All Questions
4 questions
39
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Surfaces filled densely by a geodesic
Which smooth, closed surfaces $S \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ have no
single geodesic $\gamma$ that fills $S$ densely?
Say a geodesic $\gamma$ "fills $S$ densely" if the closure of the set of points
...
29
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is every closed curve in 3D a geodesic on a genus-0 surface?
Let $\gamma$ be a smooth, closed, unknotted curve embedded in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
Q. Does there always exist a smooth, embedded, genus-zero surface
$S \subset \mathbb{R}^3$
such that $\gamma$ is a (...
23
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can we make distances in a finite subset of a manifold whatever we want?
Given a connected smooth manifold $M$ of dimension $m>1$, points $p_1,\dots,p_n\in M$ and positive values $\{d_{i,j};1\leq i<j\leq n\}$ satisfying the strict triangle inequalities $d_{i,j}<d_{...
12
votes
3
answers
988
views
Primary definition of a geodesic
I am wondering if there is a sense in which one of these definitions
for a geodesic on a smooth Riemannian manifold is primary to the other.
A geodesic has acceleration zero, i.e., it is self-...