Paper 2, Section II, I

Differential Geometry | Part II, 2018

Let γ(t):[a,b]R3\gamma(t):[a, b] \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{3} denote a regular curve.

(a) Show that there exists a parametrization of γ\gamma by arc length.

(b) Under the assumption that the curvature is non-zero, define the torsion of γ\gamma. Give an example of two curves γ1\gamma_{1} and γ2\gamma_{2} in R3\mathbb{R}^{3} whose curvature (as a function of arc length ss ) coincides and is non-vanishing, but for which the curves are not related by a rigid motion, i.e. such that γ1(s)\gamma_{1}(s) is not identically ρ(R,T)(γ2(s))\rho_{(R, T)}\left(\gamma_{2}(s)\right) where RSO(3),TR3R \in S O(3), T \in \mathbb{R}^{3} and

ρ(R,T)(v):=T+Rv\rho_{(R, T)}(v):=T+R v

(c) Give an example of a simple closed curve γ\gamma, other than a circle, which is preserved by a non-trivial rigid motion, i.e. which satisfies

ρ(R,T)(v)γ([a,b]) for all vγ([a,b])\rho_{(R, T)}(v) \in \gamma([a, b]) \text { for all } v \in \gamma([a, b])

for some choice of RSO(3),TR3R \in S O(3), T \in \mathbb{R}^{3} with (R,T)(Id,0)(R, T) \neq(\mathrm{Id}, 0). Justify your answer.

(d) Now show that a simple closed curve γ\gamma which is preserved by a nontrivial smooth 1-parameter family of rigid motions is necessarily a circle, i.e. show the following:

Let (R,T):(ϵ,ϵ)SO(3)×R3(R, T):(-\epsilon, \epsilon) \rightarrow S O(3) \times \mathbb{R}^{3} be a regular curve. If for all t~(ϵ,ϵ)\tilde{t} \in(-\epsilon, \epsilon),

ρ(R(t~),T(t~))(v)γ([a,b]) for all vγ([a,b])\rho_{(R(\tilde{t}), T(\tilde{t}))}(v) \in \gamma([a, b]) \text { for all } v \in \gamma([a, b]) \text {, }

then γ([a,b])\gamma([a, b]) is a circle. [You may use the fact that the set of fixed points of a non-trivial rigid motion is either \emptyset or a line LR3L \subset \mathbb{R}^{3}.]

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