Surfaces that are covered by two pencils of circles

DOI10.1007/S00209-021-02713-XMaRDI QIDQ2664643zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 17 November 2021

Published in Mathematische Zeitschrift (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1302.6710

Blaschke-Bol problem Blum's conjecture circle del Pezzo surface families of curves hexagonal web Möbius geometry Néron-Severi lattice real surface root subsystem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Divisors, linear systems, invertible sheaves (14C20) Real algebraic and real-analytic geometry (14P99) Möbius geometries (51B10) Geometric constructions in real or complex geometry (51M15)

Abstract: We list up to M"obius equivalence all possible degrees and embedding dimensions of real surfaces that are covered by at least two pencils of circles, together with the number of such pencils. In addition, we classify incidences between the contained circles, complex lines and isolated singularities. Such geometric characteristics are encoded in the N'eron-Severi lattices of such surfaces and is of potential interest to geometric modelers and architects. As an application we confirm Blum's conjecture in higher dimensional space and we address the Blaschke-Bol problem by classifying surfaces that are covered by hexagonal webs of circles. In particular, we find new examples of such webs that cannot be embedded in 3-dimensional space.

Review text

Surfaces in Euclidean 3-space \(\mathbb{R}^3\) or, after inverse stereographic projection, in the sphere \(S^3 \subset \mathbb{R}^4\) have recently been classified up to Möbius equivalence in by \textit{M. Skopenkov} and \textit{R. Krasauskas} in [Math. Ann. 373, No. 3--4, 1299--1327 (2019; Zbl 1416.51003).] The author of the article under review contributes to research in this area but does not restrict the dimension of the ambient space. The main result lists all triples \((\lambda, d, n)\) such that a surface in \(S^n\) of degree \(d\) exists and a generic surface point is incident with \(\lambda\) circles. A further result states that surfaces with \(\lambda \ge 3\) are covered by a hexagonal web of circles. The main tools of proof are smooth models and their Néron-Severi groups. Within this more technical framework, the sets of classes of irreducible complex curves in the smooth model that are contracted to a complex point and the cardinality of the class of complex lines in \(X\) are determined. The article makes efforts to remain accessible to readers with a lesser background in algebraic geometry. It talks about historical background and applications in astronomy or architecture and features beautifully rendered images of surfaces and their circles.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(8)

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

This page was built for publication: Surfaces that are covered by two pencils of circles

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2664643)