Real Hessian curves (Q1012421)

The authors study the parabolic curve of a surface \(S\) which is a graph of the polynomial function \(z=f(x,y)\). This parabolic curve can be characterized by the corresponding Hessian curve \(Hess(f)=f_{xx}f_{yy}-f^2_{xy}=0\) in \(\mathbb{R}^2\). The special cases of polynomials \(f\) in two variables with \(deg(f)=4,5,6\) are considered. The corresponding Hessian curves have 4 compact connected components (ovals), 8 ovals, and 11 ovals, respectively.