Local reflexional and rotational symmetry in the plane (Q3973658)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0723.00028.] Local reflectional and rotational symmetry of plane curves \(\gamma: {\mathbb{I}}\rightarrow{\mathbb{R}}^ 2\) is investigated by the methods of singularity theory. The family \(F: {\mathbb{I}}\times{\mathbb{R}}^ 2\rightarrow{\mathbb{R}}\) given by \(F(t,x)=\|\gamma(t)-x\|^ 2\) (\(\mathbb{I}\) is an open interval of \(\mathbb{R}\) or \(S^ 1\)) is considered and the full bifurcation set \(B(F)=\{x\in R^ 2: F(-,x)\) has a degenerate singularity at some \(t\), or two singularities at \(t_ 1,t_ 2\) with \(F(t_ 1,x)=F(t_ 2,x)\}\) is defined. The authors explore the dual of the symmetry set of a plane curve and of 1-parameter families of such by two methods. The first identifies it as a bifurcation set and the second identifies it as a discriminant: the set of critical values of a map. See also \textit{J. W. Bruce} and the first author, Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 104, 179-204 (1986; Zbl 0656.58022), and Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 60, No. 2, 392-416 (1990; Zbl 0667.58002), and the second author, ``Some applications of singularity theory to the geometry of curves and surfaces'', Ph. D. thesis, Univ. Liverpool (1990).