Singular curves determine generic distributions of corank at least 3 (Q814970): Difference between revisions

The paper under review deals with generic distribution germs on \({\mathbb R}^{n}\). In order to present the main result of the paper, one needs some notations. Let \(D\) be a distribution of rank \(k\) on \({\mathbb R}^{n}\). The annihilator of \(D\) is the subbundle \(D^{\perp}\) of the cotangent bundle \(T^{*} {\mathbb R}^{n}\) that consists of covectors vanishing on \(D\). Let \(\omega\) be the standard symplectic form on \(T^{*} {\mathbb R}^{n}\). A characteristic curve of \(D\) is an absolutely continuous curve \(\gamma : [0,1] \rightarrow D^{\perp}\) that never intersects the zero section, and for any \(t\) such that \(\frac{d \gamma}{dt} (t)\) exists, \(\frac{d \gamma}{dt} (t)\) lies in the kernel of \(\omega_{\gamma (t) | TD^{\perp}}\). Singular curves are projections on \({\mathbb R}^{n}\) of characteristic curves. Vectors tangents to characteristic and singular curves are called characteristic and singular vectors of \(D\), respectively. The set of all rank-\(k\) distribution germs at \(x \in {\mathbb R}^{n}\) is denoted by \(\mathcal D (k,n,x)\). If \(D \in \mathcal D (k,n,x)\), then the \(m\)-jet of \(D\) at \(x\) is denoted by \(j^{m} D\). The space of \(m\)-jets of all rank-\(k\) distribution germs at \(x \in {\mathbb R}^{n}\) is denoted by \(j^{m} {\mathcal D} (k,n,x)\). The main result of the paper is: Theorem. If \(2 \leq k \leq n-3\) and \(k\) is even, then there exists an open nonempty subset of \(j^{2} {\mathcal D} (k,n,x)\) such that if \(D \in \mathcal D (k,n,x)\) and \(j^{2} D\) belongs to this subset, then \(D\) is spanned by singular vectors. If \(k\) is not divisible by \(4\), then this subset is also dense.