General Nilpotent and Solvable Approximations of Almost-Riemannian Structures

Abstract

It is first shown that the nilpotent or the solvable approximation of an almost-Riemannian structure at a singular point is always a linear almost-Riemannian structure on a Lie group or a homogeneous space. The generic properties of almost-Riemannian structures are then investigated in all dimensions and the generic nilpotent and solvable approximations are identified.