Singularities of generic line congruences (Q6046474)

The authors study singularities of line congruences, that is 2-dimensional families of lines in three-dimensional space represented as a map \(F\colon U\times \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}^3\) given by \(F(u,v,t)=f(u,v)+t\xi(u,v)\). The main result is the description of typical singularities (folds, cuspidal edges and swallowtails) in geometric terms including principal directions of the congruence and its discriminant set (the points, where the principal directions coincide). Outside the discriminant curve, the singularities of a line congruence occur at certain points called ridge points. The authors prove that in a neighborhood of a non-umbilical point of a line congruence the line congruence can be represented by an equiaffine pair of functions \((f,\xi)\) satisfying the conditions \(D_X\xi=-f_*(SX)\) and \(D_Xf_*Y=f_*(\nabla_XY)+h(X,Y)\xi\) for the shape operator \(S\) and a nondegenerate metric \(h\). Using the representation of a line congruence via an equiaffine pair, the authors further characterize the singularities of the congruence via singularities of the support \(\rho(u,v,Z)=\nu(u,v)\cdot(Z-f(u,v))\), where \(\nu\) is the conormal vector and \(Z=(x,y,z)\) is a point in 3-space. Moreover, the points \(A_i\) of \(\rho\), \(i=2,3,4\), correspond respectively to fold, cuspidal edges and swallowtails of the line congruence. The authors prove that at ridge points with transversal corresponding principal direction, the singularity is a cuspidal edge, while at points with tangent corresponding principal direction, the singularity is generically a swallowtail. It is further shown that at a regular point, the singularity is a fold, while at a singular point, the singularity is generically a cuspidal edge. Moreover, the ridge curve touches the discriminant curve only at singular points and the condition for a singular point to be a cuspidal edge is that the contact between the ridge curve and the separatrix is of order two.