It is classically known that complete flat surfaces in Euclidean 3-space are cylinders over space curves. This implies that the study of global behaviour of flat surfaces requires the study of singular points as well. If a flat surface $f$ admits singularities but its Gauss map $ν$ can be smoothly extended across the singular set, $f$ is called a frontal. In addition, if the pair $(f,ν)$ gives an immersion, $f$ is called a front. A front $f$ is called flat if the Gauss map degenerates everywhere. The parallel surfaces and the focal surface of a flat front $f$ are also flat fronts. In this paper, we generalize the classical notion of completeness to flat fonts, and give a representation formula for complete flat fronts. As an application, we show that a complete flat front has properly embedded ends if and only if its Gauss image is a convex curve. Moreover, we show the existence of at least four singular points other than cuspidal edges on such a flat front with embedded ends, which is a variant of the classical four vertex theorem for convex plane curves.
Isometric immersions of constant curvature one metrics on the 2-sphere with two conical singularities into Euclidean 3-space: A partial solution to the Gálvez-Hauswirth-Mira problem
We reconcile between two classical models of edge-dislocations in solids. The first model, dating from the early 1900s models isolated edge-dislocations as line singularities in locally-Euclidean manifolds. The second model, dating from the 1950s, models continuously-distributed edge-dislocations as smooth manifolds endowed with non-symmetric affine connections (equivalently, endowed with torsion fields). In both models, the solid is modeled as a Weitzenböck manifold. We prove, using a weak notion of convergence [KM15], that the second model can be obtained rigorously as a homogenization limit…
In a previous work, the authors gave a definition of `front bundles'. Using this, we give a realization theorem for wave fronts in space forms, like as in the fundamental theorem of surface theory. As an application, we investigate the behavior of principal singular curvatures along A_2-singularities of hypersurfaces with non-negative sectional curvature in Euclidean space.
We propose a definition of genericity for singular flat planar 3-webs formed by integral curves of implicit ODEs and give a classification of generic singularities of such webs.
We construct examples of flat surfaces in $\mathbb{H}^3$ which are graphs over a two-punctured horosphere and classify complete embedded flat surfaces in $\mathbb{H}^3$ with only one end and at most two isolated singularities.
We solve the problem on flat extensions of a generic surface with boundary in Euclidean 3-space, relating it to the singularity theory of the envelope generated by the boundary. We give related results on Legendre surfaces with boundaries via projective duality and observe the duality on boundary singularities. Moreover we give formulae related to remote singularities of the boundary-envelope.
We prove an existence theorem for Asymptotically Conical Ricci Flat Kahler metrics in $\mathbb{C}^2$ with cone singularities along a smooth complex curve. These metrics are expected to arise as blow up limits of non collapsed sequences of Kahler Einstein metrics with cone singularities.
It is known that the class of developable surfaces which have zero Gaussian curvature in three dimensional Euclidean space is preserved by the parallel transformations. A tangent developable surface is defined as a ruled developable surface by tangent lines to a space curve and it has singularities at least along the space curve, called the directrix or the the edge of regression. Also the class of tangent developable surfaces are invariant under the parallel deformations. In this paper the notions of tangent developable surfaces and their parallels are naturally generalized for frontal curves…
Using the idea of special Legendre curves, the authors obtained the explicit description of flat Lagrangian H-umbilical submanifolds in quaternion Euclidean spaces.
By Hartman--Nirenberg's theorem, any complete flat hypersurface in Euclidean space must be a cylinder over a plane curve. However, if we admit some singularities, there are many non-trivial examples. Flat fronts are flat hypersurfaces with admissible singularities. Murata--Umehara gave a representation formula for complete flat fronts with non-empty singular set in Euclidean $3$-space, and proved the four vertex type theorem. In this paper, we prove that, unlike the case of $n=2$, there do not exist any complete flat fronts with non-empty singular set in Euclidean $(n+1)$-space $(n\geq 3)$.
A flat pseudo-Euclidean Lie algebra is a real Lie algebra with a non degenerate symmetric bilinear form and a left symmetric product whose the commutator is the Lie bracket and such that the left multiplications are skew-symmetric. We show that the center of a flat pseudo-Euclidean nilpotent Lie algebra of signature $(2,n-2)$ must be degenerate and all flat pseudo-Euclidean nilpotent Lie algebras of signature $(2,n-2)$ can be obtained by using the double extension process from flat Lorentzian nilpotent Lie algebras. We show also that the center of a flat pseudo-Euclidean 2-step nilpotent Lie a…
Robert Bryant (Theorie des varietes minimales et applications, 1988, 154: 321-347) proved that an isolated singularity of a conformal metric of positive constant curvature on a Riemann surface is a conical one. Using Complex Analysis, we find all of the local models for an isolated singularity of a flat metric whose area satisfies some polynomial growth condition near the singularity. In particular, we show that an isolated singularity of a flat metric with finite area is also a conical one.
Let N_0 = C^2/H be an isolated quotient singularity with H in U (2) a finite subgroup. We show that for any Q-Gorenstein smoothings of N_0 a nearby fiber admits ALE Ricci-flat Kahler metrics in any Kahler class. Moreover, we generalize Kronheimer's results on hyperkahler 4-manifolds, by giving an explicit classification of the ALE Ricci-flat Kahler surfaces. We construct ALF Ricci-flat Kahler metrics on the above non-simply connected manifolds. These provide new examples of ALF Ricci-flat Kahler 4-manifolds, with cubic volume growth and cyclic fundamental group at infinity.
It is well-known that the unit cotangent bundle of any Riemannian manifold has a canonical contact structure. A surface in a Riemannian 3-manifold is called a (wave) front if it is the projection of a Legendrian immersion into the unit cotangent bundle. We shall give easily-computable criteria for a singular point on a front to be a cuspidal edge or a swallowtail. Using this, we shall prove that generically flat fronts in the hyperbolic 3-space admit only cuspidal edges and swallowtails. Moreover, we will show that every complete flat front (which is not rotationally symmetric) has associated …
By a result of W.~P. Thurston, the moduli space of flat metrics on the sphere with $n$ cone singularities of prescribed positive curvatures is a complex hyperbolic orbifold of dimension $n-3$. The Hermitian form comes from the area of the metric. Using geometry of Euclidean polyhedra, we observe that this space has a natural decomposition into real hyperbolic convex polyhedra of dimensions $n-3$ and $\leq \frac{1}{2}(n-1)$. By a result of W.~Veech, the moduli space of flat metrics on a compact surface with cone singularities of prescribed negative curvatures has a foliation whose leaves have a…
In this note, we investigate conformally flat submanifolds of Euclidean space with positive index of relative nullity. Let $M^n$ be a complete conformally flat manifold and let $f\colon M^n\to \R^m$ be an isometric immersion. We prove the following results: (1) If the index of relative nullity is at least two, then $M^n$ is flat and $f$ is a cylinder over a flat submanifold. (2) If the scalar curvature of $M^n$ is non-negative and the index of relative nullity is positive, then $f$ is a cylinder over a submanifold with constant non-negative sectional curvature. (3) If the scalar curvature of $…
We prove a removal of singularities result for Bach-flat metrics in dimension 4 under the assumption of bounded L^2 norm of curvature, bounded Sobolev constant and a volume growth bound. This result extends the removal of singularities result for special classes of Bach-flat metrics obtained in \cite{TVMOD}. For the proof we analyze the decay rates of solutions to the Bach-flat equation linearized around a flat metric. This classification is used to prove that Bach-flat cones are in fact ALE of order $τ$ for any $τ< 2$. This result is then used to prove the removal of singularities theorem.
We construct Ricci flat Kahler metrics with cone singularities along a complex hypersurface. This construction is inspired in part by R. Mazzeo's program in the case of negative Einstein constant, and uses the linear theory developed recently by S. Donaldson.
We prove that the asymptotic completion of a developable Möbius strip in Euclidean three-space must have at least one singular point other than cuspidal edge singularities. Moreover, if the strip contains a closed geodesic, then the number of such singular points is at least three. These lower bounds are both sharp.
We show that an eternal solution to a complete, locally conformally flat Yamabe flow, $\frac{\partial}{\partial t} g = -Rg$, with uniformly bounded scalar curvature and positive Ricci curvature at $t = 0$, where the scalar curvature assumes its maximum is a gradient steady soliton. As an application of that, we study the blow up behavior of $g(t)$ at the maximal time of existence, $T < \infty$. We assume that $(M,g(\cdot, t))$ satisfies (i) the injectivity radius bound {\bf or} (ii) the Schouten tensor is positive at time $t = 0$ and the scalar curvature bounded at each time-slice. We show tha…
We study the shortest geodesics on flat cone spheres, i.e. flat metrics on the sphere with conical singularities. The length of the shortest geodesic between two singular points can be treated as a function on the moduli space of flat cone spheres with prescribed angle defects. We prove a recurrent relation on the distribution of this function with respect to Thurston's volume form on the moduli space.
The regularity of systolically extremal surfaces is a notoriously difficult problem already discussed by M. Gromov in 1983, who proposed an argument toward the existence of $L^2$-extremizers exploiting the theory of $r$-regularity developed by P. A. White and others by the 1950s. We propose to study the problem of systolically extremal metrics in the context of generalized metrics of nonpositive curvature. A natural approach would be to work in the class of Alexandrov surfaces of finite total curvature, where one can exploit the tools of the completion provided in the context of Radon measures…
We study the geometry of the cuspidal edge $M$ in $\mathbb R^3$ derived from its contact with planes and lines (referred to as flat geometry). The contact of $M$ with planes is measured by the singularities of the height functions on $M$. We classify submersions on a model of $M$ by diffeomorphisms and recover the contact of $M$ with planes from that classification. The contact of $M$ with lines is measured by the singularities of orthogonal projections of $M$. We list the generic singularities of the projections and obtain the generic deformations of the apparent contour (profile) when the di…
We show that the explicit ALE Ricci-flat Kahler metrics constructed by Eguchi-Hanson, Gibbons-Hawking, Hitchin and Kronheimer, and their free quotients are metrics obtained by Tian-Yau techniques. The proof relies on a construction of good compactifications of Q-Gorenstein deformations of quotient surface singularities as log del Pezzo surfaces with only cyclic quotient singularities at infinity.
On an affine flat manifold with coordinates x^j and convex local potential function f, we call the affine Kahler metric f_{ij} dx^i dx^j semi-flat Calabi-Yau if it satisfies det f_{ij} = 1. Recently Gross-Wilson have constructed many such metrics on S^2 minus 24 singularities, as degenerate limits of Calabi-Yau metrics on elliptic K3 surfaces. We construct many more such metrics on S^2, singular at any 6 or more points, and compute the local affine structure near the singularities. The techniques involve affine differential geometry and solving a semilinear PDE on S^2 minus singularities. We a…
We characterize singularities of focal surfaces of wave fronts in terms of differential geometric properties of the initial wave fronts. Moreover, we study relationships between geometric properties of focal surfaces and geometric invariants of the initial wave fronts.
A geometric construction is provided that associates to a given flat front in $\mathbb{H}^3$ a pair of minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ which are related by a Ribaucour transformation. This construction is generalized associating to a given frontal in $\mathbb{H}^3$ , a pair of frontals in $\mathbb{R}^3$ that are envelopes of a smooth congruence of spheres. The theory of Ribaucour transformations for minimal surfaces is reformulated in terms of a complex Riccati ordinary differential equation for a holomorphic function. This enables one to simplify and extend the classical theory, that in pr…
Recall that Federer-Fleming defined the notion of flat convergence of submanifolds of Euclidean space to solve the Plateau problem. Here we prove the upper semicontinuity of Neumann eigenvalues of the submanifolds when they converge in the flat sense without losing volume. With an additional condition on the boundaries of the submanifolds we prove the Dirichlet eigenvalues are semicontinuous as well. We show this additional boundary condition is necessary as well as the condition that the volumes converge to the volume of the limit submanifold. As an application of our theorems we see that the…
For Legendre curves, we consider surfaces of revolution of frontals. The surface of revolution of a frontal can be considered as a framed base surface. We give the curvatures and basic invariants for surfaces of revolution by using the curvatures of Legendre curves. Moreover, we give properties of surfaces of revolution with singularities and cones.
We show that any asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) metric which is obstruction-flat or extended obstruction-flat must be ALE of a certain optimal order. Moreover, our proof applies to very general elliptic systems and in any dimension $n \geq 3$. The proof is based on the technique of Cheeger-Tian for Ricci-flat metrics. We also apply this method to obtain a singularity removal theorem for (extended) obstruction-flat metrics with isolated $C^0$-orbifold singular points.
The Riemannian Penrose inequality (RPI) bounds from below the ADM mass of asymptotically flat manifolds of nonnegative scalar curvature in terms of the total area of all outermost compact minimal surfaces. The general form of the RPI is currently known for manifolds of dimension up to seven. In the present work, we prove a Penrose-like inequality that is valid in all dimensions, for conformally flat manifolds. Our inequality treats the area contributions of the minimal surfaces in a more favorable way than the RPI, at the expense of using the smaller Euclidean area (rather than the intrinsic a…
The rigidity of the Positive Mass Theorem states that the only complete asymptotically flat manifold of nonnegative scalar curvature and zero mass is Euclidean space. We study the stability of this statement for spaces that can be realized as graphical hypersurfaces in Euclidean space. We prove (under certain technical hypotheses) that if a sequence of complete asymptotically flat graphs of nonnegative scalar curvature has mass approaching zero, then the sequence must converge to Euclidean space in the pointed intrinsic flat sense. The appendix includes a new Gromov-Hausdorff and intrinsic fla…
Inspired by the concept of evolutoids of planar curves, we present the concept of evolutoids for regular surfaces as an envelope of a two-parameter family of lines in Euclidean 3-space. We give an explicit parametrization for such evolutoids. Besides, we used the theory of singularities to study the local behavior of regular points of this object and presented some relations between the geometry of the regular surface and its evolutoid.
We extend our discrete uniformization theorems for planar, $m$-connected, Jordan domains [Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik 670 (2012), 65--92] to closed surfaces of non-positive genus.
We define general rotational surfaces of elliptic and hyperbolic type in the pseudo-Euclidean 4-space with neutral metric which are analogous to the general rotational surfaces of C. Moore in the Euclidean 4-space. We study Lorentz general rotational surfaces with plane meridian curves and give the complete classification of minimal general rotational surfaces of elliptic and hyperbolic type, general rotational surfaces with parallel normalized mean curvature vector field, flat general rotational surfaces, and general rotational surfaces with flat normal connection.
Biharmonic hypersurfaces in a generic conformally flat space are studied in this paper. The equation of such hypersurfaces is derived and is used to determine the conformally flat metric $f^{-2}δ_{ij}$ on the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{m+1}$ so that a minimal hypersurface $M^m\longrightarrow (\mathbb{R}^{m+1}, δ_{ij})$ in a Euclidean space becomes a biharmonic hypersurface $M^m\longrightarrow (\mathbb{R}^{m+1}, f^{-2}δ_{ij})$ in the conformally flat space. Our examples include all biharmonic hypersurfaces found in [Ou1] and [OT] as special cases.
For a two-dimensional surface in the four-dimensional Euclidean space we introduce an invariant linear map of Weingarten type in the tangent space of the surface, which generates two invariants k and kappa. The condition k = kappa = 0 characterizes the surfaces consisting of flat points. The minimal surfaces are characterized by the equality kappa^2=k. The class of the surfaces with flat normal connection is characterized by the condition kappa = 0. For the surfaces of general type we obtain a geometrically determined orthonormal frame field at each point and derive Frenet-type derivative form…
In this paper, we study generic conformally flat hypersurfaces in the Euclidean $4$-space $\mathbb{R}^4$ using the framework of Möbius geometry. First, we classify locally the generic conformally flat hypersurfaces with closed Möbius form under the Möbius transformation group of $\mathbb{R}^4$. Such examples come from cones, cylinders, or rotational hypersurfaces over the surfaces with constant Gaussian curvature in $3$-spheres, Euclidean $3$-spaces, or hyperbolic $3$-spaces, respectively. Second, we investigate the global behavior of the generic conformally flat hypersurface and give some int…
We consider flat surfaces and the points of their metric completions, particularly the singularities to which the flat structure of the surface does not extend. The local behavior near a singular point x can be partially described by a topological space L(x) which captures all the ways that x can be "approached linearly". The homeomorphism type of L(x) is an affine invariant. When x is not a cone point or an infinite-angle singularity, we say it is wild; in this case it is necessary to add further metric data to L(x) to get a quantitative description of the surface near x.
We prove that the isoperimetric inequalities in the euclidean and hyperbolic plane hold for all euclidean, respectively hyperbolic, cone-metrics on a disk with singularities of negative curvature. This is a discrete analog of the theorems of Weil and Bol that deal with Riemannian metrics of curvature bounded from above by 0, respectively by -1. A stronger discrete version was proved by A.D.Alexandrov, with a subsequent extension by approximation to metrics of bounded integral curvature. Our proof uses "discrete conformal deformations" of the metric that eliminate the singularities and increase…
We define discrete flat surfaces in hyperbolic 3-space from the perspective of discrete integrable systems and prove properties that justify the definition. We show how these surfaces correspond to previously defined discrete constant mean curvature 1 surfaces in hyperbolic 3-space, and we also describe discrete focal surfaces (discrete caustics) that can be used to define singularities on discrete flat surfaces. We also examine discrete linear Weingarten surfaces of Bryant type in hyperbolic 3-space, and consider an example of a discrete flat surface related to the Airy equation that exhibits…
Consider a planar, bounded, $m$-connected region $Ω$, and let $\bordΩ$ be its boundary. Let $\mathcal{T}$ be a cellular decomposition of $Ω\cup\bordΩ$, where each 2-cell is either a triangle or a quadrilateral. From these data and a conductance function we construct a canonical pair $(S,f)$ where $S$ is a genus $(m-1)$ singular flat surface tiled by rectangles and $f$ is an energy preserving mapping from ${\mathcal T}^{(1)}$ onto $S$.
