H-type foliations (Q2099442)

An \(H\)-type (or ``horizontal-type'') foliation is a Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) endowed with a constant rank distribution \(H\) whose sections satisfy the bracket-generating condition, and its orthogonal complement \(H^{\perp}\) is an integrable subbundle of \(TM\). Such structures encompass sub-Riemannian manifolds, contact structures and twistor spaces. The purpose of this article is to introduce such structures to and set up the basic results for the development of geometric analysis. In particular, the authors use a horizontal lower bound for the Ricci flow to estimate the first eigenvalue of the sub-Laplacian. Then they use a result by \textit{A. Moroianu} and \textit{U. Semmelmann} [Adv. Math. 228, No. 2, 940--967 (2011; Zbl 1231.53042)] to classify structures as such, which carry a parallel horizontal Clifford structure. They also give certain computations in codimension greater than 2.