Fields of 2-planes and two kinds of almost complex structures on compact 4-dimensional manifolds.
Let N be a closed orientable n-manifold, n ≥ 3, and K a compact non-empty subset. We prove that the existence of a transversally orientable codimension one foliation on N∖K with leaves homeomorphic to , in the relative topology, implies that K must be connected. If in addition one imposes some restrictions on the homology of K, then N must be a homotopy sphere. Next we consider C² actions of a Lie group diffeomorphic to on N and obtain our main result: if K, the set of singular points of the...