Global smooth fibrations of R3 by oriented lines

A smooth fibration of ³ by oriented lines is given by a smoothunit vector field V on ³ all of whose integral curves are straightlines. Such a fibration is said to be nondegenerate if dV vanishesonly in the direction of V. Let be the space of oriented linesof ³ endowed with its canonical pseudo-Riemannian neutral metric.We characterize the nondegenerate smooth fibrations of ³ byoriented lines as the closed (in the relative topology) definiteconnected surfaces in . In particular, local conditions on imply the existence of a global fibration. Besides, for anysuch fibration the base space is diffeomorphic to the open discand the directions of the fibers form an open convex set ofthe two-sphere. We characterize as well, in a similar way, thesmooth (possibly degenerate) fibrations.