Engel Manifolds and Contact 3-Orbifolds

In early study of Engel manifolds from R. Montgomery, the Cartan prolongation and the development map are central figures. However, the development map can be globally defined only if the characteristic foliation is "nice". In this paper, we introduce the Cartan prolongation of a contact 3-orbifold and the development map associated to a more general Engel manifold, and we give necessary and sufficient condition for the Cartan prolongation to be a manifold. Moreover, we explain the Cartan prolongation of a 3-dimensional contact \'etale Lie groupoid and the development map associated to any Engel manifold, and we proof that all Engel manifolds obtained as the Cartan prolongation of a "space" with contact structure are obtained from a contact 3-orbifold.