On the geometry of conformal geodesics equations

Abstract

We answer to the question whether a system of the 3rd order ODEs describes geodesics of a conformal structure. We construct a functor from a category of conformal geometries to a category of Cartan geometries associated to the 3rd order ODEs systems. Explicit formulas which define the family of all equations on conformal geodesics are given in the last section of the article.