Four-vertex theorems, Sturm theory and Lagrangian singularities (Q702507)

The classical four-vertex theorem asserts that a closed convex plane curve has at least four critical points of the curvature. In this paper the author proved that the vertices of a curve \(\gamma\subset\mathbb R^n\) are critical points of the radius of the osculating hypersphere. The author gives a new proof of the \((2k+2)\)-vertex theorem for convex curves in Euclidean space \(\mathbb R^{2k}\) and obtains a very practical formula to calculate the vertices of a curve in \(\mathbb R^n\). Theorem. The vertices of any curve \(\gamma:\mathbb S^1\to\mathbb R^n\) (or \(\gamma:\mathbb S^1\to\mathbb R^n\)), \(\gamma:s\mapsto(\phi_1(s),\ldots,\phi_n(s))\) are given by the solutions \(s\in\mathbb S^1\) (or \(s\in\mathbb R\)) of the equation: \(\det(R_1,\ldots,R_n,G)=0\), where \(R_i\) (respectively, \(G)\) is the column vector defined by the first \((n+1)\) derivatives of \(\phi_i\) (and of \(g=\gamma^2/2\), respectively, where \(\gamma^2:=\langle\gamma, \gamma \rangle\)). The author applies this formula and Sturm theory to calculate the number of vertices of the generalized ellipses in \(\mathbb R^{2k}\).