Curves with no tritangent planes in space and their convex envelopes (Q2640886)

The authors discuss the following question: Which closed curves in 3- space with nonvanishing curvature and torsion have no tritangent planes? An example of such a curve is given by the (1,2)-curve on the torus with ratio between 3 and 5. Here the class of convexly-generic curves is introduced. Using their convex envelopes a sufficient condition is developed for such curves to have at least two tritangencies. This implies a necessary condition for having no tritangent planes. Using limit arguments this result is extended to a wider class of curves.