Using Rolling Circles to Generate Caustic Envelopes Resulting from Reflected Light

DOI10.4169/AMER.MATH.MONTHLY.122.5.452MaRDI QIDQ3466034zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Jeffrey Boyle

Publication date 29 January 2016

Published in The American Mathematical Monthly (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.1736

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to differential geometry (53-01) Curves in Euclidean and related spaces (53A04) Critical points of functions and mappings on manifolds (58K05) Geometry education (97G99)

Abstract: Given any smooth plane curve {alpha}(s)representing a mirror that reflects light the usual way and any radiant light source at a point in the plane, the reflected light will produce a caustic envelope. For such an envelope, we show that there is an associated curve �{eta}(s) and a family of circles C(s) that roll on �{eta}(s) without slipping such that there is a point on each circle that will trace the caustic envelope as the circles roll. For a given curve {alpha}(s) and for all radiants at infinity there is a single curve �{eta}(s) and family of circles C(s) that roll on �{eta}(s) so that the different points on C(s) will simultaneously trace out, as the circles roll, all caustic envelopes from these radiants at infinity. We explore many classical examples using this method.

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Cited in

(10)

• On the caustic of a convex mirror
• Artifacts in the inversion of the broken ray transform in the plane
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 986854 (Why is no real title available?)
• Caustics of spline curves
• The Inverse Caustic Problem
• On the Degree of Caustics by Reflection
• On Cusps of Caustics by Reflection: Billiard Variations on the Four Vertex Theorem and on Jacobi’s Last Geometric Statement
• Cusps of caustics by reflection in ellipses
• A reflecting sundial with cusps of the caustics on a straight line segment
• Explicit parameterization of the mirror curve of a reflecting sundial

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