Singular Riemannian foliations with sections (Q1766832)

Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian manifold and \(F\) a foliation of \(n\). \(F\) is called singular Riemannian foliation (s.r.f.) if: 1) \(F\) is singular: for each leaf \(L\) of \(F\) and for all \(p\in L\), one can find vector fields \(v_i\in X_F\) such that \(\{v_i(p)\}\) is a basis of \(T_pL\); 2) The partition of \(M\) defined by the leaves is transversal: every geodesic that is perpendicular at one point to a leaf remains perpendicular to every leaf it meets. A point \(p\in M\) is called regular if the dimension of the leaf \(L_p\) is maximal. A section \(\xi\) of the normal bundle \(\nu(L)\) is parallel along \(l\) if \(\nabla^\nu\xi\equiv 0\) where \(\nabla^\nu\) is the normal connection. The goal of this article is to present and study the concept of singular Riemannian foliations with sections (s.r.f.s.). The results relate these classes of foliations to the notion of isoparametric and equifocal submanifolds. The s.r.f. \(F\) on \(M\) is said to be a s.r.f.s. if for every singular point \(p\in M\) the set \(\sigma:=\exp_p(\nu L_p)\) is an immersed complete submanifold that meets each leaf orthogonally and if the regular points of \(\sigma\) are dense in it. The set \(\sigma\) is called a section. The author proves: Theorem 1: ``The regular leaves of a s.r.f.s. on a complete Riemannian manifold \(M\) are locally equifocal. In the case all leaves are compact, the union of regular equifocal leaves is an open and dense subset of \(M\)''. A connected immersed submanifold \(L\) of \(M\) is called equifocal if \(\nu(L)\) is globally flat, for each parallel normal field \(\xi\) along \(L\) the derivative of the map \(\eta_\xi(x):=\exp_x(\xi)\), \(x\in L\), has constant rank and \(L\) has sections. \(L\) is locally equifocal if for all \(p\in L\) there exists a neighborhood \(U\subset L\) of \(p\) in \(L\) where \(U\) is an equifocal submanifold. Theorem 2: ``Let \(F\) be an s.r.f.s. on a complete Riemannian manifold \(M\) and let \(\Sigma_q\) be slice at a point \(q\in M\). Then \(F\) restricted to \(\Sigma_q\) is diffeomorphic to an isoparametric foliation on an open set of \(\mathbb{R}^n\), where \(n\) is dimension of \(\Sigma_q\)''. The results provide local information about singular foliations and about singular stratification of foliations.