Bonnet pairs and isothermic surfaces (Q1974805)

From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language Label Description Also known as
English
Bonnet pairs and isothermic surfaces
scientific article

    Statements

    Bonnet pairs and isothermic surfaces (English)
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    27 March 2000
    0 references
    Two surfaces in Euclidean \(3\)-space (identified with the imaginary quaternions) \(\mathbb{R}^3\cong\text{Im}H\) are said to form a Bonnet pair if they induce the same metric and have the same mean curvature. The authors construct such Bonnet pairs \((f_+,f_-)\) from isothermic surfaces \(f\) and their Christoffel transforms \(f^\ast\) by means of spin transforms, \(df_{\pm}=(\pm\varepsilon+f^\ast) df (\pm\varepsilon-f^\ast)\). Here the multiplication is quaternionic multiplication, and the special form of the spin transforms ensure that the differentials \(df_\pm\) are integrable. Moreover, it is shown that any Bonnet pair defined on a simply connected domain can be obtained in this way. Note that a relation between isothermic surfaces in space forms and Bonnet pairs was known to \textit{M.~Servant} [Comptes Rendus 134, 1291-1293 (1902; JFM 33.0651.01)] who established a relation on the level of fundamental forms, and that \textit{L.~Bianchi} [Rom. Acc. L. Rend. 12, 511-520 (1903; JFM 34.0654.01)] derived formulas for the differentials of the surfaces of a Bonnet pair from the frame of an isothermic surface in the \(3\)-sphere.
    0 references
    Bonnet pair
    0 references
    isothermic surface
    0 references
    dual surface
    0 references
    Christoffel transform
    0 references
    spin transform
    0 references

    Identifiers