On the connections of sub-Finslerian geometry

Abstract

A sub-Finslerian manifold is, roughly speaking, a manifold endowed with a Finsler type metric which is defined on a [Formula: see text]-dimensional smooth distribution only, not on the whole tangent manifold. Our purpose is to construct a generalized nonlinear connection for a sub-Finslerian manifold, called [Formula: see text]-connection by the Legendre transformation which characterizes normal extremals of a sub-Finsler structure as geodesics of this connection. We also wish to investigate some of its properties like normal, adapted, partial and metrical.