On the Affine Image of a Rational Surface of Revolution

We study the properties of the image of a rational surface of revolution under a nonsingular affine mapping. We prove that this image has a notable property, namely that all the affine normal lines, a concept that appears in the context of affine differential geometry, created by Blaschke in the first decades of the 20th century, intersect a fixed line. Given a rational surface with this property, which can be algorithmically checked, we provide an algorithmic method to find a surface of revolution, if it exists, whose image under an affine mapping is the given surface; the algorithm also finds the affine transformation mapping one surface onto the other. Finally, we also prove that the only rational affine surfaces of rotation, a generalization of surfaces of revolution that arises in the context of affine differential geometry, and which includes surfaces of revolution as a subtype, affinely transforming into a surface of revolution are the surfaces of revolution, and that in that case the affine mapping must be a similarity.

Surface theory in discrete projective differential geometry. I. A canonical frame and an integrable discrete Demoulin system

We present the first steps of a procedure which discretizes surface theory in classical projective differential geometry in such a manner that underlying integrable structure is preserved. We propose a canonical frame in terms of which the associated projective Gauss-Weingarten and Gauss-Mainardi-Codazzi equations adopt compact forms. Based on a scaling symmetry which injects a parameter into the linear Gauss-Weingarten equations, we set down an algebraic classification scheme of discrete projective minimal surfaces which turns out to admit a geometric counterpart formulated in terms of discrete notions of Lie quadrics and their envelopes. In the case of discrete Demoulin surfaces, we derive a Bäcklund transformation for the underlying discrete Demoulin system and show how the latter may be formulated as a two-component generalization of the integrable discrete Tzitzéica equation which has originally been derived in a different context. At the geometric level, this connection leads to the retrieval of the standard discretization of affine spheres in affine differential geometry.

The Bountiful Intersection of Differential Geometry, Mechanics, and Control Theory

The areas of mechanics and control theory have a rich and productive history of interaction with the broad mathematical subject of differential geometry. This article provides an overview of these sorts of interplay in the areas of Riemannian and affine differential geometry and the geometry of vector distributions. It emphasizes areas where differential geometric methods have played a crucial role in solving problems whose solutions are difficult to achieve without access to these methods. It also emphasizes a concise and elegant presentation of the approach, rather than a detailed and concrete presentation. The results overviewed, while forming a coherent and elegant body of work, are limited in scope. The review closes with a discussion of why the approach is limited and a brief consideration of issues that must be resolved before the results of the type presented here can be extended.