Some geometric properties of Riemann's non-differentiable function

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Abstract: Riemann's non-differentiable function is a celebrated example of a continuous but almost nowhere differentiable function. There is strong numeric evidence that one of its complex versions represents a geometric trajectory in experiments related to the binormal flow or the vortex filament equation. In this setting, we analyse certain geometric properties of its image in mathbbC. The objective of this note is to assert that the Hausdorff dimension of its image is no larger than 4/3 and that it has nowhere a tangent.


This paper is concerned with a complex generalization of the Riemann function \(R(x)= \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\sin (n^2 x)}{n^2}\), \(x \in {\mathbb R}\), a classic example, originally proposed by Riemann in the 1860s, of a continuous but almost nowhere differentiable function. The function \(R\) has been widely studied and generalised in various forms. Recent studies concern the intrinsic geometric nature of \(R\) related to physical experiments. The author, in line with his earlier studies on Riemann's non-differentiable function (cited as preprints in the bibliography), investigates this complex generalisation \[ \phi(t) = \sum_{k \in {\mathbb Z}} \frac{e^{- 4 {\pi}^{2}i k^{2}t}-1 }{- 4 {\pi}^{2}k^{2}}, t \in {\mathbb R}, \] related to the temporal trajectory of a vortex filament. The main results treated in the paper are the following: \begin{itemize} \item The Hausdorff dimension of \(\phi(\mathbb R)\) is less than or equal to \(\frac{4}{3}\). \item The function \(\phi\), interpreted as a geometric trajectory represented by its image \(\phi({\mathbb R})\), has nowhere a tangent. \end{itemize}











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