On Weingarten transformations of hyperbolic nets

Weingarten transformations which, by definition, preserve the asymptotic lines on smooth surfaces have been studied extensively in classical differential geometry and also play an important role in connection with the modern geometric theory of integrable systems. Their natural discrete analogues have been investigated in great detail in the area of (integrable) discrete differential geometry and can be traced back at least to the early 1950s. Here, we propose a canonical analogue of (discrete) Weingarten transformations for hyperbolic nets, that is, C^1-surfaces which constitute hybrids of smooth and discrete surfaces "parametrized" in terms of asymptotic coordinates. We prove the existence of Weingarten pairs and analyse their geometric and algebraic properties.Comment: 41 pages, 30 figure

Deformation of Hypersurfaces Preserving the Moebius Metric and a Reduction Theorem

A hypersurface without umbilics in the n+1 dimensional Euclidean space is known to be determined by the Moebius metric and the Moebius second fundamental form up to a Moebius transformation when n>2. In this paper we consider Moebius rigidity for hypersurfaces and deformations of a hypersurface preserving the Moebius metric in the high dimensional case n>3. When the highest multiplicity of principal curvatures is less than n-2, the hypersurface is Moebius rigid. Deformable hypersurfaces and the possible deformations are also classified completely. In addition, we establish a Reduction Theorem characterizing the classical construction of cylinders, cones, and rotational hypersurfaces, which helps to find all the non-trivial deformable examples in our classification with wider application in the future.Comment: 51 pages. A mistake in the proof to Theorem 9.2 has been fixed. Accepted by Adv. in Mat

Integrable systems in projective differential geometry

Some of the most important classes of surfaces in projective 3-space are reviewed: these are isothermally asymptotic surfaces, projectively applicable surfaces, surfaces of Jonas, projectively minimal surfaces, etc. It is demonstrated that the corresponding projective "Gauss-Codazzi" equations reduce to integrable systems which are quite familiar from the modern soliton theory and coincide with the stationary flows in the Davey-Stewartson and Kadomtsev-Petviashvili hierarchies, equations of the Toda lattice, etc. The corresponding Lax pairs can be obtained by inserting a spectral parameter in the equations of the Wilczynski moving frame

Differential invariant signatures and flows in computer vision : a symmetry group approach

Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-44).Supported by the National Science Foundation. DMS-9204192 DMS-8811084 ECS-9122106 Supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. AFOSR-90-0024 Supported by the Rothschild Foundation-Yad Hanadiv and by Image Evolutions, Ltd.Peter J. Olver, Guillermo Sapiro, Allen Tannenbaum

Electron-positron pairs in physics and astrophysics: from heavy nuclei to black holes

From the interaction of physics and astrophysics we are witnessing in these years a splendid synthesis of theoretical, experimental and observational results originating from three fundametal physical processes. They were originally proposed by Dirac, by Breit and Wheeler and by Sauter, Heisenberg, Euler and Schwinger. The vacuum polarization process in strong electromagnetic field, pioneered by Sauter, Heisenberg, Euler and Schwinger, introduced the concept of critical electric field. It has been searched without success for more than forty years by heavy-ion collisions in many of the leading particle accelerators worldwide. The novel situation today is that these same processes can be studied on a much more grandiose scale during the gravitational collapse leading to the formation of a black hole being observed in Gamma Ray Bursts. This report is dedicated to the scientific race in act. The theoretical and experimental work developed in Earth-based laboratories is confronted with the theoretical interpretation of space-based observations of phenomena originating on cosmological scales. What has become clear in the last ten years is that all the three above mentioned processes, duly extended in the general relativistic framework, are necessary for the understanding of the physics of the gravitational collapse to a black hole. Vice versa, the natural arena where these processes can be observed in mutual interaction and on an unprecedented scale, is indeed the realm of relativistic astrophysics.Comment: to appear in Physics Reports, corrected proof

Geometrie

The program covered a wide range of new developments in geometry. To name some of them, we mention the topics “Metric space geometry in the style of Alexandrov/Gromov”, “Polyhedra with prescribed metric”, “Willmore surfaces”, “Constant mean curvature surfaces in three-dimensional Lie groups”. The official program consisted of 21 lectures and included four lectures by V. Schroeder (Zürich) and S. Buyalo (Sankt-Petersburg) on “Asymptotic geometry of Gromov hyperbolic spaces”