Guilfoyle, B. and Klingenberg, W. (2019) 'A global version of a classical result of Joachimsthal.', Houston journal of mathematics., 45 (2). pp. 455-467.
Abstract
A classical result attributed to Joachimsthal in 1846 states that if two surfaces intersect with constant angle along a line of curvature of one surface, then the curve of intersection is also a line of curvature of the other surface. In this note we prove the following global analogue of this result. Suppose that two closed convex surfaces intersect with constant angle along a curve that is not umbilic in either surface. We prove that the principal foliations of the two surfaces along the curve are either both orientable, or both non-orientable. We prove this by characterizing the constant angle intersection of two surfaces in Euclidean 3-space as the intersection of a Lagrangian surface and a foliated hypersurface in the space of oriented lines, endowed with its canonical neutral Kähler structure. This establishes a relationship between the principal directions of the two surfaces along the intersection curve in Euclidean space. A winding number argument yields the result. The method of proof is motivated by topology and, in particular, the slice problem for curves in the boundary of a 4-manifold.
Item Type: | Article |
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Full text: | (AM) Accepted Manuscript Download PDF (117Kb) |
Status: | Peer-reviewed |
Publisher Web site: | https://www.math.uh.edu/~hjm/Vol45-2.html |
Date accepted: | 05 December 2018 |
Date deposited: | 07 December 2018 |
Date of first online publication: | 2019 |
Date first made open access: | 07 December 2018 |
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