625 research outputs found
On tangents to quadric surfaces
We study the variety of common tangents for up to four quadric surfaces in
projective three-space, with particular regard to configurations of four
quadrics admitting a continuum of common tangents.
We formulate geometrical conditions in the projective space defined by all
complex quadric surfaces which express the fact that several quadrics are
tangent along a curve to one and the same quadric of rank at least three, and
called, for intuitive reasons: a basket. Lines in any ruling of the latter will
be common tangents.
These considerations are then restricted to spheres in Euclidean three-space,
and result in a complete answer to the question over the reals: ``When do four
spheres allow infinitely many common tangents?''.Comment: 50 page
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