Higher codimensional Euclidean helix submanifolds (Q988512)

Helix submanifolds in the Euclidean space \( \mathbb{R}^{n} \) are generalizations of embankment surfaces in \( 3 \)-space. In full generality, they are defined by the property that their normal spaces make a constant angle to a fixed unitary vector \( d \), which can be thought as \( e_{n} \). A former paper of the authors with related results is \textit{A. J. Di Scala, G. Ruiz-Hernández} [Monatsh. Math 157, No.~3, 205--215 (2009; Zbl 1169.53006)]. The present work is mainly devoted to codimensions \( > 1 \). Then, the orthogonal trajectories of the level sets of the height function \( x_{n} \) are no longer straight lines but still geodesics in the submanifold and helix lines in \( \mathbb{R}^{n} \) (degenerating to straight lines if the normal connection is trivial). A key to many results is the decomposition of \( d \) in a tangent and normal direction with corresponding unit vector fields \(T\) and \(\xi\). In fact, the afore-mentioned orthogonal trajectories are the integral curves of \(T\). The authors discuss products of helix submanifolds and characterize the one-dimensional case in terms of Serret/Frenet curvatures. The main issue is a local construction of arbitrary helix submanifolds, using the eikonal PDE. In fact, they provide a method for finding all solutions of this PDE (constant gradient norm) which is related to the geodesic distance from submanifolds. They also characterize ruled helix submanifolds and describe the minimal copies.