All Questions
9 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
...
- 151k
26
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Ellipses on spheres (and other surfaces)
Define an ellipse $E$ on a sphere as the locus of points whose sum of
shortest geodesic distances to two foci $p_1$ and $p_2$ is a constant $d$.
There are conditions on $\{ p_1, p_2, d \}$ for this ...
- 151k
19
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Lightray trapped between two mirror disks: Computation formulation?
I would like to calculate the angle of a ray $r$ from a given
point $p$ such that it gets "stuck" reflecting between
two congruent mirror-disks.
For why there is such a ray, see the (amazing!) answer
...
- 151k
9
votes
2
answers
385
views
Transitive geodesics on closed surfaces of genus greater than one
A well-known result of Hedlund and Morse states that if a Riemannian metric on a closed surface of genus $g > 1$ has no conjugate points, then it carries transitive geodesics (i.e., geodesics whose ...
- 13.5k
5
votes
1
answer
320
views
Non-closed geodesics on a convex polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$
Let $P$ be the surface of a closed convex polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
Q. Does every non-closed geodesic $\gamma$ fill $P$ densely?
Of course $\gamma$ cannot pass through a vertex of $P$, but it ...
- 151k
3
votes
1
answer
249
views
length comparison on negatively curved surfaces
Suppose $g_1$, and $g_2$ are two Riemannian metrics on a closed surface $S$, provided that the Gaussian curvature $K_{g_1}$ $<$ $K_{g_2}\leq -1$. Denote by $\mathcal{C}$ the set of free homotopy ...
- 165
2
votes
0
answers
108
views
Does a smooth dynamical system always come with a metric
Warning: My education in formal mathematics is very weak so I apologize for any confusions/errors in the following, please don't hesitate to correct me.
Question: Consider a smooth dynamical system $...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
191
views
Geometric properties of solutions of Hamiltonian system
Context : We are interested in the following dynamic with state $(q,\varphi)$
$$
\dot q = \varepsilon F(q,\varphi), \quad \dot \varphi = \omega(q) + \varepsilon G(q,\varphi)
$$
($\varepsilon >0$ ...
- 141
1
vote
0
answers
117
views
Relation between the distance projective maps and their angles
Let $f:N \to \mathbb{R}^2$
be a differentiable map of smooth manifolds. Let $\mathbb{R}^2$ be decomposed as a direct sum of line bundles, i.e. $\mathbb{R}^2=E(x) \oplus F(x)$, where $F(x)$ and $E(x)$ ...
- 1,043