Engel structures on complex surfaces

Abstract

We classify complex surfaces $(M,\,J)$ admitting Engel structures $\mathcal{D}$ which are complex line bundles. Namely we prove that this happens if and only if $(M,\,J)$ has trivial Chern classes. We construct examples of such Engel structures by adapting a construction due to Geiges. We also study associated Engel defining forms and define a unique splitting of $TM$ associated with $\mathcal{D}$ $J$-Engel.