Relative local equivalence of Engel structures (Q1944794)

Let \(M\) be a \(4\)-dimensional manifold, and \(D\) its distribution of rank \(2\). A subbundle \(D\) of the tangent bundle \(T M\) can be viewed as a locally free sheaf of vector fields on \(M\). Let \([D, D]\) denote a sheaf of vector fields generated by all Lie brackets \([X, Y]\) of vector fields \(X\), \(Y\) which are cross-sections of \(D\). An Engel structure on \(M\) is a distribution \(D\subset T M\) of rank \(2\) satisfying \(\text{rank}\,D^2_p=3\) and \(\text{rank}\,D^3_p=4\), where \(D^2=D+[D,D]\) and \(D^2=D^2+[D^2,D^2]\) at any point \(p\in M\). A maximally non-integrable hyperplane field on an odd-dimensional manifold \(M\) is a contact structure on \(M\). According to the Darboux theorem, any two contact structures on manifolds with the same dimension are locally diffeomorphic. A maximally non-integrable hyperplane field on an even-dimensional manifold is called an even-contact structure. If \(D\) is an even-contact structure on a \((2\,n+2)\)-dimensional manifold \(M\), then \(\text{Char}(D)=\{X\in D;\;[X,D]\subset D\}\) is called the characteristic line field of \(D\). The geometric restriction of a contact structure \(C=\{\alpha=0\}\) on \(M\) to a submanifold \(N\subset M\) is a pull back of the defining contact form \(\alpha\) by the inclusion mapping \(i: N\hookrightarrow M\) up to multiplication by a non-vanishing function. A germ of a contact structure is determined by conditions only on the submanifold. The algebraic restriction of a contact structure \(C=\{\alpha=0\}\) on \(M\) to a submanifold \(N\subset M\), up to multiplication by a non-vanishing function, is an equivalence class \([\alpha]_N\) in \(\Omega^*(M)/{\mathcal I}_{\text{diff}}(M,N)\), where \(\Omega^*(M)\) is the graded algebra consisting of differential forms on \(M\), and \({\mathcal I}_{\text{diff}}(M,N)\) is the differential ideal generated by functions on \(M\) vanishing on \(N\). The projected algebraic restriction of an even-contact structure \(D\) to a given subset is the algebraic restriction of the induced contact structure to the subset in the submanifold of codimension one obtained by the projection of the given subset along the characteristic line field of \(D\). In this paper, the author proves that if \(N\) is an arbitrary subset in a \(4\)-dimensional manifold \(M\), then any two Engel structures on \(M\) which have the same algebraic restriction to \(N\) and the same projected algebraic restriction to \(N\) of the derived even-contact structures are diffeomorphic to each other by a diffeomorphism preserving \(N\) identically. Also, the author generalizes the relative Darboux theorem by proving that if \(N\) is a subset in an even-dimensional manifold \(M\), then any two even-contact structures on \(M\) which have the same projected algebraic restriction to \(N\) are diffeomorphic to each other by a diffeomorphism which is identity on \(N\).