noun
Meaning 1
Given a smooth manifold of odd dimensionality, a distribution (subset) of the tangent bundle that satisfies the condition of complete nonintegrability, or equivalently may be locally defined as the kernel of a maximally nondegenerate differential 1-form;
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Qualifier: differential geometry
Examples
- The defining conditions for a contact geometry are opposite to two equivalent conditions for complete integrability of a hyperplane distribution: i.e. that it be tangent to a codimension 1 foliation on the manifold, whose equivalence is the content of the Frobenius theorem.
- The contact geometry is in many ways an odd-dimensional counterpart of the symplectic geometry, a structure on certain even-dimensional manifolds. The concepts of contact geometry and symplectic geometry are both motivated by the mathematical formalism of classical mechanics, where one can consider either the even-dimensional phase space of a mechanical system or the constant-energy hypersurface, which, being of codimension 1, has odd dimension.
- 2004, Ko Honda, 3-Dimensional Methods in Contact Geometry, Simon Donaldson, Yakov Eliashberg, Misha Gromov (editors), Different Faces of Geometry, Springer (Kluwer Academic), page 47, A contact manifold (M,ζ) is a (2n+1)-dimensional manifold M equipped with a smooth maximally nonintegrable hyperplane field ζ⊂TM, i.e., locally, ζ= ker α, where α is a 1-form which satisfies α∧(dα)n ne 0. Since dα is a nondegenerate 2-form when restricted to ζ, contact geometry is customarily viewed as the odd-dimensional sibling of symplectic geometry. Although contact geometry in dimensions > 5 is still in an incipient state, contact structures in dimension 3 are much better understood, largely due to the fact that symplectic geometry in two dimensions is just the study of area.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided