Partially umbilic singularities of hypersurfaces of \(\mathbb{R}^4\) (Q2347089)

The geometric structure of the lines of principal curvature in a neighbourhood of the set of umbilical points for a surface immersed in \({\mathbb R}^3\) is known. In this paper, the authors extend this study to the case of an immersed hypersurface in \({\mathbb R}^4\), by studying the geometry of the principal foliations in the neighbourhood of the set of partially umbilical points \(S=S_{12}\cup S_{23}\), where exactly two principal curvatures are equal. It is shown that, under some appropriately chosen transversality conditions, the set \(S\) is the union of regular curves in \(S_{12}\) and \(S_{23}\). Each of these curves is partitioned into three regular arcs \(D_i\), \(i\in \{1,2,3\}\). For each arc \(D_i\), it is shown that there exist exactly \(i\) invariant separatrix surfaces. Each of these partially umbilical separatrix surfaces is fibered over the set of partially umbilical points \(S\), while the fibers are principal foliations, which provides the stratified structure of principal foliations of the given immersion. Next results provide an insight into the geometry of the boundary points of the three arcs \(D_i\), \(i\in \{1,2,3\}\), and their generic bifurcations.