On the Characteristic Foliations of Metric Contact Pairs

Abstract

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.

arXiv comment5 pages, to appear in Contemporary Mathematics