Regularisation of Lie algebroids and Applications

We describe a procedure, called regularisation, that allows us to study geometric structures on Lie algebroids via foliated geometric structures on a manifold of higher dimension. This procedure applies to various classes of Lie algebroids; namely, those whose singularities are of b^k, complex-log, or elliptic type, possibly with self-crossings. One of our main applications is a proof of the Weinstein conjecture for overtwisted b^k-contact structures. This was proven by Miranda-Oms using a certain technical hypothesis. Our approach avoids this assumption by reducing the proof to the foliated setting. As a by-product, we also prove the Weinstein conjecture for other Lie algebroids. Along the way we also introduce tangent distributions, i.e. subbundles of Lie algebroids, as interesting objects of study and present a number of constructions for them.