A global invariant for three dimensional CR-manifolds

In this note we define a global, R-valued invariant of a compact, strictly pseudoconvex 3-dimensional CR-manifold M whose holomorphic tangent bundle is trivial. The invariant arises as the evaluation of a deRham cohomology class on the fundamental class of the manifold. To construct the relevant form, we start with the CR structure bundle Y over M (see [Ch-Mo], whose notation we follow). The form is a secondary characteristic form of this structure. By fixing a contact form and coframe, i.e., a section of Y, we obtain a form on M. Surprisingly, this form is well-defined up to an exact term, and thus its cohomology class is well-defined in H 3 (M, R). Our motivation for studying this invariant was its analogy with the R/Z secondary characteristic number associated by Chern and Simons to the conforreal class of a Riemannian 3-manifold N, which provides an obstruction to the conformal immersion of N in R 4. Though several formal analogies to the conformal case are valid for our invariant, this one does not hold up: specifically, in w below, we calculate examples which show that the CR invariant can take on any positive real value for hypersurfaces embedded in C 2. It is also clear that the invariant is neither a homotopy nor concordance invariant, but depends in an elusive way on the CR structure. Our inspiration came from the seminal papers of Chern and Moser and Chern and Simons. The idea of looking at secondary characteristic forms of higher order geometric structures in general appears in [Ko-Oc], though with a different intention. In w 2 we will quickly review the definition of a CR structure, the construction of y and its reduction to a pseudo-hermitian structure ~ ld Webster [-We]. In w 3 we define the invariant and prove that it is, in fact, R-valued, and not R/Z-valued as in the Riemannian case. We also prove that if the invariant is stationary as a function of the CR structure, then M is locally CR equivalent to the standard three sphere in C 2, paralleling a result of Chern and Simons. As noted already, w 4 is devoted to the calculation of several examples.