Czechoslovak Mathematical Journal, Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 765-784, 2021
Stability of certain Engel-like distributions
Aritra Bhowmick
Received March 2, 2020. Published online December 18, 2020.
Abstract: We introduce a higher dimensional analogue of the Engel structure, motivated by the Cartan prolongation of contact manifolds. We study the stability of such structure, generalizing the Gray-type stability results for Engel manifolds. We also derive local normal forms defining such a distribution.
Keywords: Engel structure; Cartan prolongation; global stability; nonholonomic distribution; normal form
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Affiliations: Aritra Bhowmick, Statistics and Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203, B.T. Road, Kolkata 700108, India, e-mail: avowmix@gmail.com
