We investigate the question of existence of plurisubharmonic defining functions for smoothly bounded, pseudoconvex domains in C2. In particular, we construct a family of simple counterexamples to the existence of plurisubharmonic smooth local defining functions. Moreover, we give general criteria equivalent to the existence of plurisubharmonic smooth defining functions on or near the boundary of the domain. These equivalent characterizations are then explored for some classes of domains.
Gallagher et al. (Thu,) studied this question.