Isothermal coordinatesIn mathematics, specifically in differential geometry, isothermal coordinates on a Riemannian manifold are local coordinates where the metric is conformal to the Euclidean metric. This means that in isothermal coordinates, the Riemannian metric locally has the form where is a positive smooth function. (If the Riemannian manifold is oriented, some authors insist that a coordinate system must agree with that orientation to be isothermal.) Isothermal coordinates on surfaces were first introduced by Gauss.
Darboux frameIn the differential geometry of surfaces, a Darboux frame is a natural moving frame constructed on a surface. It is the analog of the Frenet–Serret frame as applied to surface geometry. A Darboux frame exists at any non-umbilic point of a surface embedded in Euclidean space. It is named after French mathematician Jean Gaston Darboux. Let S be an oriented surface in three-dimensional Euclidean space E3. The construction of Darboux frames on S first considers frames moving along a curve in S, and then specializes when the curves move in the direction of the principal curvatures.
Hilbert's theorem (differential geometry)In differential geometry, Hilbert's theorem (1901) states that there exists no complete regular surface of constant negative gaussian curvature immersed in . This theorem answers the question for the negative case of which surfaces in can be obtained by isometrically immersing complete manifolds with constant curvature. Hilbert's theorem was first treated by David Hilbert in "Über Flächen von konstanter Krümmung" (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (1901), 87–99). A different proof was given shortly after by E.
Pu's inequalityIn differential geometry, Pu's inequality, proved by Pao Ming Pu, relates the area of an arbitrary Riemannian surface homeomorphic to the real projective plane with the lengths of the closed curves contained in it. A student of Charles Loewner, Pu proved in his 1950 thesis that every Riemannian surface homeomorphic to the real projective plane satisfies the inequality where is the systole of . The equality is attained precisely when the metric has constant Gaussian curvature.
Filling area conjectureIn differential geometry, Mikhail Gromov's filling area conjecture asserts that the hemisphere has minimum area among the orientable surfaces that fill a closed curve of given length without introducing shortcuts between its points. Every smooth surface M or curve in Euclidean space is a metric space, in which the (intrinsic) distance dM(x,y) between two points x, y of M is defined as the infimum of the lengths of the curves that go from x to y along M.
Liouville's equationFor Liouville's equation in dynamical systems, see Liouville's theorem (Hamiltonian). For Liouville's equation in quantum mechanics, see Von Neumann equation. For Liouville's equation in Euclidean space, see Liouville–Bratu–Gelfand equation. In differential geometry, Liouville's equation, named after Joseph Liouville, is the nonlinear partial differential equation satisfied by the conformal factor f of a metric f^2(dx^2 + dy^2) on a surface of constant Gaussian curvature K: where ∆_0 is the flat Laplace operator Liouville's equation appears in the study of isothermal coordinates in differential geometry: the independent variables x,y are the coordinates, while f can be described as the conformal factor with respect to the flat metric.
Hyperbolic triangleIn hyperbolic geometry, a hyperbolic triangle is a triangle in the hyperbolic plane. It consists of three line segments called sides or edges and three points called angles or vertices. Just as in the Euclidean case, three points of a hyperbolic space of an arbitrary dimension always lie on the same plane. Hence planar hyperbolic triangles also describe triangles possible in any higher dimension of hyperbolic spaces. A hyperbolic triangle consists of three non-collinear points and the three segments between them.
Fundamental polygonIn mathematics, a fundamental polygon can be defined for every compact Riemann surface of genus greater than 0. It encodes not only the topology of the surface through its fundamental group but also determines the Riemann surface up to conformal equivalence. By the uniformization theorem, every compact Riemann surface has simply connected universal covering surface given by exactly one of the following: the Riemann sphere, the complex plane, the unit disk D or equivalently the upper half-plane H.
Principal curvatureIn differential geometry, the two principal curvatures at a given point of a surface are the maximum and minimum values of the curvature as expressed by the eigenvalues of the shape operator at that point. They measure how the surface bends by different amounts in different directions at that point. At each point p of a differentiable surface in 3-dimensional Euclidean space one may choose a unit normal vector. A normal plane at p is one that contains the normal vector, and will therefore also contain a unique direction tangent to the surface and cut the surface in a plane curve, called normal section.
Gaussian curvatureIn differential geometry, the Gaussian curvature or Gauss curvature Κ of a smooth surface in three-dimensional space at a point is the product of the principal curvatures, κ1 and κ2, at the given point: The Gaussian radius of curvature is the reciprocal of Κ. For example, a sphere of radius r has Gaussian curvature 1/r2 everywhere, and a flat plane and a cylinder have Gaussian curvature zero everywhere. The Gaussian curvature can also be negative, as in the case of a hyperboloid or the inside of a torus.
