Complex second-order differential equations and separability. (Q5941630)

\textit{E.~Martinez, J.~Carinena}, and \textit{W.~Sarlet} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 113, No.1, 205-224 (1993; Zbl 0803.34010)] provided the necessary and sufficient conditions for a system of \(n\) second order ordinary differential equations on a manifold \(M\) to decompose into \(n\) independent 1-dimensional second order differential equations. This decomposition (seperability) means that there is a coordinate change such that \(q^i=f^i(q,\dot q)\), \(i=1,...,n\) takes the form \(Q^j=F^j(Q^j,\dot Q^j)\), \(j=1,...,n\). The characterization presented by the authors involves a dynamical covariant derivative and a tensor field \(\Phi\) of type \((1,1)\) called the Jacobi endomorphism, along the tangent bundle projection \(\tau : TM\to M\) of a manifold \(M\). The condition on \(\Phi\) for the existence of separation variables is the diagonalizability of its matrix representation \([\Phi_ j^ i]\). In this paper, the authors extend the result of the mentioned paper and develop a constructive geometric characterization of systems of complex second order ordinary differential equations on the tangent bundle \(TM\) of \(M\) in terms of properties of integrable almost complex structures which can be constructed on integral submanifolds of distributions corresponding to pairs of complex conjugate eigenvalues of \(\Phi\).