On a characteristic class associated with deformations of foliations

Abstract

A characteristic class for deformations of foliations called the Fuks-Lodder-Kotschick class (FLK class for short) is studied. It seems unknown if there is a real foliation with non-trivial FLK class. In this article, we show some conditions to assure the triviality of the FLK class. On the other hand, we show that the FLK class is easily to be non-trivial for transversely holomorphic foliations. We present an example and give a construction which generalizes it.