Affine focal points for locally strictly convex surfaces in 4-space (Q511833)

Considering a locally strictly convex surface \(M\) in affine 4-space a new \textit{affine normal plane bundle} \({\mathbf A}\) and a \textit{family of affine distance functions} \(\Delta:\mathbb{R}^{4}\times M\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) are defined; it is proved, that the affine distance function of a point \(x\) has a singularity at \(p\in M\) if and only if \(p-x\) belongs to the affine normal plane \({\mathbf A}_p\) of \(M\) at \(p\). Given \(\nu\in {\mathbf A}\) an affine normal vector, affine \(\nu\)-principal curvatures and directions are the eigenvalues and eigenvectors, respectively, of the shape operator \(S_{\nu}\). Calling a point \(x=p+t\nu\) an \textit{affine focal point} of \(M\) at \(p\), if \(t\neq 0\) and \(1\over t\) is an affine \(\nu\)-principal curvature, the affine distance function \(\Delta_x:M\rightarrow \mathbb R\) has a degenerate critical point at \(p\in M\) if and only if \(x\) is an affine focal point of \(M\) at \(p\). Furthermore it is proved, that in case when \(M\) is immersed in a locally strictly convex hypersurface \(N \subset \mathbb{R}^{ 4}\), the affine normal of \(N\) at \(p\) belongs to the affine normal plane \({\mathbf A}_p\) of \(M\) at \(p\). The paper concludes with the proof of the fact, that any surface \(M\) immersed in a locally strictly convex hypersphere is \textit{affine semiumbilical}. Hereby a point \(p\in M\) is called semiumbilical if it is semiumbilical with respect to the affine normal plane \({\mathbf A}_p\), that means, there exists a non zero normal vector \(\nu\in {\mathbf A}_p\) such that \(p\) is \(\nu\)-umbilic.