Plane curves with curvature depending on distance to a line (Q901069)

A classical result in the theory of plane curves states the existence and uniqueness of a curve up to rigid motion with prescribed curvature (expressed in terms its arc-length). The corresponding differential equation is not easily integrable by quadratures, so David A. Singer has considered the following problem: Can a plane curve be determined if its curvature is given in terms of its position? The corresponding differential equation is still complicated, but in some cases, like Euler elastic curves, one can get some interesting solutions. The authors propose to study the case of plane curves whose curvature depends on the distance to a line instead of to point. This approach permits to obtain several interesting families of curves.