Line configurations and equidistant sets

Bézout's theorem doubly ruled surface duality type equidistant line equidistant set hyperbolic paraboloid hyperboloid of one sheet surface of revolution

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Configuration theorems in linear incidence geometry (51A20) Metric geometry (51F99) Elementary problems in Euclidean geometries (51M04) Euclidean analytic geometry (51N20) Arrangements of points, flats, hyperplanes (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C35) Surfaces in Euclidean and related spaces (53A05)

Review text

In the paper under review, the authors study equidistant sets of finite families of lines in the real Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\). Let \(F_{n} = \{l_{1}, \dots, l_{n}\}\) be a family of \(n \geq 2\) lines in \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\). The equidistant set \(e(F_{n})\) is the set of all points \(P \in \mathbb{R}^{3}\) such that \N\[\Nd(P,l_{1}) = d(P,l_{2}) = \dots = d(P,l_{n}),\N\]\Nwhere \(d(P,l)\) denotes the distance between \(P\) and the line \(l\). Let us recall that for every tree \(T=(V,E)\) with \(V = \{1, \dots, n\}\) one has \(e(F_{n}) = \bigcap_{ij \in E} e(l_{i},l_{j})\), so the natural starting point is the case of two lines. If \(g, l\) are parallel, then \(e(g,l)\) is a plane; if \(g, l\) intersect, then \(e(g,l)\) is the union of two perpendicular planes; and if \(g, l\) form a skew pair, then \(e(g,l)\) is a balanced hyperbolic paraboloid, i.e., a surface congruent to \(xy = cz\) with \(c \neq 0\). In particular, \(e(F_{n})\) is always the intersection of \(n-1\) surfaces of degree at most two.\N\NIn order to formulate the main results, denote by \(\lambda e(F_{n})\) the number of lines contained in \(e(F_{n})\) and, if \(e(F_{n})\) is finite, by \(\# e(F_{n})\) its cardinality. The main results of the paper can be summarized as follows.\N\NTheorem A. If \(e(F_{n})\) contains a line \(\xi\), then all lines in \(F_{n}\) lie on a surface of revolution with \(\xi\) as the axis of rotation. Moreover, if \(n \geq 5\), then \(\lambda e(F_{n}) \leq 1\).\N\NTheorem B. The intersection of two distinct hyperbolic paraboloids contains at most three lines.\N\NTheorem C. (i) There exists \(F_{3}\) such that \(e(F_{3})\) is the union of \(m > 0\) lines if and only if \(m \in \{1,2,4\}\). (ii) There exists \(F_{4}\) such that \(e(F_{4})\) is the union of \(m > 0\) lines if and only if \(m \in \{1,2,3\}\). (iii) There exists \(F_{4}\) such that \(\# e(F_{4}) = m\) if and only if \(0 \leq m \leq 8\).\N\NTheorem B plays the crucial role in the proof of part (ii). The upper bound in part (iii) is a consequence of Bézout's theorem, since \(e(F_{4})\) is the intersection of three surfaces of degree at most two. All admissible values of \(m\) are realized by explicit constructions. For instance, the values \(m \in \{6,7,8\}\) are obtained from the three lines in the \(xy\)-plane determined by the edges of a regular triangle, together with a suitably chosen line perpendicular to this plane.\N\NThe paper also contains a number of instructive examples. For instance, if \(F_{6}\) consists of the six lines spanned by the edges of a regular tetrahedron, then \(e(F_{6})\) consists of five points. The authors also exhibit three lines whose equidistant set is the union of a line and a curve with three connected components, and a family \(F_{4}\) with \(\lambda e(F_{4}) = 1\) such that \(e(F_{4})\) is not a single line.\N\NAt the end of the paper, the authors formulate the following natural problem: is it true that for \(n \geq 5\) the set \(e(F_{n})\) is either finite or a single line?

Cites work

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