Corrected energy of distributions for 3-Sasakian and normal complex contact manifolds (Q2504133)

In [\textit{P. M. Chacón, A. M. Naveira} and \textit{J. M. Weston}, Monatsh. Math. 133, No. 4, 281--294 (2001; Zbl 0998.53022)] the energy \({\mathcal{E}}({\mathcal{V}})\) of a \(q\)-dimensional distribution on a Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) is introduced. These authors study the first and second variation of the energy and as application showed that the Hopf fibration \(S^3\hookrightarrow S^{4n+3}\longrightarrow \mathbb{H}P^n\) is an unstable critical point. The corresponding result in the case of the energy of a vector field for the Hopf fibration \(S^1\hookrightarrow S^{2n+1}\longrightarrow \mathbb{C}P^n\) is due to \textit{C. M. Wood} in [Geom. Dedicata 64, No. 3, 319--330 (1997; Zbl 0878.58017)]. Wood showed that for \(n>1\), the critical point is unstable, while for \(n=1\) the result is due to \textit{F. G. B. Brito} in [Differ. Geom. Appl. 12, No. 2, 157--163 (2000; Zbl 0995.53023)], namely this Hopf fibration is a minima. Subsequently, \textit{P. M. Chacón} and \textit{A. M. Naveira} introduced in [Osaka J. Math. 41, No. 1, 97--105 (2004; Zbl 1055.53021)] a corrected energy \({\mathcal{D}}({\mathcal{V}})\) for a \(q\)-dimensional distribution on a Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) and proved an inequality for \({\mathcal{D}}({\mathcal{V}})\). As application they showed that the Hopf fibration \(S^3\hookrightarrow S^{4n+3}\longrightarrow \mathbb{H}P^n\) is a minimum of \({\mathcal{D}}({\mathcal{V}})\). In this paper the authors show that this application can be greatly generalized to the natural fibration on \(3\)-Sasakian manifolds and to normal complex contact metric manifolds. Two main theorems are proved. Theorem 1: The vertical distribution \({\mathcal{V}}\) on a compact \(3\)-Sasakian manifold is a minimum of the corrected energy \({\mathcal{D}}({\mathcal{V}})\). Theorem 2: If \(M\) is a compact normal complex contact metric manifold, then the vertical distribution is a minimum of the corrected energy.