Generalized flow-box property for singular foliations (Q2331748)

The flow-box or straightening theorem, in the form relevant here, states that a vector field \(\partial\) on a manifold \(M\), transverse to an analytic subvariety \(X\), is locally given by \(\partial_x\), where \(x\) is a local coordinate vanishing on \(X\). If \(X\) is smooth of codimension one, the transversality is equivalent to saying that \(\varphi_p(t)\not\in X\) for small \(t\) and \(p\) in a compact set \(K\subset X\), where \(\varphi_p(0)=p\) and \(p\in K\setminus\mathrm{Sing}\partial\). However, this is not the same as \(X\setminus\mathrm{Sing}\partial\) being transverse, even for \(X\) smooth, as the authors show. Instead an extra condition is needed: \(\partial^2\mathcal{I}_X\subset \partial\mathcal{I}_X+\mathcal{I}_X\). The major task of the paper is to generalise all of this to foliations. The link between flow-box and transversality is just the Frobenius theorem, but to define the appropriate properties and establish the relations among them in the case of singular foliations is more difficult, and requires a detour into sub-Riemannian metrics. The study is motivated by a question of \textit{J. F. Mattei} [Invent. Math. 103, No. 2, 297--325 (1991; Zbl 0709.32025)], about regularising the action of a Lie group: the need for the extra condition shows that the Lie algebra version is false in general and that Mattei's question is thus global in nature.