Gromov hyperbolicity, finite type, and subellipticity on $\mathbb{C}$-convex domains

Abstract

In this article, we study three properties of a bounded $\mathbb{C}$-convex domain $Ω\subset \mathbb{C}^n$, $n \geq 2$, with smooth boundary, namely Gromov hyperbolicity of its Kobayashi distance, finiteness of the D'Angelo type of $\partial Ω$, and the existence of a subelliptic estimate for the $\bar{\partial}$-Neumann problem on $(0,1)$-forms. We prove that these three properties are equivalent. The subelliptic estimates are obtained without Catlin's construction of plurisubharmonic weights. Our weights are explicit bounded transforms of the logarithm of the Bergman kernel. A single quantity controls all three properties, namely the radius of the largest disc through a point of $Ω$ in a given complex direction. Gromov hyperbolicity forces a power bound for these radii. Finite type gives the power $1/M$, where $M$ is the maximal type, and this power cannot be improved. A subelliptic estimate gives a power bound through the canonical solution operator applied to normalized Bergman kernels. The analytic estimates need no boundary regularity. On a bounded pseudoconvex domain, a bounded weight whose induced Hessian on $(0,q)$-forms is bounded below by a negative power of the boundary distance gives a Sobolev estimate for the extension by zero of $(0,q)$-forms, and also eigenvalue bounds for the $\bar{\partial}$-Neumann operator. On smooth $\mathbb{C}$-convex domains of finite type, we show that the directional expansion exponent, the normal expansion exponent, and the supremum of the subelliptic gains are all equal to $1/M$. Next, we prove that on a Lipschitz $\mathbb{C}$-convex domain whose Kobayashi distance is Gromov hyperbolic, the Euclidean boundary and the Gromov boundary are bi-Hölder equivalent. Finally, we give a Hardy-type criterion for Gromov hyperbolicity of collar metrics.