Bi-contact structures with symmetry: local normal forms

Abstract

A pair of transverse contact distributions on a 3-manifold will in general admit no 1-parameter families of symmetries: a flow preserving both contact distributions. Here, we will determine local normal forms for such pairs admitting symmetries. In particular, we observe that orientable Anosov flows may be globally given by the intersection of a pair of oppositely oriented contact distributions admitting, around any point, maximal local symmetries.