Five-dimensional para-CR manifolds and contact projective geometry in dimension three

Abstract: We study invariant properties of $5$-dimensional para-CR structures whose Levi form is degenerate in precisely one direction and which are $2$-nondegenerate. We realize that two, out of three, primary (basic) para-CR invariants of such structures are the classical differential invariants known to Monge (1810) and to Wuenschmann (1905) [ M(G) := 40G_{ppp}^3-45G_{pp}G_{ppp}G_{pppp}+9G_{pp}^2G_{ppppp}, \quad W(H) := 9D^2H_r-27DH_p-18H_rDH_r+18H_pH_r+4H_r^3+54H_z. ] The vanishing $M(G) \equiv 0$ provides a local necessary and sufficient condition for the graph of a function in the $(p,G)$-plane to be contained in a conic, while the vanishing $W(H) \equiv 0$ gives an if-and-only-if condition for a 3rd order ODE to define a natural Lorentzian geometry on the space of its solutions. Mainly, we give a geometric interpretation of the third basic invariant of our class of para-CR structures, the simplest one, of lowest order, and of mixed nature $N(G,H):=2G_{ppp}+G_{pp}H_{rr}$. We establish that the vanishing $N(G,H) \equiv 0$ gives an if-and-only-if condition for the two $3$-dimensional quotients of the para-CR manifold by its two canonical integrable rank-$2$ distributions, to be equipped with contact projective geometries. A curious transformation between the Wuenschmann invariant and the Monge invariant, first noted by us in arXiv:2003.08166, is also discussed, and its mysteries are further revealed.