Kähler-Einstein metrics and obstruction flatness of circle bundles

Abstract: Obstruction flatness of a strongly pseudoconvex hypersurface $\Sigma$ in a complex manifold refers to the property that any (local) K\"ahler-Einstein metric on the pseudoconvex side of $\Sigma$, complete up to $\Sigma$, has a potential $-\log u$ such that $u$ is $C<sup>\infty$-smooth up to $\Sigma$. In general, $u$ has only a finite degree of smoothness up to $\Sigma$. In this paper, we study obstruction flatness of hypersurfaces $\Sigma$ that arise as unit circle bundles $S(L)$ of negative Hermitian line bundles $(L, h)$ over K\"ahler manifolds $(M, g).$ We prove that if $(M,g)$ has constant Ricci eigenvalues, then $S(L)$ is obstruction flat. If, in addition, all these eigenvalues are strictly less than one and $(M,g)$ is complete, then we show that the corresponding disk bundle admits a complete K\"ahler-Einstein metric. Finally, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for obstruction flatness of $S(L)$ when $(M, g)$ is a K\"ahler surface $(\dim M=2$) with constant scalar curvature.