Skip to main content
Log in

Monge surfaces and planar geodesic foliations

  • Published:
Journal of Geometry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A Monge surface is a surface obtained by sweeping a generating plane curve along a trajectory that is orthogonal to the moving plane containing the curve. Locally, they are characterized as being foliated by a family of planar geodesic lines of curvature. We call surfaces with the latter property PGF surfaces, and investigate the global properties of these two naturally defined objects. The only compact orientable PGF surfaces are tori; these are globally Monge surfaces, and they have a simple characterization in terms of the directrix. We show how to produce many examples of Monge tori and Klein bottles, as well as tori that do not have a closed directrix.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bates, L., Melko, O.: On curves of constant torsion. I. J. Geom. 104, 213–227 (2013)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Bishop, R.: There is more than one way to frame a curve. Am. Math. Mon. 82, 246–251 (1975)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Brander, D., Gravesen, J.: Surfaces foliated by planar geodesics: a model for curved wood design. In: Swart, D., Séquin, C., Fenyvesi, K. (eds.) Proceedings of Bridges 2017: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture, Phoenix, Arizona, pp. 487–490 (2017). Tessellations Publishing. https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2017/bridges2017-487.pdf

  4. Chicone, C., Kalton, N.: Flat embeddings of the Möbius strip in \(R^3\). Commun. Appl. Nonlinear Anal. 9, 31–50 (2002)

  5. Darboux, G.: Lecons sur la théorie générale des surfaces, vol. I. Gauthier-Villars, Paris (1887)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Eisenhart, L.: A Treatise on the Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces. The Atheneum Press, Boston (1909)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Fenchel, W.: On the differential geometry of closed space curves. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 57, 44–54 (1951)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Monge, G.: Application de l’analyse a la géométrie, 5th edn. Bachelier, Paris (1850)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Raffy, L.: Sur les surfaces á lignes de courbure planes, dont les plans enveloppent un cylindre. Ann. de l’Éc. Norm. 3(18), 343–370 (1901)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Randrup, T., Røgen, P.: Sides of the Möbius strip. Arch. Math. 66, 511–521 (1996)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. Scherrer, W.: Eine Kennzeichnung der Kugel. Vierteljschr. Naturforsch. Ges. Zürich 85, 40–46 (1940)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Weiner, J.: Closed curves of constant torsion. II. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 67, 306–308 (1977)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Wunderlich, W.: Über ein abwickelbares Möbiusband. Monatsh. Math. 66, 276–289 (1962)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Brander.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Brander, D., Gravesen, J. Monge surfaces and planar geodesic foliations. J. Geom. 109, 4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00022-018-0413-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00022-018-0413-7

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

Navigation