Legendre singularities of sub-Riemannian geodesics

Goo Ishikawa, Yumiko Kitagawa

Published 2022-12-15Version 1

Let $M$ be a surface with a Riemannian metric and $UM$ the unit tangent bundle over $M$ with the canonical contact sub-Riemannian structure $D$ on $UM$. In this paper, the complete local classification of singularities, under the Legendre fibration $UM$ over $M$, is given for sub-Riemannian geodesics of $(UM, D)$. Legendre singularities of sub-Riemannian geodesics are classified completely also for another Legendre fibration from $UM$ to the space of Riemannian geodesics on $M$. The duality on Legendre singularities is observed related to the pendulum motion.