Signature Sequence of Intersection Curve of Two Quadrics for Exact Morphological Classification

We present an efficient method for classifying the morphology of the intersection curve of two quadrics (QSIC) in PR3, 3D real projective space; here, the term morphology is used in a broad sense to mean the shape, topological, and algebraic properties of a QSIC, including singularity, reducibility, the number of connected components, and the degree of each irreducible component, etc. There are in total 35 different QSIC morphologies with non-degenerate quadric pencils. For each of these 35 QSIC morphologies, through a detailed study of the eigenvalue curve and the index function jump we establish a characterizing algebraic condition expressed in terms of the Segre characteristics and the signature sequence of a quadric pencil. We show how to compute a signature sequence with rational arithmetic so as to determine the morphology of the intersection curve of any two given quadrics. Two immediate applications of our results are the robust topological classification of QSIC in computing B-rep surface representation in solid modeling and the derivation of algebraic conditions for collision detection of quadric primitives

The Euclidean distance degree of smooth complex projective varieties

We obtain several formulas for the Euclidean distance degree (ED degree) of an arbitrary nonsingular variety in projective space: in terms of Chern and Segre classes, Milnor classes, Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, and an extremely simple formula equating the Euclidean distance degree of X with the Euler characteristic of an open subset of X

Genus six curves, K3 surfaces, and stable pairs

A general smooth curve of genus six lies on a quintic del Pezzo surface. In \cite{AK11}, Artebani and Kond\=o construct a birational period map for genus six curves by taking ramified double covers of del Pezzo surfaces. The map is not defined for special genus six curves. In this paper, we construct a smooth Deligne-Mumford stack $\mathfrak{P}_0$ parametrizing certain stable surface-curve pairs which essentially resolves this map. Moreover, we give an explicit description of pairs in $\mathfrak{P}_0$ containing special curves.Comment: This is v2. Exposition has been improved due to referee comments. To appear in IMR

Effective reconstruction of generic genus 4 curves from their theta hyperplanes

Effective reconstruction formulas of a curve from its theta hyperplanes are known classically in genus 2 (where the theta hyperplanes are Weierstrass points), and 3 (where, for a generic curve, the theta hyperplanes are bitangents to a plane quartic). However, for higher genera, no formula or algorithm are known. In this paper we give an explicit (and simple) algorithm for computing a generic genus 4 curve from it's theta hyperplanes.Comment: no content modification to previous version; presentation modification following referees comment

The implicit equation of a canal surface

A canal surface is an envelope of a one parameter family of spheres. In this paper we present an efficient algorithm for computing the implicit equation of a canal surface generated by a rational family of spheres. By using Laguerre and Lie geometries, we relate the equation of the canal surface to the equation of a dual variety of a certain curve in 5-dimensional projective space. We define the \mu-basis for arbitrary dimension and give a simple algorithm for its computation. This is then applied to the dual variety, which allows us to deduce the implicit equations of the the dual variety, the canal surface and any offset to the canal surface.Comment: 26 pages, to be published in Journal of Symbolic Computatio

Changing Views on Curves and Surfaces

Visual events in computer vision are studied from the perspective of algebraic geometry. Given a sufficiently general curve or surface in 3-space, we consider the image or contour curve that arises by projecting from a viewpoint. Qualitative changes in that curve occur when the viewpoint crosses the visual event surface. We examine the components of this ruled surface, and observe that these coincide with the iterated singular loci of the coisotropic hypersurfaces associated with the original curve or surface. We derive formulas, due to Salmon and Petitjean, for the degrees of these surfaces, and show how to compute exact representations for all visual event surfaces using algebraic methods.Comment: 31 page