Variation of total Q-prime curvature on CR manifolds

Abstract

We derive variational formulas for the total Q-prime curvature under the deformation of strictly pseudoconvex domains in a complex manifold. We also show that the total Q-prime curvature agrees with the renormalized volume of such domains with respect to the complete Einstein-K\"ahler metric. In the appendix, by Rod Gover and the first author, we study the property of CR invariant differential operator of order 2(n+3) on 2n+1 dimensional CR manifolds that appears in the second variational formula of the total Q-prime curvature.