No label defined (Q4263199)

Using Cartan's method of moving frames, the author first develops a theory for a centroaffine invariant differential geometry of an oriented surface \(x: M\to \mathbb{R}^4\setminus\{0\}\) which is supposed to have a definite centroaffine metric \(g\) of Bursin-Mayer type. After suitable adaptation of the moving frames to the geometry of the surface, she gets the structure equations \(D_Xdx(Y)= dx(\nabla_XY)+ h^3(X, Y)n+ h^4(X, Y)x\) and \(D_Xn= -dx(S_nX)+ \tau(X)x\) (\(X\), \(Y\) tangential vector fields, \(\text{span}(n,x)\) transversal planes) together with their integrability conditions. Her main result is a fundamental theorem for the surface involving the centroaffine connection \(\nabla\) and the two centroaffine fundamental forms \(h^3\) and \(h^4\) accompanied by further uniqueness theorems. Finally, she characterizes surfaces with vanishing cubic forms \(C^3:= \nabla h^3\) and \(C^4:=\nabla h^4+ \tau\otimes h^3\) as locally centroaffinely equivalent to the complex circle \((\cos{1\over\sqrt 2}(1+ i)z, \sin{1\over \sqrt z}(1+ i)z)\) about the origin in the complex plane. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0903.00045].