Sub-Riemannian curvature in contact geometry (Q522479)

Contact structures form a sub-class of sub-Riemannian structures. In the paper the relations between curvatures of these structures are studied. For a Riemannian contact manifold, \textit{S. Tanno} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 314, No. 1, 349--379 (1989; Zbl 0677.53043)] defined a linear connection (generalized Tanaka connection), giving rise to curvature tensors of a Riemannian contact manifold. On the other hand, on a Riemannian manifold one can define the Riemannian curvature tensor through the equation for Jacobi fields along a geodesic \(\gamma(t)\), and this construction generalized to sub-Riemannian manifolds gives a canonical curvature operator \(R_{\gamma(t)}: T_{\gamma(t)}M \to T_{\gamma(t)}M\), see [the first author and \textit{R. V. Gamkrelidze}, J. Dyn. Control Syst. 3, No. 3, 343--389 (1997; Zbl 0952.49019); \textit{C. Li} and \textit{I. Zelenko}, J. Geom. Phys. 61, No. 4, 781--807 (2011; Zbl 1216.53039)]. The authors find relations between the canonical curvature operators and the asymptotic expansion of the horizontal derivatives of the sub-Riemannian distance and apply this result to prove a generalization of the Bonnet-Myers theorem for complete contact structures.