Möbius invariants for pairs of spheres \((S^m_1,S^l_2)\) in the Möbius space \(S^n\) (Q1972384)

In this interesting article the author derives a set of invariants for pairs of spheres of (usually not equal) codimensions \(\geq 1\) in the conformal \(n\)-sphere \(S^n\). That is, he obtains a set of real numbers that determines the relative position of the two spheres. After describing a sphere \(S\subset S^n\) of dimension \(m<n\) as a Minkowski \((m+2)\)-space \(W\subset R^{n+2}_1\), as in the classical approach to Möbius geometry, a key idea is to consider critical points of the function \(W_1^\perp\times W_2^\perp\times R\times R\ni(n_1,n_2,\lambda_1,\lambda_2) \mapsto\langle n_1,n_2\rangle - \lambda_1(\langle n_1,n_1\rangle-1) - \lambda_2(\langle n_2,n_2\rangle-1)\in R\), where \(\langle.,.\rangle\) denotes the Minkowski scalar product on \(R^{n+2}_1\), and \(W_i^\perp\) are the orthogonal complements of the Minkowski subspaces of the two spheres \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) under consideration. Note that \(W_i^\perp\) is spacelike and that any direction \(n_i\in W_i^\perp\) represents a hypersphere containing \(S_i\). The condition of being a critical point of the above function is then reformulated using the orthogonal projections \(W_1^\perp\to W_2^\perp\) and \(W_2^\perp\to W_1^\perp\). From these orthogonal projections a self adjoint operator \(W_1^\perp\to W_1^\perp\) (where \(S_1\) denotes the higher dimensional sphere) is constructed that then provides the sought invariants.