 2 linearly independent $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields, $`dimG=3`$, and its Lie algebra is generated by $`T`$ (that we fix from now on), $`V:=fT+X_f`$ and $`V^{}:=f^{}T+X_f^{}`$, where $`f:M`$, $`\text{I}^Tf=0`$ and $`f^{}=T.f`$. Moreover, we have $`f^{\prime \prime }=af`$, where $`a<0`$, thus $`f`$, restricted to the orbits of $`T`$, is a sinusoid, and its critical points are its maximum and minimum. In fact, it has $`2pn`$ extrema on $`C_1`$ (of length $`p`$), $`2qn`$ extrema on $`C_2`$, and $`2pqn`$ extrema on a generic orbit of $`T`$ ($`n^{}`$).

###### Lemma 8.

If $`dimG=3`$, then $`n=1`$, and at least one of $`p`$ or $`q`$ is equal to 1.

As the above Lemmas, this follows as in , from Lemmas 4, 5, and the following:

###### Lemma 9.

If $`dimG=3`$, then $`𝔤𝔰𝔩_2()`$.

The proof of that follows as in , from Lemma 5, and the fact that, if $`U`$ and $`V=[T,U]`$ span $`W^T`$, then their bracket commutes with $`T`$ and is non-zero, thus is a constant times $`T`$; we can then renormalize $`T,U,V`$ such that they correspond, through an isomorphism from $`𝔤`$ to $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$, to the following matrices:

(5)
$$T\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 0\end{array}\right)U\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right)V\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 0\end{array}\right).$$

We have thus excluded all but the following situation: $`𝔤𝔰𝔩_2()`$, and the orbits of $`G`$ are: one circle $`C`$ and one open orbit $`O`$, on which we have a non-flat $`CR`$ structure. This structure comes then from a left-invariant $`CR`$ structure on $`G_0:=\stackrel{~}{SL}_2()`$ which extends smoothly on a compactification (by adding $`C`$) of the open orbit $`O`$. We will prove that this is only possible if the $`CR`$ structure on $`G_0`$ is flat.

$`G`$ is a quotient of $`G_0=\stackrel{~}{SL}(2,)`$ by some central subgroup. The centrum of $`G_0`$ is an infinite cyclic group generated by $`e`$, and thus $`G=G_p:=G_0/e^p`$, where $`p`$ is a prime number. For example, $`G_1=PSL(2,)`$ and $`G_2=SL(2,)`$ (in the latter, $`e`$ projects on minus the identity). The orbit $`O`$ is thus isomorphic to a quotient of $`G_0`$ by a discrete subgroup $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. As $`O`$ can be retracted to a circle, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$; as the orbits of $`T`$ in $`O`$ are closed, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ must contain a subgroup of the center of $`G_0`$ (the orbit of $`T`$ in $`G_0`$ contains all the center). So $`O`$ is a finite quotient of some $`G_p,p^{}`$.

Important example.  There is a standard action of $`SL(2,)`$ on $`S^3`$ which has one open orbit and a 1-dimensional, circular orbit: consider $`S^3`$ (with the canonical $`CR`$ structure) as embedded in $`^2`$, and let the action of $`SL(2,)`$ be generated by the following holomorphic vector fields in $`^2`$:

(6)
$$\begin{array}{ccccc}T& & \hfill 2ix_x& & \hfill iy_y\\ U& & \hfill (1x^2)_x& & \hfill xy_y\\ V& & \hfill i(1+x^2)_x& +& \hfill ixy_y\end{array}$$

Where $`T,U,V`$ are the generators of the Lie algebra $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ (5), and satisfy the commutation relations

(7)
$$[T,U]=2V,[T,V]=2U,[U,V]=2T.$$

We get these vectors by looking for holomorphic vector fields in $`^2`$, tangent to $`S^3`$ (or, equivalently, elements in $`𝔰𝔲(2,1)`$), whose flows preserve the circle $`C_0:=\{y=0\}`$; we get a 4-dimensional Lie algebra $`𝔨`$, generated by the above vector fields and $`ix_x+iy_y`$ (the standard regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field on $`S^3`$), which commutes with $`T`$, and then we keep only the three above, which generate $`[𝔨,𝔨]`$; note that the $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields contained in this Lie algebra are all quasi-regular, and all the generic orbits are twice as long as the unique exceptional orbit $`C_0`$. For the moment, we only have a Lie algebra action of $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ on $`S^3`$. We easily check that it produces a Lie group action of $`SL(2,)`$ on $`S^3`$, and that the local diffeomorphism $`\psi :SL(2,)O_0`$, where $`O_0:=S^3C_0`$, defined by $`\psi (\mu ):=\mu .(0,1)O_0,\mu SL(2,)`$, is bijective and has the following expression:

(8)
$$\psi (\mu ):=\psi \left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)=(i\frac{ad+i(b+c)}{cb+i(a+d)},\frac{2i}{cb+i(a+d)}).$$

If we denote by $`x_1`$, resp. $`x_2`$, the numerator and the denominator of the first fraction appearing in the above equation, we get:

$$\psi (\mu )=(x,y)=(i\frac{x_1}{x_2},\frac{2i}{x_2}),$$

and $`d\psi _\mu =(i\frac{dx_1}{x_2}x\frac{dx_2}{x_2},y\frac{dx_2}{x_2})`$, from which we conclude that the right-invariant vector fields on $`SL(2,)`$, whose value in $`\mu `$ is $`T\mu ,U\mu ,V\mu `$, respectively, are sent through $`\psi `$ in the vector fields from (6), as expected, and the left-invariant vector fields equal to $`U,V`$ in the identity on $`SL(2,)`$ are sent in:

(9)
$$\begin{array}{ccccc}\hfill \mu U& \hfill & \hfill y^2_x& \hfill & \hfill y^2\overline{\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)}_y\\ \hfill \mu V& \hfill & \hfill iy^2_x& \hfill & \hfill iy^2\overline{\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)}_y\end{array}$$

The fact that the vector field corresponding to $`\mu V`$ is exactly $`i`$ times the one corresponding to $`\mu U`$ is due to the fact that the left-invariant $`CR`$ structure $`J_1`$ induced from $`S^3`$ on $`SL(2,)`$ by $`\psi `$ is such that $`U`$ and $`V`$ generate the contact plane $`Q`$, and $`J_1`$ sends $`U`$ into $`V`$.

Remark.

The adjoint action of $`T`$ on $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ induces (up to multiplication by the constant $`1/2`$) the same $`CR`$ structure on the tangent space of the identity in $`SL(2,)`$. Actually, $`J_1`$ is the standard left-invariant $`CR`$ structure on $`SL(2,)=G_2`$ (and on its universal covering $`G_0`$); any other left-invariant $`CR`$ structure $`J_q,q0`$, is given — up to an inner automorphism of the group — by the same $`Q`$ (generated by $`\mu U`$ and $`\mu V`$), and such that

$$J_q(\mu U):=\frac{1}{q^2}\mu V.$$

Indeed, any element in $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ whose flow on a (hence on any) $`G_p,p>0`$, is periodic, is equivalent, via an inner automorphism, to $`T`$; any plane in $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ transverse to $`T`$ and $`\text{ad}_T`$-invariant can be brought by an inner automorphism of $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ to $`Q`$, and, for the Sasakian metrics induced by $`T`$ in the new and in the standard $`CR`$ structures on $`G_0`$, the 2 metrics on $`Q`$ have a common, left-invariant, orthogonal basis. By an inner automorphism again, we may bring this basis to $`\mu U,\mu V`$, as claimed.

We are looking for a left-invariant $`CR`$ structure on $`G`$, thus on its universal covering $`G_0`$, which, after a quotient by a discrete group, can be extended smoothly from $`O`$ to the compact $`S^3`$. In particular, if $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ is a fixed quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, the metric on the space of its orbits must have bounded curvature (because this curvature is determined by the curvature of the Tanaka-Webster connection corresponding to $`T`$, which should be well-defined on the whole compact manifold $`S^3`$, see ). With no loss of generality (see the Remark above), we suppose that $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ is identified with the right-invariant vector field on $`G_2`$ $`T\mu `$, where $`T`$ is the matrix (5) in $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$, and that the left-invariant $`CR`$ structure on $`G`$ is given on $`G_2=SL(2,)`$ by $`(Q,J_q)`$ as above. We note that any left-invariant structure on $`G`$ goes down to any $`G_p,p>0`$, because we take the quotient only by central elements; it is more convenient to make the computations on $`SL(2,)`$, because of the example given above; moreover, the space of the orbits of $`T`$ in $`G_0`$ or in any $`G_p`$, $`p>0`$, is the same.

First, we know that $`\mu U`$ and $`\mu V`$ are orthogonal, that the ratio of their norms is $`1`$ in the standard ($`CR`$ flat) Sasakian metric associated to $`T\mu `$ and $`J_1`$, in general this ratio is $`1/q^2`$ (for the $`CR`$ structure $`(Q,J_q)`$). The product of their norms is half of the coefficient of $`T\mu `$ in their commutator, written in the basis $`T\mu ,\mu U,\mu V`$ (note that they are always linearly independent):

$$[\mu U,\mu V]=2iy_y=2\alpha ^2T\mu +\mathrm{}(\text{terms in Q}),$$

where

(10)
$$\alpha ^2:=\frac{2|y|^2}{|y|^2}.$$

We have used the notations from the example above, who realizes $`SL(2,)`$ as an open set of $`S^3^2`$. In this case, the projection on the space of orbits of $`T\mu `$ is

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}S^3\{y=0\}& & ^1\{[1:0]\}& \stackrel{}{}& \\ (x,y)& & [x:y^2]& \stackrel{}{}& \frac{x}{y^2}.\end{array}$$

By straightforward computation we get the projections on $``$ of the $`T\mu `$-invariant vector fields $`\mu U`$ and $`\mu V`$ to be $`\alpha ^2_z`$, resp. $`i\alpha ^2_z`$, where $`z=u+iv`$ is the complex parameter on $``$ and $`\alpha ^2:=\sqrt{A}:=\sqrt{1+4|z|^2}`$ is the same as before (10).

For the $`CR`$ structure given by $`J_q`$, the vectors

(11)
$$X:=X_q:=qf_u;Y:=Y_q:=\frac{1}{q}f_v,f:=\alpha ^3=A^{\frac{3}{4}}$$

form an orthonormal frame for the induced metric on the space $``$ of the orbits of $`T\mu `$. We compute

$$[X,Y]=\frac{1}{q}_vfX+q_xfY,$$

then the Levi-Civita connection of the metric for which $`X,Y`$ is an orthonormal frame:

$$\begin{array}{ccccccc}_XX& =& \hfill \frac{1}{q}_vfY& & _XY& =& \hfill \frac{1}{q}_vfX\\ _YX& =& \hfill q_ufY& & _XY& =& \hfill q_ufX\end{array}$$

and its curvature:

(12)
$$\begin{array}{ccc}R_{X,Y}Y,X& =& q^2(f_{u}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}f(_uf)^2)+\frac{1}{q^2}(f_{v}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}f(_vf)^2)\hfill \\ & =& q^2(f\mathrm{\Delta }f|df|^2)+\left(\frac{1}{q^2}q^2\right)(f_{v}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}f(_vf)^2)\hfill \\ & =& q^212A^{1/2}+\left(\frac{1}{q^2}q^2\right)(6A^{1/2}48v^2A^{1/2}).\hfill \end{array}$$

The first term in the last line is bounded, the second is not (for example, on the $`Ou`$ axis), unless $`q=1`$, which corresponds to the standard, flat, $`CR`$ structure on $`SL(2,)`$.

We have proven that a $`\stackrel{~}{SL}(2,)`$ action on $`O=MCS^3\{\text{circle}\}`$, preserving a normal $`CR`$ structure on $`MS^3`$, extends on the whole sphere if and only if the $`CR`$ structure is flat. As this was the only case where $`dimG`$ could be greater that 1, it follows that, if there are no irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields, then $`𝔤=`$ and the connected component of $`G`$ is a circle. The proof of Theorem 1 is complete.

Remark.

Even in the flat case we can classify the above $`\stackrel{~}{SL}(2,)`$ actions on $`S^3`$: as we will see in the next section, all regular $`CR`$ Reeb fields are equivalent (modulo an inner automorphism of $`PSU(2,1)`$ — the group of $`CR`$ automorphisms of the canonical structure of $`S^3`$), and all quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields commute with exactly one regular one. If we look for the subgroup of $`PSU(2,1)`$ preserving a circle in $`S^3`$, we can suppose that this circle is $`C_0`$ as above, and then get a 4-dimensional Lie algebra, which contains $`𝔰𝔩_2()`$ as its commutator. We obtain therefore the action described above, which is an action of $`SL(2,)`$. Note that this is the only possible action of a group of type $`G_p,p>0`$ prime, satisfying the required conditions.

## 6. $`CR`$ flat Sasakian structures on $`S^3`$

It is known that a $`CR`$ flat Sasakian structure on a 3-manifold which is not covered by $`S^3`$ is — up to a finite covering — regular, and comes from an $`S^1`$ fibration over a Riemann surface with constant curvature $`k`$ . This is an easy consequence of the fact that, if a regular Sasakian structure is $`CR`$ flat, then the Tanaka curvature tensor $`\mathrm{\Phi }:S^2QTM/Q`$ vanishes. This tensor is trace-free, and is computed (in the case of a regular Sasakian structure) from sectional curvature $`k`$ of the orbit space $`B`$ of the Reeb vector field:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(X,X)(T)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{}_Xk,XQ,$$

and it vanishes if and only if $`J(dk)^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a Killing vector field on $`B`$. If the genus of $`B`$ is greater than 0, this implies that $`k`$ is constant.

If $`B`$ is a sphere, there are functions $`f`$ such that $`J(df)^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a non-zero Killing vector field. We are going to investigate the case where this function is the curvature itself.

Let $`g`$ be a metric on $`BS^2`$ with a Killing vector field $`Y`$, which vanishes at the poles $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$. Its orbits are then parallels and we suppose that they have period $`2\pi `$. The orbits of $`JY`$ are then meridians: geodesics starting from $`P_1`$ and pointing towards $`P_2`$ (we label the poles as such). Define $`X`$ to be the unitary vector field on $`S^2\{P_1,P_2\}`$ which is collinear with $`Y`$ and points in the same sense. There is a function $`r`$ such that $`Y=rX`$. This function will be viewed as a function on the real line as follows: it is enough to evaluate it on a meridian, for which we use the arc length parameterization, the origin of $``$ corresponds to the pole $`P_1`$ (the starting point of the meridian), and $`\tau `$, the length of a meridian, corresponds to the pole $`P_2`$; we extend then $`r:`$ to be an odd function, periodic with period $`2\tau `$. The fact that this function is smooth can be easily seen as follows: we complete a meridian to a closed geodesic; on half of it, $`X`$ will be a parallel unitary vector field, and if we extend it to $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ to be parallel on the whole closed geodesic (of length $`2\tau `$), then $`Y(x)=r(x)\stackrel{~}{X}(x)`$ on half of it, and $`Y(x)=r(x)\stackrel{~}{X}(x)`$ on the other half. The function $`r:`$ defined above is just the scalar product between $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ and $`Y`$, in the arc length parameterization of a geodesic. It is smooth.

Remark.

If the metric on $`S^2`$ has conical points at the poles (we have an orbifold – this happens if the $`CR`$ Reeb vector field on $`S^3`$ is quasi-regular), we can still “glue together” $`r`$ to get a smooth function: the argument above, applied to a local finite ramified covering around one pole, identifies that “glued” function with a scalar product restricted to a geodesic. Note that we cannot complete canonically a meridian in this case, but the function $`r`$ is constant on the parallels anyway, so any other such completion, done in a local ramified covering, yields the desired result.

The fact that the Killing vector field $`Y=rX`$ is given by the differential of the curvature $`k`$ of the metric implies that

(13)
$$k^{}=lr,$$

where we have “glued” $`k`$ as above, and considered as a periodic function on $``$ (with period $`2\tau `$ – the length of a closed geodesic extending a meridian), the derivative is taken with respect to the arc length parameterization (i.e. $`k^{}JX.k`$), and $`l`$ is a positive real constant (if $`l`$ were negative, we could change $`X`$ in $`X`$ and so on).

On the other hand, $`k`$ can be retrieved, by computation, from $`r`$: We use that $`_{JX}JX=_{JX}X=0`$, as $`JX`$ is unitary and is tangent to the meridians, which are geodesics, and $`[JX,Y]=[JX,rX]=0`$, as $`Y`$ is Killing and thus preserves the meridians, and get:

$$[X,JX]=\frac{r^{}}{r}X$$

everywhere except in the poles, thus

$$R_{X,JX}JX=\left(\frac{r^{\prime \prime }r(r^{})^2}{r^2}\frac{(r^{})^2}{r^2}\right)X=\frac{r^{\prime \prime }}{r}X,$$

on the above dense open set in $`S^2`$. The derivatives are taken with respect to the arc length parameterization, hence correspond to derivations along the vector field $`JX`$. We get thus the following equation:

(14)
$$r^{\prime \prime }=kr,$$

which, together with (13), yields a second order non-linear differential equation on $``$, for which we seek periodic solutions:

(15)
$$k^{\prime \prime }=\frac{1}{2}k^2+c,c.$$

This equation cannot be integrated, in general (using elementary functions), but it is equivalent to a first order system of ordinary differential equations, given by the following vector field on $`^2`$ (in coordinates $`x,y`$):

(16)
$$Z:=\left(\frac{1}{2}x^2+c\right)_y+y_x.$$

(For any solution $`k`$ of (15), the curve $`(k,k^{})`$ is an integral curve of $`Z`$, and conversely, the first component of any integral curve of $`Z`$ is a solution of (15).)

Remark.

Any solution to the equation (15) is a solution of an equation of the type

(17)
$$(z^{})^2=z^3+pz+q,p,q,$$

which comes from the fact that, if $`z`$ solves (15), then $`(z,z^{})`$ satisfy an order 3 algebraic equation (see below) that leads to (17). The general solution to this equation is an elliptic function and cannot be expressed, in general, in terms of elementary functions.

Remark.

A simple way to find a solution of (15) could be, a priori, the following: A regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T`$ on $`S^3`$ equipped with the standard $`CR`$ structure is still a Killing vector field for the Sasakian structure given by another $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$, provided that $`[T,\stackrel{~}{T}]=0`$; the metrics induced, by projection, on the space $`B`$ of orbits of $`T`$, from the Sasakian metric on $`S^3`$ determined by $`T`$ or by $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ are different, and their curvatures $`k,\stackrel{~}{k}`$ both satisfy the equation $`\mathrm{}_X\stackrel{~}{k}=\mathrm{}_Xk=0,XTB`$; it is, however, easy to check that $`\stackrel{~}{k}`$ is, as well as $`k`$, constant; not only they are conformally equivalent (through the identity of $`B`$), but also isometric up to a global homothety. So we don’t get this way any non-trivial solution to (15).

We seek for periodic solutions of (15), hence for closed integral curves of $`Z`$ (16). First we note that, for negative $`c`$, the component along $`_y`$ of $`Z`$ is always negative, fact which excludes any periodic orbit. For $`c=0`$ the only periodic orbit is the fixed point $`(0,0)`$. In general, the orbits of $`Z`$ are contained in the level sets of the function $`F:^2`$,

$$F(x,y):=y^2+\frac{1}{3}x^32cx,$$

which are cubics in $`^2`$:

For values of $`F`$ contained between $`\frac{2s^3}{3}`$ and $`\frac{2s^3}{3}`$, where $`s:=\sqrt{2c}`$, its level sets are cubics with 2 connected components in $`^2`$, one of which is an embedded line, and the other an embedded circle — each of which is an orbit of $`Z`$, because $`Z`$ does not vanish on these curves —; the level set $`F=\frac{2s^3}{3}`$ has 2 components, one of which is the fixed point $`(s,0)`$ and the other an embedded line — which is an orbit of $`Z`$ —; the level set $`F=\frac{2s^3}{3}`$ has only 1 connected component — a cubic with a simple double point in $`(s,0)`$ —, and contains one stationary orbit $`\{(0,0)\}`$ and 3 different, non-periodic orbits of $`Z`$, which are exactly the connected components of the above cubic after removal of the fixed point $`(s,0)`$ of $`Z`$. For other values of $`F`$ its level sets consist, each of them, of one connected cubic in $`^2`$, diffeomorphic to $``$, and containing one (non-periodic) orbit of $`Z`$. (see figure above)

The only case which is interesting for the equation (15), for which we seek periodic solutions, is $`c=\frac{1}{2}s^2,s>0`$ (thus $`c>0`$), and the solutions whose orbits coincide with the embedded circles contained in the level sets of $`F`$, for values of $`F`$ between $`\frac{2ls^3}{3}`$ and $`\frac{2s^3}{3}`$. Actually all the solutions obtained this way satisfy the equation (15), and yield metrics on $`S^2\{P_1,P_2\}`$ with the desired property ($`J`$ times the differential of the curvature is dual to a Killing vector field); it remains to check the smoothness at the poles: the only condition is that the constructed metric gives an angle of $`2\pi `$ around each pole. This angle can be measured by integration around a pole (that is, multiplication by $`2\pi `$ — the period of the Killing vector field $`Y=rX`$) of the differential of the length of $`Y`$. We need thus

(18)
$$|r^{}|=1\text{ in }P_1,P_2,$$

which is equivalent to

$$\left|\frac{1}{2}s_i^2+\frac{1}{2}s^2\right|=l,i=1,2,$$

where $`s_i`$ are the solutions, between $`s`$ and $`s`$, of the equation $`F(x,0)=0`$, or equivalently, $`(s_i,0)`$ are the points where the considered orbit of $`Z`$ crosses the $`Ox`$ axis — these points correspond to $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$, which are the extrema of $`k`$, thus where $`k^{}`$ vanishes. Because $`s_1(s,s)`$ and $`s_2(s,2s)`$ (the orbit “turns around” the fixed point $`(s,0)`$), the equation (18) is equivalent to:

$$s^2s_1^2=2l\text{ and }s_2^2s^2=2l.$$

On the other hand, the fact that $`F(s_1,0)=F(s_2,0)`$ (and $`s_1s_2`$) is equivalent to

(19)
$$s_1^2+s_1s_2+s_2^2=3s^2.$$

It follows then that $`s_1^2+s_2^2=2s^2`$, which leads to $`\sqrt{s^44l^2}=s^2`$, contradiction.

So there is no metric on $`S^2`$ such that $`J`$ times the curvature is dual to a Killing vector field, except the constant curvature metric (in which case the corresponding Killing vector field is trivial).

If we are looking for a metric with conical points at the poles $`P_1,P_2`$, with wrapping (natural) numbers $`q_1`$, resp. $`q_2`$, the reasoning above remains unchanged, except for the part referring to the angles given by the metric at the poles; we need to replace equation (18) by the following system:

(20)
$$|r^{}|=\frac{1}{q_1}\text{ in }P_1\text{ and }|r^{}|=\frac{1}{q_2}\text{ in }P_2,$$

which is equivalent to

$$s^2s_1^2=\frac{2l}{q_1}\text{ and }s_2^2s^2=\frac{2l}{q_2}.$$

From here, we get the expressions of $`s_1,s_2`$, then replace them in (19) and finally get:

$$\left(s^2\frac{2l}{q_1}\right)\left(s^2+\frac{2l}{q_2}\right)=\left(s^2\frac{2l}{q_2}+\frac{2l}{q_1}\right)^2,$$

which implies

$$s=\sqrt{l\frac{(2/q_2)^3+(2/q_1)^3}{3((2/q_2)^2(2/q_1)^2)}},\text{for }q_1>q_2.$$

Thus, for any pair of mutually prime numbers $`q_1>q_2`$ (the last one may be equal to 1, in which case we get a teardrop orbifold metric on $`S^2`$), and for each fixed $`l>0`$, there is exactly one value of the parameter $`s`$, and exactly one orbit of $`Z`$, thus exactly one solution of (15), which is equivalent to

$$k^{\prime \prime }=\frac{1}{2}(k^2+s^2);$$

from the point of view of the metric that we obtain on $`BS^2`$, the change in the parameter $`l`$ means a homothety (i.e., if we fix the total volume of $`B`$, then $`l`$ is unique).

We have proven:

###### Theorem 2.

For any regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field on a flat $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$, the orbit space has constant curvature. The metric on the orbit space of a quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field $`T`$ is, up to homothety, determined by the wrapping numbers of $`T`$.

Remark.

We obtain, in particular, another proof of the unicity of the $`CR`$ flat structure on $`S^3`$, under the additional supposition that it admits global $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields. Of course, this fact holds in general, as a consequence of the theory of Cartan connections .

Remark.

As mentioned before, the orbifold metrics on $`S^2`$ for which the curvature function $`k`$ satisfies $`\mathrm{}_Xk=0,XTS^2`$ cannot be expressed in terms of elementary functions in the arc length parameterization of the meridians. In fact, these metrics, an their curvatures, are easy to compute, as the corresponding Sasakian metrics on $`S^3`$, because they are determined by quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields on $`S^3`$, all of which can be explicitely computed. The metrics on their orbit spaces can be explicitly given in terms of elementary functions. But this does not lead to any contradiction, because it is the arc length parameterization of the meridians — as a solution to a second degree differential equation — which cannot be expressed in terms of elementary functions.

Theorem 2 has interesting geometric implications on the automorphism group of the standard $`CR`$ structure on $`S^3`$, namely $`PSU(2,1)`$:

###### Corollary 2.

The commutator of any regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field in$`𝔭𝔰𝔲(2,1)`$ is 4-dimensional. For any 2 quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields $`T_1`$, $`T_2`$ with the same wrapping numbers there is an element in $`PSU(2,1)`$ mapping $`T_1`$ on a constant multiple of $`T_2`$.

Another consequence of this is that we can check if two $`CR`$ structures are isomorphic, just looking at the $`CR`$ Reeb vector field and at the metric induced on the orbit space (recall that any irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field admits exactly one commuting regular one — it is easy to find it just by looking at the lengths of the exceptional orbits of the irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field — see section 3), thus reducing the problem of comparing 2 $`CR`$ structures to the elementary problem of comparing 2 metrics on a Riemann surface — more generally, an orbifold:

###### Theorem 3.

If 2 Sasakian metrics on a compact 3-manifold $`M`$ admit the same underlying $`CR`$ structure, then:

1. they are both regular and are 0-type deformation of each other, if $`M`$ is not a quotient of $`S^3`$;
2. if $`M=S^3`$ or a finite quotient, first we replace (if necessary) the irregular Sasakian metrics with the (uniquely defined) regular Sasakian metrics by basic first type deformations, so we only need to compare (quasi-) regular Sasakian structures. If the Sasakian structures are both quasi-regular with the same wrapping numbers they are 0-type deformations of each other; If they have different wrapping numbers the underlying $`CR`$ structure is flat, and the metric induced on each one’s orbit space is determined, following the procedure described in the proof of Theorem 2, by the wrapping numbers.

By definition , a 0-type deformation of a Sasakian metric is a rescaling of the Reeb vector field (multiplication by a constant), and a first type deformation is given by a change in the $`CR`$ Reeb vector field (2); it is called basic if we use in (2) a function constant along the orbits of the Reeb vector field. A 0-type deformation is, thus, a particular basic first type deformation, given by an everywhere constant function. In  and , a second type deformation is defined by keeping the same $`CR`$ Reeb vector field, the same operator $`J`$ — previously extended to $`TM`$ by acting trivially on the Reeb vector field —, and by changing the metric on the orbit space — as a consequence, the contact structure will be modified.

###### Corollary 3.

A non-trivial second type deformation of a Sasakian structure always changes the underlying $`CR`$ structure.

###### Proof.

If the $`CR`$ Reeb vector field is quasi-regular, this follows from the theorems above; if it is irregular, then any second type deformation of it necessarily commutes with the first type deformation that replaces the irregular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field with the unique (commuting) regular one, and we can apply the conclusion above. ∎

## 7. Contact compact 3-manifolds admitting normal $`CR`$ structures

###### Proposition 2.

Let $`M`$ be a compact 3-manifold. Then, up to isomorphism, there exists at most one contact structure on $`M`$ underlying a normal $`CR`$ structure. Moreover, this contact structure is tight.

By definition, an over twisted contact structure is one such that it exists an embedded disc $`DM`$, transverse to $`Q`$ everywhere except in a point $`P`$ in the interior of $`D`$, and such that the border of $`D`$ is tangent to $`Q`$. A $`CR`$ structure is called tight if it is not overtwisted. Overtwisted contact structures exist on any orientable 3-manifold , and the isotopy classes of overtwisted contact structures on $`M`$ coincide with their homotopy classes in the category of 2-plane fields in $`M`$ . On the other hand, tight structures are more rigid: there is only one isotopy class of tight contact structures on $`S^3`$ ; recently, there have been found examples of 3-manifolds not admitting tight contact structures .

###### Proof.

We know, from , that, if $`M`$ admits a normal $`CR`$ structure, then it is a finite quotient of a circle bundle $`M_0`$ over a Riemann surface $`B`$ with non-zero Chern class, and, in most of the cases (see the exceptions below), this $`CR`$ structure is $`S^1`$-invariant, where the $`S^1`$-action is free and transverse to the underlying contact structure. The latter is thus given by a connection on the $`S^1`$-bundle $`M_0B`$ (where $`B`$ is the orbit space of $`S^1`$), such that its curvature is a given volume form on $`B`$ (from here follows that the Chern class should be non-zero). On $`M_0`$, we have thus a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-invariant Sasakian structure, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the covering group of the finite covering $`M_0M`$. On $`M_0`$, all ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-invariant) contact structures which are invariant and transverse to the free action of $`S^1`$ are homotopic within ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-invariant) contact structures , and this ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-equivariant) homotopy is followed by a ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-equivariant) isotopy , .

On the other hand, all free $`S^1`$ actions on $`M`$ (and, implicitly, the diffeomorphism type of the quotient space $`B`$) are isomorphic, because the only invariants are $`b_1(B)`$ and the Chern class of the fibration $`MB`$, and these are determined by the cohomology of $`M`$.

The exceptional cases are the normal $`CR`$ structures on $`S^3`$ (or finite quotients) which are $`S^1`$-invariant, but the $`S^1`$ action is not free; it is given by a (unique up to a constant factor) quasi-regular $`CR`$ Reeb vector field. We can, nevertheless, deform the metric on the orbifold $`B`$ such that it admits a Killing vector field; the corresponding (second type) deformation of the $`CR`$ structures is such that the underlying contact structures are all isotopic ; but the new $`CR`$ structure admits at least 2 linearly independent $`CR`$ Reeb vector fields, therefore it is invariant to a free $`S^1`$ action, which is the case treated above.

On the other hand, the $`S^1`$ invariant and transversal contact structures on the total space of a circle fiber bundle as above are tight . ∎

Institut für Mathematik
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Sitz: Rudower Chaussee 25
D-10099 Berlin
Germany
e-mail: belgun@mathematik.hu-berlin.de


text:
# The Measurement of Disk Ellipticity in Nearby Spiral Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

A large fraction of galaxy disks appears to be non-axisymmetric. Photometric studies of face–on galaxies find the light distribution in 30–50% of spirals is lopsided ($`m=1`$ distortions; Zaritsky & Rix, 1997; Rudnick & Rix, 1998) or has higher order distortions ($`m2`$; Rix & Zaritsky, 1995; Kornreich et al., 1998; Conselice et al., 2000). A similar fraction of galaxies has lopsided HI distributions or kinematic asymmetries (Baldwin et al., 1980; Bosma, 1981; Richter & Sancisi, 1994; Haynes et al., 1998; Swaters et al., 1999).

Disk ellipticity ($`m=2`$) may also be common. Few disk galaxies appear round on the sky; the distribution of apparent axis ratios is best modeled by randomly oriented disks with intrinsic ellipticities $`ϵ0.1`$ (Binney & de Vaucouleurs, 1981; Grøsbol, 1985; Huizinga & van Albada, 1992; Lambas et al., 1992). These statistical studies constrain mean ellipticity, but do not probe the intrinsic ellipticity of individual galaxies.

If galaxy disks are elongated, errors in photometric estimates of inclinations and position angles (PAs) will be introduced, thereby contributing to the scatter in the relationship between galaxy luminosity and rotation speed (Tully & Fisher, 1977). Franx & de Zeeuw (1992) used a specific, non-rotating velocity field model to show that if $`ϵ=0.1`$ on average, systematic errors could account for all the observed scatter in the Tully–Fisher (hereafter, TF) relation. However, the true contribution to this scatter depends on the distribution of intrinsic axis ratios. Identifying the individual ellipticities of galaxies would limit other sources of astrophysical scatter in the TF relation and reduce scatter.

Kinematic maps can be used to estimate ellipticity for individual galaxy disks. One approach involves fitting such maps with elliptic orbits, from which a quantity related to the ellipticity of the potential can be estimated: $`ϵ_{\mathrm{pot}}\mathrm{sin}2\varphi `$. This quantity varies from 0.001 – 0.07 for a sample of 9 galaxies (Schoenmakers et al., 1997; Schoenmakers, 1999). Unfortunately, the phase angle $`\varphi `$ is not directly measurable. Such studies have been rare because they require observationally expensive, high resolution, high signal-to-noise velocity field maps (e.g. Teuben et al., 1986; Kornreich et al., 2000).

Here we develop a new, efficient method of estimating intrinsic galaxy disk ellipticities using optical kinematic maps and photometric indices. Determining unique solutions for $`ϵ`$ and $`\varphi `$ requires measurements of both kinematic and photometric inclination and PAs for nearly face–on spiral disks. When the disk major axis is rotated by a phase angle $`\varphi `$ away from the line of nodes, the kinematic and photometric axes will appear misaligned only if $`\mathrm{cos}i<1ϵ`$. If $`ϵ0.1`$, as suggested by earlier studies, substantial misalignment of kinematic and photometric PAs ($`>30^{}`$) will occur only for galaxies with $`i<30^{}`$. To demonstrate our method we present the detailed analysis of WIYN integral field H$`\alpha `$ velocity fields and $`I`$ band images for UGC 4380, and measurements of $`ϵ`$ for an additional 6, nearly face–on galaxies based on the same method.

## 2. Sample and Observations

Our sample of seven galaxies is a subset of 69 selected from the Principal Galaxy Catalog (PGC; Paturel et al., 1997) in regions of low Galactic extinction with normal surface-brightnesses, axis ratios corresponding to $`<30^{}`$ inclination for a circular disk, diameters D25 between 0.75 and 1.5 arcminutes (to facilitate spectroscopic follow-up), and Hubble types between Sb and Sc (see Andersen et al., 2001). We excluded galaxies with obvious bars, clearly visible non-axisymmetric structure, and foreground stars within 2-4 disk scale lengths using the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey.

We used the WIYN S2KB imager (a 20482 CCD with 0.195 arcsec/pixel) to obtain deep $`I`$-band images of our 7 targets between May 10-14, 1999 with seeing of $``$1.1 arcseconds FWHM, or 10% of 1 scale length. We reduced these images using standard procedures, yielding sufficient signal-to-noise to establish galaxy isophotes to $`4.5`$ scale lengths. We used flux-calibrated, $`R`$-band magnitudes obtained with the IGI/TK4 imager on the McDonald Observatory 107” telescope to check that these galaxies had close to “Freeman” disks ($`B`$-band central disk surface brightness of 21.7 mag arcsec-2). For example, assuming $`BR=1.15`$ for the Sc-type galaxy UGC 4380, we find $`\mu _0(B)=21.5`$ mag arcsec-2.

Spectral images of our 7 targets were obtained using Densepak on the WIYN telescope from portions of runs on May 20-21, 1998, January 20-22, 1999, and March 27-28, 1999. Densepak is a fiber-optic array used for integral field spectroscopy containing 86 active, 3-arcsecond fibers (separated by 4 arcseconds) arranged in a $`7\times 13`$ staggered grid subtending an area of $`30\times 45`$ arcseconds (Barden et al., 1998). Four additional “sky” fibers are spaced around this grid roughly one arcminute from the grid center. Densepak feeds the WIYN Bench Spectrograph, which we used with an echelle grating to cover $`6600\mathrm{\AA }<\lambda \lambda <7000`$Å with a dispersion of 0.19 Å per pixel and a FWHM spectral resolution of 0.51 Å. Basic spectral reductions were done using the NOAO IRAF package dohydra. Thorium-Argon lamps were used for wavelength calibration.

Since galaxy rotation curves peak at roughly two photometric scale lengths (Courteau & Rix, 1999; Willick, 1999), we used Densepak to map out to $`3`$ scale lengths per galaxy (typically $`30`$ arcsec). For UGC 4380, which has a $`I`$-band scale length of 9.7 arcseconds, two Densepak pointings were required to cover a square of roughly 45$`\times 45`$ square arcseconds. Two 30-minute exposures were made at each Densepak position to facilitate cosmic ray removal. The H$`\alpha `$ line flux was typically measured at a signal to noise of $`10`$ at the edge of our observed field.

## 3. Measurements

To measure photometric axis ratios and PAs we use the STSDAS ISOPHOTE package ellipse on images with stars masked. Figure 1 shows the radial dependence of PA, apparent ellipticity (1-$`b/a`$), and an azimuthal variance statistic for UGC 4380. Inside 29 arcseconds, the variance statistic is greater than unity showing that spiral arm structure affects the ellipse fits. Hence we measure the photometric axis ratio and PA at radii greater than 29 arcseconds, where the axis ratio and PA are constant, consistent with our estimate that spiral structure has a minimal impact.

To determine kinematic inclination and PAs, we first produce H$`\alpha `$ emission line maps from the 86 field-flattened and sky-subtracted spectra from each pointing. We measure velocity centroids by fitting a Gaussian line profile to each H$`\alpha `$ line, and assign a spatial position based on the fiber geometry of Densepak and the offsets used to make multiple pointings. Figure 2 shows a polynomial surface fit to these discrete velocity measurements for UGC 4380. UGC 4380 clearly is an inclined galaxy with a center coincident with the photometric center. The formally well-determined PA and peak rotation velocity (Table 1) agree with visual inspection of the data (Figure 2). Single dish HI observations of UGC 4380 list a $`W_{50}`$ velocity widths of 118 km/s (Haynes et al., 1988). The $`W_{50}`$ width measured from our Densepak spectra is also 118 km/s, implying we observed the peak of the rotation curve.

To extract the PA, peak velocity and inclination, we fit the velocities expected at each fiber position using a simple model consisting of concentric and coplanar circular orbits with $`V(r)=V_c\mathrm{tanh}(r/h)`$, where the terminal circular velocity $`V_c`$ and $`h`$ are free parameters. The other free variables are inclination, PA, center, and central velocity. Our velocity fields exhibit only small deviations from this simple model, as illustrated for UGC 4380 in the middle panel of Figure 2. The best fitting model was determined from $`\chi ^2`$ minimization (downhill simplex method) based on comparing the measured velocity centroids, fiber by fiber with the smooth model velocity field sampled with the Densepak footprint. The standard deviation in the fit residuals is 4.3 km/s. More elaborate radial velocity functions do not provide smaller residuals yet have more independent variables. Formal confidence limits (CL) were placed on these quantities by determining surfaces of constant $`\chi ^2`$. Table 1 contains our measurements of axis ratio, photometric PA and kinematic inclination and PA. In UGC 4380, the photometric and kinematic PA differ by $`9.5^{}\pm 3.9^{}`$ (68% CL). This disk is unlikely to be intrinsically circular.

## 4. Analysis and Results

We can estimate the ellipticity required to produce the above level of discrepancy by modeling the observed galaxy as a disk with intrinsic, photometric ellipticity $`ϵ`$ (right panel, Figure 2) but circular orbits (justified below). The vector describing the ellipse in the galaxy plane is $`\stackrel{}{r}{}_{}{}^{}=[(1ϵ)\mathrm{sin}\theta ,\mathrm{cos}\theta ]`$, where $`\theta =0`$ is the major axis. To project the ellipse onto the (observed) sky plane, it is inclined by an angle $`i`$ about the line of nodes at an angle $`\varphi `$ from the intrinsic major axis. In the plane of the sky, the ellipse describing the galaxy isophotes is given by a transformation matrix involving $`\theta `$, $`i`$, $`ϵ`$, and $`\varphi `$.

Franx & de Zeeuw (1992) found that for orbits in a flat but elliptic disk, fitting the velocity field with tilted circular rings yields the correct disk orientation to first order in ellipticity. Accordingly, we take the kinematic inclination and PAs to represent the true inclination and PA of the disk; $`ϵ`$ and $`\varphi `$ can then be determined given measurements of the apparent photometric axis ratio ($`b/a`$), the kinematic inclination ($`i`$), and the difference between photometric and kinematic PAs ($`\psi `$).

When the true inclination $`i`$ is closer to face–on than the photometric inclination, as is the case for UGC 4380, the galaxy must be at least as flattened as $`ϵ1\frac{b}{a}\mathrm{cos}i^1`$. The intrinsic flattening must be even larger if the true major axis does not lie in the plane of the sky. This lower limit for UGC 4380, $`ϵ>0.06\pm 0.03`$, is inconsistent with a purely circular disk. By utilizing the $`9.5^{}\pm 3.9^{}`$ misalignment of the photometric and kinematic PAs, a better estimate of the ellipticity can be obtained.

In general, three equations relate the three observables $`b/a`$, $`i`$, and $`\psi `$ to the three unknowns $`ϵ`$, $`\varphi `$, and the angle $`\theta `$ at the apparent major axis. Using the Newton–Raphson method for nonlinear equations, we find $`ϵ=0.07_{0.06}^{+0.08}`$ (99% CL) for UGC 4380, a solution inconsistent with a circular disk. Derived values for the seven galaxies, plotted in Figure 4 and listed in Table 1, range from $`ϵ=0.02`$ to 0.20. Three galaxies (UGC 4380, NGC 2794, UGC 5274) are inconsistent with having circular disks at the 99% CL; two galaxies (NGC 3890, NGC 5123) have ellipticities inconsistent with circular disks at the 95% CL. Only two galaxies (UGC 7208 and UGC 10436) are consistent with having circular disks within their 68% CL. The galaxies with the highest derived ellipticity $`ϵ`$ have $`\varphi `$ near 90; the line of nodes is almost perpendicular to the true major axis. This is consistent with our selection of round, apparently face-on systems. The two galaxies with $`ϵ>0.1`$, NGC 2794 and UGC 5274, both show evidence for faint, interacting companions; NGC 2794 has an AGN.

Finally, we have checked that potential sources of systematic errors – lopsidedness, spiral structure, and warps – do not affect our ellipticity measurements appreciably. Table 1 contains the $`A_1`$ amplitude of the $`m=1`$ component of the Fourier expansion of the light profile as defined by (Zaritsky & Rix, 1997). With the exception of NGC 5123 these galaxies are not significantly lopsided ($`A_1<0.2`$), nor does $`A_1`$ correlate with our derived values for $`\psi `$ or $`ϵ`$. None of these galaxies show any sign of kinematic asymmetry. A 180-rotational asymmetry measure, defined as $`A_{180}=|(V_{obs}+V_{180})|/|2V_{obs}|`$, akin to the photometric asymmetry parameter of Conselice et al. (2000), yields close to null values for all.

Strong spiral structure drives photometric PAs to change with radius $`R`$ at a rate of $`\mathrm{PA}/\mathrm{log}R=\mathrm{cot}\theta _p`$, where $`\theta _p`$ is the pitch angle of the arms. A warp in the disk also would be manifest as a twisting PA with radius. As discussed in §3, we make our photometric measurements between 3–4 scale-lengths where we find the photometric PA and axis ratio are constant, and our azimuthal variance statistic (Figure 1) corroborates that spiral structure is no longer a dominant photometric effect. The velocity fields exhibit no residual structure correlating with radius or azimuth, despite the fact that these measurements are within 3 scale-lengths (in contrast to our photometric measurements). We find no evidence for twisting PAs in the velocity fields which is not surprising since even galaxies with strong outer warps usually have planar HI distributions within 3 scale lengths (Briggs, 1990).

## 5. Summary and Discussion

We have demonstrated that high-quality H$`\alpha `$ velocity maps and $`I`$ band images of nearly face–on galaxies can be used to exclude the hypothesis that galaxy disks are intrinsically free of $`m=2`$ (elliptic) distortions. Our method for estimating the deviation from circularity suggests UGC 4380 has an intrinsic ellipticity of $``$7%. This is one of the first unambiguous detections of disk ellipticity for an individual galaxy. If disks are intrinsically elliptic, the photometric and kinematic axes will be misaligned in general, and the inclinations derived from isophote shapes will differ from the kinematic inclinations. Deviations are particularly large for face–on galaxies. WIYN/Densepak echelle spectroscopy and optical imaging are efficient means to estimate disk ellipticity for large samples of such systems.

The intrinsic ellipticity for our 7 galaxies is $`ϵ=0.05\pm 0.01`$ (error weighted mean and uncertainty), inconsistent with purely circular disks. Most of our targets are normal, intermediate-type spirals, typical of those selected for TF surveys. According to the Franx & de Zeeuw (1992), $`ϵ=0.05`$ should produce $``$50% of the observed TF scatter in red and near-infrared bands. The cause of disk ellipticity is currently unclear, e.g., halo triaxiality or non-uniform matter accretion could be responsible. If larger samples show disk ellipticity at these levels, this implies variations in either disk mass fractions or mass-to-light ratio of today’s spiral galaxies must contribute under 0.1-0.2 mag dispersion in the luminosity of galaxies at a given rotation speed. High resolution cosmological simulations (e.g. Steinmetz & Navarro, 1999; van den Bosch, 2000) indicate that variance in disk mass fraction should only induce scatter along the TF relation, because halo contraction is greater for larger disk masses. Assuming the remaining scatter in the observed TF relation is dominated by differences in spiral galaxy mass-to-light ratios, this modest variance places strong constraints on the formation histories of such systems.

We thank S. Barden at NOAO and D. Sawyer at WIYN for making Densepak happen. This research was supported by the UW-Madison Graduate School, and NSF grants AST-9618849 and AST-9970780 (MAB).