A complete classification of quintic space curves with rational rotation-minimizing frames (Q655571)

A rotation minimizing frame on a space curve is an adapted orthonormal frame whose normal plane vectors exhibit no instantaneous rotation about the tangent vector. For general curves, rotation minimizing frames are often approximated. Their exact computation requires integration of an ordinary differential equation and is usually not possible in closed form. Here, the authors present a complete classification of the lowest-degree (quintic) polynomial space curves that admit \textit{rational} rotation minimizing frames (RRMF curves). These have been the topic of recent articles, for example \textit{R. T. Farouki} et al. [Comput. Aided Geom. Des. 26, No. 5, 580--592 (2009; Zbl 1205.65079)] where the RRMF property was shown to be equivalent to a rational relation between certain polynomials. Prior works focused on a particular class of a solution curve that was considered to be ``generic''. In the light of the present article, this belief cannot be sustained. There exists a second class of RRMF curves with the same degrees of freedom (five), RRMFs of lower degree (six as opposed to eight) but a more complicated algebraic structure -- at least in today's understanding. At the end of their article, the authors present a preliminary discussion of a new approach, based on the decomposition of positive real polynomials into the sum of four squares, for generating RRMF quintics.