Solid angles and Seifert hypersurfaces (Q2309527)

Let \(M\) be a smooth embedding into \(\mathbb{R}^{n+2}\) of codimension 2. In this paper, the authors construct a map \(\Phi : \mathbb{R}^{n+2}\backslash M \to \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\) called the solid angle map, with intuitions from physics, and investigate its properties. For a closed oriented connected smooth \(n\)-manifold \(M\) in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+2}\), a Seifert hypersurface for \(M\) is a compact oriented \((n+1)\)-dimensional submanifold \(\Sigma\) of \(\mathbb{R}^{n+2}\) bounding \(M\) such that \(\Sigma\) is smooth up to boundary and \(\Sigma\) has finite \((n+1)\)-dimensional volume, and for a smooth Seifert hypersurface \(\Sigma\) of \(M\), the solid angle \(\tilde{\Phi}(x)\) of \(\Sigma\) viewed from \(x \not\in M\) is the signed area of a spherical surface bounded by the image of \(M\) under the radial projection \(\mathrm{Sec}_x\), \(\mathrm{Sec}_x(y)=(y-x)/\|y-x\|\), as seen from \(x\). In the case when \(M\) is a loop in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) with constant electric current, the solid angle is the scalar magnetic potential. The solid angle map \(\Phi : \mathbb{R}^{n+2}\backslash M \to \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\) is a function induced from the solid angle \(\tilde{\Phi}(x)\). The main results are as follows. Let \(M\) be a smooth embedding into \(\mathbb{R}^{n+2}\) of codimension 2, and let \(\Phi : \mathbb{R}^{n+2}\backslash M \to \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\) be the solid angle map. The authors explicitly give the map \(\Phi\) in terms of an integral of an \(n\)-form over \(M\), on the set of points \(\{ x \in \mathbb{R}^{n+2} \backslash M \mid (0,0,\ldots, 0,1) \not\in \mathrm{Sec}_x(M)\}\), where \(\mathrm{Sec}_x(y)=(y-x)/\|y-x\|\). For a non-critical value \(t \neq 0\) of \(\Phi\), \(\Phi^{-1}(t)\) is a smooth hypersurface whose closure is \(\Phi^{-1}(t) \cup M\), and the closure of \(\Phi^{-1}(t)\) is a (possibly disconnected) Seifert hypersurface for \(M\). For \(t\neq 0\), \(\Phi^{-1}(t)\) has finite \((n+1)\)-dimensional volume. And the authors pose a question if the physical interpretation of \(\Phi^{-1}(t)\) as a level set of the scalar magnetic potential function implies specific geometric or topological properties. For the proof, the authors investigate fibers \(\Phi^{-1}(t)\) and smoothness of \(\Phi\), and calculate \(\Phi\) explicitly for an \(n\)-dimensional linear subspace, and a circle, and then the general case.