Levi equation and local maximum property

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to study the level sets of the solutions of Dirichlet problems for the Levi operator on strongly pseudoconvex domains $\Omega$ in $\mathbb C^2$. Such solutions are generically non smooth, and the geometric properties of their level sets are characterized by means of hulls of their intersections with $b\Omega$, using as main tool the local maximum property introduced by Slodkowski (PJM, 1988). The same techniques are then employed to study the behavior of the complete Levi operator for graphs in $\mathbb C^2$.