The sphere and the cut locus at a tangency point in two-dimensional almost-Riemannian geometry

Abstract

We study the tangential case in 2-dimensional almost-Riemannian geometry. We analyse the connection with the Martinet case in sub-Riemannian geometry. We compute estimations of the exponential map which allow us to describe the conjugate locus and the cut locus at a tangency point. We prove that this last one generically accumulates at the tangency point as an asymmetric cusp whose branches are separated by the singular set.