Skew loops and quadric surfaces (Q1864138): Difference between revisions
From MaRDI portal
Set profile property. |
Changed an Item |
||
Property / arXiv ID | |||
Property / arXiv ID: math/0205222 / rank | |||
Normal rank |
Latest revision as of 23:32, 18 April 2024
scientific article
Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
---|---|---|---|
English | Skew loops and quadric surfaces |
scientific article |
Statements
Skew loops and quadric surfaces (English)
0 references
17 March 2003
0 references
A skew loop is a closed space curve without parallel tangent lines. The authors prove: The only complete \(C^2\) surfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) with a point of positive Gauss curvature which contain no \(C^2\) skew loops are the quadrics (Theorem 1.1), in particular: ellipsoids are the only closed \(C^2\) surfaces immersed in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) which admit no \(C^2\) skew loops; on the other hand: Any cylinder with a strictly convex asymmetric \(C^2\) base contains a skew loop with nonvanishing curvature (Prop. 4.1). Theorem 1.1 is proved by a sequence of intermediate results: every \(C^2\) loop on the sphere \(S^2\) is regularly homotopic in \(S^2\) to its own tantrix; positively curved surfaces admit no skew figure-eights; convex quadrics have no skew loops; surfaces without skew loops have symmetric local cross sections. By a result of W. Blaschke, the last property characterizes the quadrics, and thus gives Theorem 1.1.
0 references
quadric
0 references
closed curve
0 references
skew loop
0 references
tantrix
0 references