Intersections of intrinsic submanifolds in the Heisenberg group (Q631835)

Let \(\mathbb{H}\) be the 3-dimensional Heisenberg group. We say that \(\Sigma\subset\mathbb{H}\) is an \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular surface if, for each point \(p\in\Sigma\), there exists an open set \({\mathcal U}\subset\mathbb{H}\) containing \(p\) and a function \(f\in C^1({\mathcal U},\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\Sigma\cap{\mathcal U}= f^{-1}(0)\) and \(\nabla_Hf(q)\neq 0\) for all \(q\in{\mathcal U}\). A horizontal normal of \(\Sigma\) at \(p\) is given by \(\nu_H(p)= {\nabla_Hf(p)\over |\nabla_H f(p)|}\). The authors study the intersection of two \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular surfaces of \(\mathbb{H}\) having linearly independent horizontal normals at the intersection points. The main result of this paper is the following. Let \(\Sigma_1\) and \(\Sigma_2\) be two \(\mathbb{H}\)-regular surfaces of \(\mathbb{H}\). Let \(x_0\in\Sigma_1\cap \Sigma_2\) and assume that the horizontal normals \(\nu_{1H}(x_0)\) and \(\nu_{2H}(x_0)\) are linearly independent. Then there exists a neighborhood \(O\subset\mathbb{H}\) of \(x_0\) such that the set \(\Sigma_1\cap \Sigma_2\cap O\) coincides with the image of an injective curve \(\Gamma: [0, 1]\to\mathbb{H}\). The key tool of the proof of this result is a chain rule that relies on a recent result by \textit{C. M. Dafermos} [Ric. Mat. 55, No.~1, 79--91 (2006; Zbl 1220.35094)].