Paper 2, Section II, G

Geometry | Part IB, 2009

What is meant by stereographic projection from the unit sphere in R3\mathbb{R}^{3} to the complex plane? Briefly explain why a spherical triangle cannot map to a Euclidean triangle under stereographic projection.

Derive an explicit formula for stereographic projection. Hence, or otherwise, prove that if a Möbius map corresponds via stereographic projection to a rotation of the sphere, it has two fixed points pp and qq which satisfy pqˉ=1p \bar{q}=-1. Give, with justification:

(i) a Möbius transformation which fixes a pair of points p,qCp, q \in \mathbb{C} satisfying pqˉ=1p \bar{q}=-1 but which does not arise from a rotation of the sphere;

(ii) an isometry of the sphere (for the spherical metric) which does not correspond to any Möbius transformation under stereographic projection.

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