An invariant of nonpositively curved contact manifolds

We define an invariant of contact structures and foliations (on Riemannian manifolds of nonpositive sectional curvature) which is upper semi-continuous with respect to deformations and thus gives an obstruction to the topology of foliations which can be approximated by isotopies of a given contact structure.     

On the Curvature of Metric Contact Pairs

We consider manifolds endowed with metric contact pairs for which the two characteristic foliations are orthogonal. We give some properties of the curvature tensor and in particular a formula for the Ricci curvature in the direction of the sum of the two Reeb vector fields. This shows that metrics associated to normal contact pairs cannot be flat. Therefore flat non-Kähler Vaisman manifolds do not exist. Furthermore we give a local classification of metric contact pair manifolds whose curvature vanishes on the vertical subbundle. As a corollary we have that flat associated metrics can only exist if the leaves of the characteristic foliations are at most three-dimensional.     

On existence of regular jacobi structures

We prove \(h\) -principle for locally conformal symplectic foliations and contact foliations on open manifolds. We then interpret the results in terms of regular Jacobi structures on manifolds.     

Invariants of contact structures and transversally oriented foliations

We exhibit new invariants of the contact structure E(), the contact flow F and the transverse symplectic geometry of a contact manifold (M, ). The invariant of contact structures generalizes to transversally oriented foliations. We focus on the particular cases of orientations of smooth manifolds and transverse orientations of foliations. We define the transverse Calabi invariants and determine their kernels.Supported in part by NSF grants DMS 90-01861 and DMS 94-03196.     

VECTOR FIELDS FOR CONTACT PAIRS

Let M be a(2 k + 2 l + 2)-dimensional smooth manifold. For such M, Bande and Hadjar introduce a new geometric structure called contact pair which roughly is a couple of 1-forms of constant classes with complementary kernels and foliations. We show the relationship between a pair of vector fields for a contact pair and a quadruple of functions on M. This is a generalization of the classical result for contact manifolds.     

Isometry Groups and Geodesic Foliations of Lorentz Manifolds. Part I: Foundations of Lorentz Dynamics

This is the first part of a series on non-compact groups acting isometrically on compact Lorentz manifolds. This subject was recently investigated by many authors. In the present part we investigate the dynamics of affine, and especially Lorentz transformations. In particular we show how this is related to geodesic foliations. The existence of geodesic foliations was (very succinctly) mentioned for the first time by D'Ambra and Gromov, who suggested that this may help in the classification of compact Lorentz manifolds with non-compact isometry groups. In the Part II of the series, a partial classification of compact Lorentz manifolds with non-compact isometry group will be achieved with the aid of geometrical tools along with the dynamical ones presented here. Submitted: October 1997, revised: November 1998.     

Some classes of almost contact metric manifolds and contact Riemannian submersions

Locally conformal almost quasi-Sasakian manifolds are related to the Chinea--Gonzales classification of almost contact metric manifolds. It follows that these manifolds set up a wide class of almost contact metric manifolds containing several interesting subclasses. Contact Riemannian submersions whose total space belongs to each of the considered classes are then investigated. The explicit expression of the integrability tensor and of the mean curvature vector field of each fibre are given. This allows us to state the integrability of the horizontal distribution and/or the minimality of the fibres in particular cases. The classes of the base space and of the fibres are also determined, so extending several well-known results.     

A classification of almost contact metric manifolds

Summary It is obtained a complete classification for almost contact metric manifolds through the study of the covariant derivative of the fundamental 2- form on those manifolds.This work was supported by the « Consejería de Educación del Gobierno de Canarias ».     

Brieskorn manifolds as contact branched covers of spheres

We show that Brieskorn manifolds with their standard contact structures are contact branched coverings of spheres. This covering maps a contact open book decomposition of the Brieskorn manifold onto a Milnor open book of the sphere.      

Approximate the dynamical behavior for stochastic systems by Wong–Zakai approaching

Random invariant manifolds and foliations play an important role in the study of the qualitative dynamical behaviors for nonlinear stochastic partial differential equations. In a general way, these random objects are difficult to be visualized geometrically or computed numerically. The current work provides a perturbation approach to approximate these random invariant manifolds and foliations. After briefly discussing the existence of random invariant manifolds and foliations for a class of stochastic systems driven by additive noises, the corresponding Wong–Zakai type of convergence result in path-wise sense is established.     

The stretch of a foliation and geometric superrigidity

We consider compact smooth foliated manifolds with leaves isometrically covered by a fixed symmetric space of noncompact type. Such objects can be considered as compact models for the geometry of the symmetric space. Based on this we formulate and solve a geometric superrigidity problem for foliations that seeks the existence of suitable isometric totally geodesic immersions. To achieve this we consider the heat flow equation along the leaves of a foliation, a Bochner formula on foliations and a geometric invariant for foliations with leafwise Riemannian metrics called the stretch. We obtain as applications a metric rigidity theorem for foliations and a rigidity type result for Riemannian manifolds whose geometry is only partially symmetric.

     

Approximately holomorphic geometry and estimated transversality on 2-calibrated manifolds

The notion of 2-calibrated structure, generalizing contact structures, smooth taut foliations, etc., is defined. Approximately holomorphic geometry as introduced by S. Donaldson for symplectic manifolds is extended to 2-calibrated manifolds. An estimated transversality result that enables to study the geometry of such manifolds is presented. To cite this article: A. Ibort, D. Martínez Torres, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).     

Symplectic fillability of toric contact manifolds

According to Lerman, compact connected toric contact 3-manifolds with a non-free toric action whose moment cone spans an angle greater than \(\pi \) are overtwisted, thus non-fillable. In contrast, we show that all compact connected toric contact manifolds in dimension greater than three are weakly symplectically fillable and many of them are strongly symplectically fillable. The proof is based on Lerman’s classification of toric contact manifolds and on our observation that the only contact manifolds in higher dimensions that admit free toric action are the cosphere bundle of \(T^d, d\ge 3\,(T^d\times S^{d-1})\) and \(T^2\times L_k,\,k\in \mathbb {N}\), with the unique contact structure.     

Metric foliations and curvature

We prove a rigidity theorem for Riemannian fibrations of flat spaces over compact bases and give a metric classification of compact four-dimensional manifolds of nonnegative curvature that admit totally geodesic Riemannian foliations.     

Open book decompositions for contact structures on Brieskorn manifolds

In this paper, we give an open book decomposition for the contact structures on some Brieskorn manifolds, in particular for the contact structures of Ustilovsky. The decomposition uses right-handed Dehn twists as conjectured by Giroux.

     

On the curvature of contact metric manifolds

Some results on Ricci-symmetric contact metric manifolds are obtained. Second order parallel tensors and vector fields keeping curvature tensor invariant are characterized on a class of contact manifolds. Conformally flat contact manifolds are studied assuming certain curvature conditions. Finally some results onk-nullity distribution of contact manifolds are obtained.     

Rigidity of Riemannian foliations with complex leaves on kähler manifolds

We study Riemannian foliations with complex leaves on Kähler manifolds. The tensor T, the obstruction to the foliation be totally geodesic, is interpreted as a holomorphic section of a certain vector bundle. This enables us to give classification results when the manifold is compact.     

Hermitian metric rigidity on compact foliated manifolds

We prove a Hermitian metric rigidity theorem for leafwise symmetric Kaehler metrics on compact manifolds with smooth foliations. This provides applications to the study of the geometry of foliations as well as Kaehler manifolds that contain some symmetric geometry.     

On transverse Killing fields of metric foliations¶of manifolds with positive curvature

In this paper, we extend a result by H. Takagi on the non-existence of mutually commuting and linearly independent Killing vector fields on positively curved Riemannian manifolds. Further, a kind of “Compact Leaf Theorem” is proved for metric foliations of closed manifolds with positive sectional curvature. Received: 26 May 2000 / Revised version: 28 February 2001