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arXiv · 2603.18808

Fat distributions with Reeb directions need not be complex contact

Abstract

It is well known that every complex contact $3$-manifold, when regarded as a real manifold, gives rise to a fat $(4,6)$-distribution that admits two Reeb directions. Nonetheless, it was an open question whether the converse was true. This was not known even at the level of germs. The present work completely answers this question in the negative. We construct the first example of a fat distribution with two Reeb directions that does not support a complex contact structure anywhere, not even locally nor up to diffeomorphism. This result answers an open question by Aritra Bhowmick.

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Javier Martínez-Aguinaga. 2026-03-19. Fat distributions with Reeb directions need not be complex contact. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18808

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