Modifications of the Levi core

Abstract

We construct a family of subdistributions of the Levi core $\mathfrak{C}(\mathcal{N})$ called modified Levi cores $\{\mathcal{M}\mathfrak{C}_{\mathcal{A}}\}_{\mathcal{A}}$ indexed over closed distributions $\mathcal{A}$ that contain the Levi null distribution $\mathcal{N}$ and are contained in the complex tangent bundle $T^{1, 0}b\Omega$ of a smooth bounded pseudoconvex domain $\Omega$. We show that Catlin's Property ($P$) holds on $b\Omega$ if and only if Property ($P$) holds on the support of one, and hence all, of the modified Levi cores. In $\mathbb{C}^2$, all of the modified Levi cores coincide. For a smooth bounded pseudoconvex complete Hartogs domain in $\mathbb{C}^2$ that satisfies Property ($P$), we show that its modified Levi core is trivial. This contrasts with $\mathfrak{C}(\mathcal{N})$, which can be nontrivial for such domains.