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MATH3968 Lecture 3: DR Emma Carberry 30 July 2009

This lecture summary covered key concepts about curves in 3D space including: 1) The curvature of a curve is defined geometrically using tangent circles and represents the rate of change of the tangent angle. 2) The Frenet frame (tangent t, normal n, and binormal b vectors) fully describes a curve and its derivatives obey the Frenet equations. 3) By the Fundamental Existence and Uniqueness Theorem, there exists a unique curve with given smooth curvature and torsion functions, defined up to rigid motions.

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60 views

MATH3968 Lecture 3: DR Emma Carberry 30 July 2009

This lecture summary covered key concepts about curves in 3D space including: 1) The curvature of a curve is defined geometrically using tangent circles and represents the rate of change of the tangent angle. 2) The Frenet frame (tangent t, normal n, and binormal b vectors) fully describes a curve and its derivatives obey the Frenet equations. 3) By the Fundamental Existence and Uniqueness Theorem, there exists a unique curve with given smooth curvature and torsion functions, defined up to rigid motions.

Uploaded by

TOM DAVIS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MATH3968 Lecture 3

Dr Emma Carberry
30 July 2009

Last Lecture

• A parameterised smooth curve α : I → Rn is regular if α0 (t) 6= 0 for all t ∈ I.


• regularity is necessary and sufficient in order that α may be reparameterised by arc-length.
• the curvature of a regular curve at a point is the magnitude of the acceleration needed to transverse
it at unit speed.

• signed curvature is positive for , negative for .

We can think geometrically of finding the curvature of a plane curve by considering the family of
circles tangent to it at s.

α(s)
α

All of these circles fit the curve α to first-order at s. k(s) is the curvature of the (unique) circle that fits
α to second order at s.
For a curve α in the plane, its unit tangent is given by

t(s) = α0 (s) = (cos(θ(s)), sin(θ(s))).

n0 (s) t(s)
θ(s)

Then     
π π
n0 (s) = cos θ(s) + , sin θ(s) + = (− sin θ(s), cos θ(s))
2 2
dα0 (s) dθ dθ
α00 (s) = = (− sin θ(s), cos θ(s))
dθ ds ds
so
dθ
k0 (s) = .
ds

1
• Henceforth, we shall assume that our curves are at most in R3 .
• Define
b(s) = t(s) × n(s).

• Note: do Carmo uses ∧ for ×.

• (t(s), n(s), b(s)) (tangent, normal, bi-normal) is called the Frenet frame of α.

Lemma 1.
b0 (s) = τ (s)n(s)
for some function τ , which we shall call the torsion of α at s.
Proof. Differentiating b · b = 1 gives b0 (s) · b(s) = 0. Differentiating 0 = t · b gives

0 = t0 · b + t · b0 = n · b + t · b0 = t · b0 .

n0 = At + Bn + Cb for some functions A, B, C.


Differentiating n · n = 1 gives n0 · n = 0 so B = 0.
Differentiating t · n = 0 gives A = t · n0 = −t0 · n = −k.
Differentiating b · n = 0 gives C = b · n0 = −b0 · n = −τ .
The Frenet equations summarise these relations:
 0    
t k t
 n0  =  −k −τ   n  .
0
b τ b

Theorem 2 (Fundamental Existence and Uniqueness Theorem for Curves). 1. If k : I → R+ and


τ : I → R are smooth functions, then there exists a regular parameterised curve α : I → R3 with
curvature k and torsion τ .
2. α is unique up to rigid motion; if α̃ is another regular parameterised curve with the same curvature
and torsion, then they differ by a rigid motion of R3 ,

i.e. α̃ = ρ · α + c

for some special orthogonal transformation ρ : R3 → R3 and constant vector c.

• Orthogonal: preserves inner product; represented by an O(3) matrix.


• Special orthogonal: also preserves orientation, i.e. has positive determinant; represented by an
SO(3) matrix (det = 1).

Proof
Do 1.5, exercise 6 (p23), do Carmo to convince yourself that arc-length, curvature and torsion are
invariant under rigid motions.
Uniqueness. Suppose α, α̃ : I → R3 have the same curvature and torsion. Fix s0 ∈ I; there is a
rigid motion which transforms α(s0 ) to α̃(s0 ) and takes the Frenet frame of α at s0 to that
of α̃ at s0 .

2
b

n α(s0 ) ñ
b̃
t
t̃
α̃(s0 )

I.e. translation c = α̃(s0 ) − Aα(s0 ), and the solution to

(t̃ ñ b̃) = A(t n b)

is
A = (t̃ ñ b̃)(t n b)−1 .
Then our rigid motion is

ψ: R3 → R3
x 7→ Ax + c.

We show: ψα(s) = α̃(s) for all s ∈ I.


Use the Frenet equations to prove that the norm of the difference between these two frames
is constant, and therefore must vanish since it is zero at s = s0 :
d
(|A(t) − t̃|2 + |A(n) − ñ|2 + |A(b) − b̃|2 )
ds
= 2(A(t) − t̃) · (A(t) − t̃)0 + 2(A(n) − ñ) · (A(n) − ñ)0
+ 2(A(b) − b̃) · (A(b) − b̃)0

= 2 k(A(t) − t̃) · (A(n) − ñ) − k(A(n) − ñ) · (A(t) − t̃)

− τ (A(n) − ñ) · (A(b) − b̃) + τ (A(b) − b̃) · (A(n) − ñ)
= 0.

Therefore A(t(s)) = t̃(s), A(n(s)) = ñ(s) and A(b(s)) = b̃(s).


Similarly the difference ψα(s) − α̃(s) must vanish:

d
(ψα(s) − α̃(s)) = A(t) − ˜(t) = 0,
ds
so ψα(s) − α̃(s) is constant, and hence equal to ψα(s0 ) − α̃(s0 ) = 0.
Existence. The proof uses the existence (and uniqueness) theorem for solutions of ordinary differential
equations and we omit it. Section 1.5, exercise 9 (p24), do Carmo does this result in the plane and he
has the full proof in the appendix to chapter 4.

Lecture Summary

• Geometric definition of curvature using circles;


dθ(s)
• k0 (s) = ;
ds
• Frenet equations giving derivative of Frenet frame (t, n, b);

• There exists a regular curve with any given smooth curvature and torsion, and this curve is unique
up to rigid motions.

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