Related papers: On the geometry of Goursat structures
This is the second of a pair of papers devoted to the local invariants of Goursat distributions. The study of these distributions naturally leads to a tower of spaces over an arbitrary surface, called the monster tower, and thence to…
This is the first of a pair of papers devoted to the local invariants of Goursat distributions. The study of these distributions naturally leads to a tower of spaces over an arbitrary surface, called the monster tower, and thence to…
We consider the Goursat's (n+1)-webs of codimension one of two kinds on an n-dimensional manifold. They are characterized by the specific closed form equations or by two special relations between components of the torsion tensor of the web.…
Our study of Goursat distributions originates new types of $k$-contact distributions and Lie systems with applications. In particular, families of generators for Goursat distributions on $\mathbb{R}^4, \mathbb{R}^5$ and $\mathbb{R}^6$ give…
We study unbendable rational curves, i.e., nonsingular rational curves in a complex manifold of dimension $n$ with normal bundles isomorphic to $\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^1}(1)^{\oplus p} \oplus \mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^1}^{\oplus (n-1-p)}$…
In the paper we discuss certain classes of vector distributions in the tangent bundles to manifolds, obtained by series of applications of the so-called generalized Cartan prolongations (gCp). The classical Cartan prolongations deal with…
We study the general properties of certain rank four rigid local systems considered by Goursat. We analyze when they are irreducible, give an explicit integral description as well as the invariant Hermitian form when it exists. By a…
In recent years, a close connection between supergravity, string effective actions and generalized geometry has been discovered that typically involves a doubling of geometric structures. We investigate this relation from the point of view…
We complete a uniform construction of canonical absolute parallelism for bracket generating rank $2$ distributions with $5$-dimensional cube on $n$-dimensional manifold with $n\geq 5$ by showing that the condition of maximality of class…
We consider how the problem of determining normal forms for a specific class of nonholonomic systems leads to various interesting and concrete bridges between two apparently unrelated themes. Various ideas that traditionally pertain to the…
We provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the derived type of a vector field distribution $\Cal V$ in order that it be locally equivalent to a partial prolongation of the contact distribution $\Cal C^{(1)}_q$, on the first order jet…
In the recent years, a number of issues concerning distributions generating 1- flags (called also Goursat flags) has been analyzed. Presently similar questions are discussed as regards distributions generating multi-flags. (In fact, only…
In the present paper we construct differential invariants for generic rank 2 vector distributions on n-dimensional manifold. In the case n=5 (the first case containing functional parameters) E. Cartan found in 1910 the covariant…
This article is concerned with causal structures, which are defined as a field of tangentially non-degenerate projective hypersurfaces in the projectivized tangent bundle of a manifold. The local equivalence problem of causal structures on…
Given a smooth totally nonholonomic distribution on a smooth manifold, we construct a singular distribution capturing essential abnormal lifts which is locally generated by vector fields with controlled divergence. Then, as an application,…
This work is a continuation of authors' research interrupted in the year 2010. Derived are recursive relations describing for the first time all infinitesimal symmetries of special 2-flags (sometimes also misleadingly called `Goursat…
We define flag structures on a real three manifold M as the choice of two complex lines on the complexified tangent space at each point of M. We suppose that the plane field defined by the complex lines is a contact plane and construct an…
The notion of curvature discussed in this paper is a far going generalization of the Riemannian sectional curvature. It was first introduced by Agrachev, Barilari and Rizzi in arXiv:1306.5318, and it is defined for a wide class of optimal…
A GL(2, R) structure on an (n+1)-dimensional manifold is a smooth pointwise identification of tangent vectors with polynomials in two variables homogeneous of degree n. This, for even n=2k, defines a conformal structure of signature (k,…
Germs of Goursat distributions can be classified according to a geometric coding called an RVT code. Jean (1996) and Mormul (2004) have shown that this coding carries precisely the same data as the small growth vector. Montgomery and…