Conjectural trichotomy for bicontact structures supporting Anosov flows

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Let (xi+,xi−)(xi^+,xi^-) be a bicontact structure supporting an Anosov flow XX. The bicontact trichotomy conjecture. Exactly one of the following holds:

  1. xi+xi^+ is Anosov contact, it admits a Reeb Anosov flow R+R^+ contained in xi−xi^-, and XX is a positively skew Anosov flow isotopically equivalent to R+R^+;
  2. xi−xi^- is Anosov contact, it admits a Reeb Anosov flow R−R^- contained in xi+xi^+, and XX is a negatively skew Anosov flow isotopically equivalent to R−R^-;
  3. neither xi+xi^+ nor xi−xi^- is Anosov contact, and either XX is a suspension Anosov flow or XX is not RR-covered.

This conjecture refines the relationship between Anosov contact structures and skew Anosov flows by specifying where an isotopically equivalent Reeb Anosov flow should occur. Proving it would require removing the bitransversality hypothesis from the cited theorem on bitransverse bicontact structures.

References

Primary source

Thomas Barthelmé, “A Smörgåsbord of (bi)contact structures, Reeb flows and pseudo-Anosov flows”, arXiv:2502.07716 (2025).

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