On the Moduli Space of a Spherical Polygonal Linkage
A closed spherical \(n\)-gon is an \(n\)-tuple of oriented geodesic arcs in \(S^2\) of lengths between 0 and \(\pi\) such that the end point of one arc is equal to the initial point of the next. For each such list of arcs there is an \(n\)-tuple \(r=(r_1,r_2, \dots,r_n)\) of real numbers which are the lengths of the arcs. Thus one has a map \(\rho\) from the space of closed spherical \(n\)-gons into \(\mathbb{R}\) whose image is the space of possible side lengths. The moduli space \(M_r\) of closed \(n\)-gon linkages on \(S^2\) with side lengths \(r\) is defined to be the quotient space of \(\rho^{1}(r)\) by \(SO(3)\). One can define the moduli space of a free \((n-1)\)-gon spherical linkage with side lengths \((r_1, r_2, \dots,r_{n-1})\) as the quotient by \(SO(3)\) of the subspace of \((S^2)^n\) defined by \(\{u=(u_1,u_2, \dots,u_n): d(u_i,u_{i+1})= r_i\), \(1\leq j\leq n-1\}\), where \(d\) is spherical distance. Define the real valued function \(\rho_n(u)= d(u_1,u_n)\) on this moduli space (which is an \((n-2)\)-torus). It was shown in previous work of the authors [\textit{M. Kapovich} and \textit{J. J. Millson}, Publ. Res. Inst Math. Sci. 33, No. 1, 1-31 (1997; Zbl 0961.32026)] that \(\rho_n\) is a Morse function (that paper has an error which the present work corrects in a small appendix, using results in [\textit{M. Kapovich} and \textit{J. J. Millson}, Compos. Math. 103, 287-317 (1996; Zbl 0872.53035)], salvaging almost all of the results). The level sets of \(\rho_n\) are the moduli spaces \(M_r\) and the critical points of \(\rho_n\) turn out to be degenerate linkages which are contained in great circles. The authors give a formula for the Hessian of \(\rho_n\) at such a linkage that is the analogue of the formula for polygonal linkages in the plane proved by the authors in [On the moduli space of polygons in the Euclidean plane, J. Differ. Geom. 42, 133-164 (1995; Zbl 0847.51026)]. The image of \(\rho\) is a polyhedron in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) that was described by \textit{A. Galitzer} [The moduli space of polygon linkages in the 2-sphere, Ph.D. thesis, University of Maryland (1997)]. The formula is used to demonstrate how the moduli spaces \(M_r\) change as one moves in this polyhedron and the technique is illustrated by describing the moduli spaces of all regular spherical pentagons.
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5943111
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