A comparison theorem for almost Lie foliations (Q808436)

The paper gives a new and more elegant proof of the following comparison theorem: Let \({\mathfrak F}\) be a transversely oriented Riemannian foliation of codimension \(q\geq 3\) on a closed oriented Riemannian manifold \((P,g_ p)\). Let G be a compact semi-simple Lie group of dimension q. There exists a constant \(A>0\) depending only on the Lie algebra \({\mathfrak g}\), of G and curvature \(\Omega\) bounds on P with the following property. If \(\omega\) : TP\(\to {\mathfrak g}\) is a basic Cartan connection form on P with Cartan curvature \(\Omega\), then \(\| \Omega \|_{l,\infty}<A\) implies that \({\mathfrak F}\) is a Lie foliation. The demonstration follows the ideas of \textit{E. A. Ruh} [Proc. Int. Congr. Math., Berkeley/Calif. 1986, Vol. 1, 561-564 (1987; Zbl 0674.22006)] but taking the heat flow on the elliptic operator introduced by the authors in another paper announced. As the authors say ``These changes bring several advantages. One is that the restriction of this operator to basic forms coincides with the Laplace operator introduced by Reinhart'', ``Another advantage is that the mean curvature form no longer plays any role''.