Determination of the rank of planar webs and other geometrical invariants (Q2565516)

The author proves the following results: (Trace formula theorem): The Blaschke-Chern curvature of a \(d\)-web \(\mathcal W(d)\) presented by a first order differential equation \(F(X,Y,Y')=0\) is the sum of all the Blaschke curvatures of extracted 3-webs of \(\mathcal W(d)\), for at least \(d=4,5\) and 6. The Blaschke-Chern curvature is defined as the trace of the curvature \(K\) of the connection \(\nabla\) associated to \(F\). The author proves that it is an invariant of the web when \(d=4,5\) and 6. The main result is an explicit determination of the rank of a non-singular planar \(d\)-web \(\mathcal W(d)\). It is further shown that the rank of \(\mathcal W(d)\) equals the corank of the matrix \(K\). This result is related to a weak version of a theorem due to Bol: A hexagonal 4-web is of maximal rank.