Characterizing domains by the limit set of their automorphism group

Abstract

In this paper we study the automorphism group of smoothly bounded convex domains. We show that such a domain is biholomorphic to a “polynomial ellipsoid” (that is, a domain defined by a weighted homogeneous balanced polynomial) if and only if the limit set of the automorphism group intersects at least two closed complex faces of the set. The proof relies on a detailed study of the geometry of the Kobayashi metric and ideas from the theory of non-positively curved metric spaces. We also obtain a number of other results including the Greene–Krantz conjecture in the case of uniform non-tangential convergence, new results about continuous extensions (of biholomorphisms and complex geodesics), and a new Wolff–Denjoy theorem.