A dynamical characterization of contact circles (Q2481349)

The paper is concerned with contact structures on 3-manifolds, and in particular with contact circles which were introduced in [\textit{H. Geiges} and \textit{J. Gonzalo}, Invent. Math. 121, No.~1, 147--209 (1995; Zbl 1002.53501)]. The two main results of the paper are the following theorems: Theorem 4. Given a contact form \(\omega_1\) on a closed manifold M and a vector field \(0 \neq X \in ker \omega_1\) with the flow \(\varphi_t,\) the following conditions are equivalent: (\(\ast\)) The form \(\omega_1\) extends to a contact circle \((\omega_1, \omega_2) \) whose common kernel is \(L={\mathbb R}X.\) (\(\ast \ast\)) (The twisting condition) For every point \(p \in M\) the planes \(({\varphi}^{\ast}_tker \omega_1)_p\) complete a half turn in some time interval \(0 \leq t \leq t_p\) which may depend on \(p\). Theorem 5. Let \(\omega_1\) be a contact form and \(L\) an oriented line field contained in \(ker \omega_1.\) If \((\omega_1, \omega_2) \) and \((\omega_1, \omega_2') \) are two contact circles with common kernel \(L,\) then so is \((\omega_1, c\omega_2 + c'\omega_2') \) for any two constants \(c, c' \geq 0\) not both zero. So Theorem 5 says that the space of extensions of \(\omega_1\) to contact circles with \(L\) as common kernel is a convex cone, hence contractible. These theorems are complemented with illustrative examples. The paper is divided into seven sections. In Section 1 the author introduces the basic notions, formulates the results and sets them in the context of the development of the contact topology of 3-manifolds. Section 2 is dedicated to the proof of Theorem 5. Sections 3 and 4 contain the demonstration of the equivalence formulated in Theorem 4. Section 5 presents some examples of non-reversible contact structures which are trivial as plane bundles. In Section 6 the author discusses a family of non-pivotal line fields. At the end of the paper the author formulates the following questions: \textit{If an overtwisted contact structure is trivial as a plane bundle, does it extend to a contact circle?}