We introduce a new geometric structure on differentiable manifolds. A \textit{Contact} \textit{Pair}on a manifold $M$ is a pair $(α,η) $ of Pfaffian forms of constant classes $2k+1$ and $2h+1$ respectively such that $α\wedge dα^{k}\wedgeη\wedge dη^{h}$ is a volume form. Both forms have a characteristic foliation whose leaves are contact manifolds. These foliations are transverse and complementary. Further differential objects are associated to Contact Pairs: two commuting Reeb vector fields, Legendrian curves on $M$ and two Lie brackets on $\mathcal{C}^{\infty}(M) $. We give a local model and several existence theorems on nilpotent Lie groups, nilmanifolds, bundles over the circle and principal torus bundles.
Let $Σ$ be a compact immersed stable capillary hypersurface in a wedge bounded by two hyperplanes in $\mathbb R^{n+1}$. Suppose that $Σ$ meets those two hyperplanes in constant contact angles and is disjoint from the edge of the wedge. It is proved that if $\partial Σ$ is embedded for $n=2$, or if $\partialΣ$ is convex for $n\geq3$, then $Σ$ is part of the sphere. And the same is true for $Σ$ in the half-space of $\mathbb R^{n+1}$ with connected boundary $\partialΣ$.
We consider embedded ring-type surfaces (that is, compact, connected, orientable surfaces with two boundary components and Euler-Poincaré characteristic zero) in ${\bold R}^3$ of constant mean curvature which meet planes $Π_1$ and $Π_2$ in constant contact angles $γ_1$ and $γ_2$ and bound, together with those planes, an open set in ${\bold R}^3$. If the planes are parallel, then it is known that any contact angles may be realized by infinitely many such surfaces given explicitly in terms of elliptic integrals. If $Π_1$ meets $Π_2$ in an angle $α$ and if $γ_1+γ_2>π+α$, then portions of spheres …
Given a pair of (real or complex) Lie algebroid structures on a vector bundle $A$ (over $M$) and its dual $A^*$, and a line bundle $\module$ such that $\module\otimes\module=(\wedge^{\TOP} A^*\otimes\wedge^{\TOP} T^*M)$, there exist two canonically defined differential operators $\bdees$ and $\bdel$ on $\sections{\wedge A\otimes\module}$. We prove that the pair $(A,A^*)$ constitutes a Lie bialgebroid if, and only if, the square of $\bdirac =\bdees+\bdel$ is the multiplication by a function on $M$. As a consequence, we obtain that the pair $(A,A^*)$ is a Lie bialgebroid if, and only if, $\bdira…
We prove that on a compact Sasakian manifold $(M, η, g)$ of dimension $2n+1$, for any $0 \le p \le n$ the wedge product with $η\wedge (dη)^p$ defines an isomorphism between the spaces of harmonic forms $Ω^{n-p}_Δ(M)$ and $Ω^{n+p+1}_Δ(M)$. Therefore it induces an isomorphism between the de Rham cohomology spaces $H^{n-p}(M)$ and $H^{n+p+1}(M)$. Such isomorphism is proven to be independent of the choice of a compatible Sasakian metric on a given contact manifold. As a consequence, an obstruction for a contact manifold to admit Sasakian structures is found.
We show that $ϕ$-invariant submanifolds of metric contact pairs with orthogonal characteristic foliations make constant angles with the Reeb vector fields. Our main result is that for the normal case such submanifolds of dimension at least $2$ are all minimal. We prove that an odd-dimensional $ϕ$-invariant submanifold of a metric contact pair with orthogonal characteristic foliations inherits a contact form with an almost contact metric structure, and this induced structure is contact metric if and only if the submanifold is tangent to one Reeb vector field and orthogonal to the other one. Fur…
In this study, we investigate generalized quasi-Einstein structure for normal metric contact pair manifolds. Firstly, we deal with elementary properties and examine, existence, and characterizations of generalized quasi-Einstein normal metric contact pair manifold. Secondly, the generalized quasi-constant curvature of normal metric contact pair manifolds are studied and it is proven that a normal metric contact pair manifold with generalized quasi-constant curvature is a generalized quasi-Einstein manifold. Normal metric contact pair manifolds satisfying cyclic Ricci tensor and the Codazzi typ…
In this paper the geometry of normal metric contact pair manifolds is studied under the flatness of conformal, concircular and quasi-conformal curvature tensors. It is proved that a conformal flat normal metric contact pair manifold is an Einstein manifold with a negative scalar curvature and has positive sectional curvature. It is also shown that a concircular flat normal metric contact pair manifold an Einstein manifold. Finally it is obtained that a quasi-conformal flat normal metric contact pair manifold is an Einstein manifold with a positive scalar curvature and, is a space of constant c…
We introduce the notion of contact pair structure and the corresponding associated metrics, in the same spirit of the geometry of almost contact structures. We prove that, with respect to these metrics, the integral curves of the Reeb vector fields are geodesics and that the leaves of the Reeb action are totally geodesic. Mreover, we show that, in the case of a metric contact pair with decomposable endomorphism, the characteristic foliations are orthogonal and their leaves carry induced contact metric structures.
There are introduced and studied a pair of associated Schouten-van Kampen affine connections adapted to the contact distribution and an almost contact B-metric structure generated by the pair of associated B-metrics and their Levi-Civita connections. By means of the constructed non-symmetric connections, the basic classes of almost contact B-metric manifolds are characterized. Curvature properties of the considered connections are obtained.
We prove that the universal covering of a complete locally symmetric normal metric contact pair manifold is a Calabi-Eckmann manifold. Moreover we show that a complete, simply connected, normal metric contact pair manifold such that the foliation induced by the vertical subbundle is regular and reflections in the integral submanifolds of the vertical subbundle are isometries, then the manifold is the product of globally $ϕ$-symmetric spaces and fibers over a locally symmetric space endowed with a symplectic pair.
We consider manifolds endowed with metric contact pairs for which the two characteristic foliations are orthogonal. We give some properties of the curvature tensor and in particular a formula for the Ricci curvature in the direction of the sum of the two Reeb vector fields. This shows that metrics associated to normal contact pairs cannot be flat. Therefore flat non-Kähler Vaisman manifolds do not exist. Furthermore we give a local classification of metric contact pair manifolds whose curvature vanishes on the vertical subbundle. As a corollary we have that flat associated metrics can only exi…
We prove that the normal metric contact pairs with orthogonal characteristic foliations, which are either Bochner flat or locally conformally flat, are locally isometric to the Hopf manifolds. As a corollary we obtain the classification of locally conformally flat and Bochner-flat non-Kähler Vaisman manifolds.
A contact pair on a manifold always admits an associated metric for which the two characteristic contact foliations are orthogonal. We show that all these metrics have the same volume element. We also prove that the leaves of the characteristic foliations are minimal with respect to these metrics. We give an example where these leaves are not totally geodesic submanifolds.
The systolic ratio of a contact form $α$ on the three-sphere is the quantity \[ ρ_{\mathrm{sys}}(α) = \frac{T_{\min}(α)^2}{\mathrm{vol}(S^3,α\wedge dα)}, \] where $T_{\min}(α)$ is the minimal period of closed Reeb orbits on $(S^3,α)$. A Zoll contact form is a contact form such that all the orbits of the corresponding Reeb flow are closed and have the same period. Our first main result is that $ρ_{\mathrm{sys}}\leq 1$ in a neighbourhood of the space of Zoll contact forms on $S^3$, with equality holding precisely at Zoll contact forms. This implies a particular case of a conjecture of Viterbo, a…
We introduce generalized almost contact structures which admit the $B$-field transformations on odd dimensional manifolds. We provide definition of generalized Sasakain structures from the view point of the generalized almost contact structures. We obtain a generalized Sasakian structure on a non-compact manifold which does not arise as a pair of ordinary Sasakian structures. However we show that a generalized Sasakian structure on compact 3-dimensional manifold is equivalent to a pair of Sasakian structures with the same metric. Finally we extend a definition of a generalized almost contact s…
We study invariant submanifolds of manifolds endowed with a normal or complex metric contact pair with decomposable endomorphism field $ϕ$. For the normal case, we prove that a $ϕ$-invariant submanifold tangent to a Reeb vector field and orthogonal to the other one is minimal. For a $ϕ$-invariant submanifold $N$ everywhere transverse to both the Reeb vector fields but not orthogonal to them, we prove that it is minimal if and only if the angle between the tangential component $ξ$ (with respect to $N$) of a Reeb vector field and the Reeb vector field itself is constant along the integral curves…
We consider manifolds endowed with a contact pair structure. To such a structure are naturally associated two almost complex structures. If they are both integrable, we call the structure a normal contact pair. We generalize the Morimoto's Theorem on product of almost contact manifolds to flat bundles. We construct some examples on Boothby--Wang fibrations over contact-symplectic manifolds. In particular, these results give new methods to construct complex manifolds.
Generalizing the canonical symplectization of contact manifolds, we construct an infinite dimensional non-linear Stiefel manifold of weighted embeddings into a contact manifold. This space carries a symplectic structure such that the contact group and the group of reparametrizations act in a Hamiltonian fashion with equivariant moment maps, respectively, giving rise to a dual pair, called the EPContact dual pair. Via symplectic reduction, this dual pair provides a conceptual identification of non-linear Grassmannians of weighted submanifolds with certain coadjoint orbits of the contact group. …
A differential 1-form $α$ on a manifold of odd dimension $2n+1$, which satisfies the contact condition $α\wedge (dα)^n \neq 0$ almost everywhere, but which vanishes at a point $O$, i.e. $α(O) = 0$, is called a \textit{singular contact form} at $O$. The aim of this paper is to study local normal forms (formal, analytic and smooth) of such singular contact forms. Our study leads naturally to the study of normal forms of singular primitive 1-forms of a symplectic form $ω$ in dimension $2n$, i.e. differential 1-forms $γ$ which vanish at a point and such that $dγ= ω$, and their corresponding confor…
In this paper, we prove a theorem that gives a simple criterion for generating commuting pairs of generalized almost complex structures on spaces that are the product of two generalized almost contact metric spaces. We examine the implications of this theorem with regard to the definition of generalized Sasakian and generalized coKähler geometry.
We discuss a correspondence between certain contact pairs on the one hand, and certain locally conformally symplectic forms on the other. In particular, we characterize these structures through suspensions of contactomorphisms. If the contact pair is endowed with a normal metric, then the corresponding lcs form is locally conformally Kaehler, and, in fact, Vaisman. This leads to classification results for normal metric contact pairs. In complex dimension two we obtain a new proof of Belgun's classification of Vaisman manifolds under the additional assumption that the Kodaira dimension is non-n…
We study the geometry of manifolds carrying symplectic pairs consisting of two closed 2-forms of constant ranks, whose kernel foliations are complementary. Using a variation of the construction of Boothby and Wang we build contact-symplectic and contact pairs from symplectic pairs.
