Tanaka structures (non holonomic G-structures) and Cartan connections

Let \gh = \gh_{-k}\oplus \cdots \oplus \gh_{l} (k >0, l \geq 0) be a finite dimensional real graded Lie algebra, with a Euclidian metric \langle \cdot , \cdot \rangle adapted to the gradation. The metric \langle\cdot , \cdot \rangle is called admissible if the codifferentials \partial^{*} : C^{k+1}(\gh_{-}, \gh ) \ra C^{k} (\gh_{-}, \gh) (k\geq 0) are Ad_{Q}-invariant (Lie(Q) = \gh_{0}\oplus \gh_{+}). We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a Euclidian metric, adapted to the gradation, to be admissible, and we develop a theory of normal Cartan connections, when these conditions are satisfied. We show how the treatment by A. Cap and J. Slovak (Parabolic Geometry I, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, vol. 154, 2009), about normal Cartan connections of semisimple type, fits into our theory. We also consider in some detail the case when \gh = t^{*} (\gg ) is the cotangent Lie algebra of a non-positively graded Lie algebra \gg.