Generalized Gauss maps and integrals for three-component links: toward higher helicities for magnetic fields and fluid flows, Part 2

We describe a new approach to triple linking invariants and integrals, aiming for a simpler, wider and more natural applicability to the search for higher order helicities of fluid flows and magnetic fields. To each three-component link in Euclidean 3-space, we associate a geometrically natural generalized Gauss map from the 3-torus to the 2-sphere, and show that the pairwise linking numbers and Milnor triple linking number that classify the link up to link homotopy correspond to the Pontryagin invariants that classify its generalized Gauss map up to homotopy. This can be viewed as a natural extension of the familiar fact that the linking number of a two-component link in 3-space is the degree of its associated Gauss map from the 2-torus to the 2-sphere. When the pairwise linking numbers are all zero, we give an integral formula for the triple linking number analogous to the Gauss integral for the pairwise linking numbers, but patterned after J.H.C. Whitehead's integral formula for the Hopf invariant. The integrand in this formula is geometrically natural in the sense that it is invariant under orientation-preserving rigid motions of 3-space, while the integral itself can be viewed as the helicity of a related vector field on the 3-torus. In the first paper of this series [math.GT 1101.3374] we did this for three-component links in the 3-sphere. Komendarczyk has applied this approach in special cases to derive a higher order helicity for magnetic fields whose ordinary helicity is zero, and to obtain from this nonzero lower bounds for the field energy.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1101.337

A new method to compute quasi-local spin and other invariants on marginally trapped surfaces

We accurately compute the scalar 2-curvature, the Weyl scalars, associated quasi-local spin, mass and higher multipole moments on marginally trapped surfaces in numerical 3+1 simulations. To determine the quasi-local quantities we introduce a new method which requires a set of invariant surface integrals, allowing for surface grids of a few hundred points only. The new technique circumvents solving the Killing equation and is also an alternative to approximate Killing vector fields. We apply the method to a perturbed non-axisymmetric black hole ringing down to Kerr and compare the quasi-local spin with other methods that use Killing vector fields, coordinate vector fields, quasinormal ringing and properties of the Kerr metric on the surface. Interesting is the agreement with the spin of approximate Killing vector fields during the phase of perturbed axisymmetry. Additionally, we introduce a new coordinate transformation, adapting spherical coordinates to any two points on the sphere like the two minima of the scalar 2-curvature on axisymmetric trapped surfaces.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

A Variational Level Set Approach for Surface Area Minimization of Triply Periodic Surfaces

In this paper, we study triply periodic surfaces with minimal surface area under a constraint in the volume fraction of the regions (phases) that the surface separates. Using a variational level set method formulation, we present a theoretical characterization of and a numerical algorithm for computing these surfaces. We use our theoretical and computational formulation to study the optimality of the Schwartz P, Schwartz D, and Schoen G surfaces when the volume fractions of the two phases are equal and explore the properties of optimal structures when the volume fractions of the two phases not equal. Due to the computational cost of the fully, three-dimensional shape optimization problem, we implement our numerical simulations using a parallel level set method software package.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, 3 table