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Differentiable Manifolds in Compact Surfaces 📂Geometry

Differentiable Manifolds in Compact Surfaces

Definition1

  • Let us say Br={pR3:pr}\overline{B}_{r} = \left\{ p \in \mathbb{R}^{3} : \left| p \right| \le r \right\}. If for a surface MR3M \subset \mathbb{R}^{3}, there exists rr that satisfies the following, then MM is said to be bounded. MBr M \subset \overline{B}_{r}

  • If every sequence of points {pn}\left\{ p_{n} \right\} on MM satisfies the following equation, in other words, converges to point pp on MM, then MM is said to be closed.

limnpn=p,pM \exist \lim\limits_{n \to \infty}p_{n} = p,\quad p \in M

  • If the surface MM is bounded and closed, it is said to be compact.

Explanation

The above definitions simply redefine boundedness, closedness, and compactness, which were defined in R\mathbb{R}, for surfaces.

Lemma

Let MM be a compact surface, say r=min{rMBr}r = \min \left\{r | M \subset \overline{B_{r}}\right\}. Then, there exists pMp \in M such that p=r\left| p \right| = r. In other words,

pM such that p=randMSr \exists p \in M \text{ such that } \left| p \right| = r \quad \text{and} \quad M\cap S_{r} \ne \varnothing

Here, SrS_{r} is a sphere with radius rr.

Proof

Let’s say n>0n \gt 0 for rn=r1nr_{n} = r - \dfrac{1}{n}. Then,

MBrn M - \overline{B_{r_{n}}} \ne \varnothing

Now, let’s say pjMBrjp_{j} \in M - \overline{B_{r_{j}}}. Then, since MM is bounded and pjMp_{j} \in M, there exists a convergent subsequence to some point pR3p \in \mathbb{R}^{3}.

subsequnce {pnj} such that limjpnj=pR3 \exists \text{subsequnce } \left\{ p_{n_{j}} \right\} \text{ such that } \lim\limits_{j\to \infty} p_{n_{j}} = p \in \mathbb{R}^{3}

Since MM is closed,

pM,p=r p \in M,\quad \left| p \right| = r

Theorem

Let MM be a compact surface. Then, there exists a point pp with positive Gaussian curvature.

pM such that K(p)>0 \exists p \in M \text{ such that } K(p) \gt 0

Proof

By the lemma,

r=min{r:MBr}    SrM r = \min\left\{ r : M \subset \overline{B_{r}}\right\} \implies S_{r} \cap M \ne \varnothing

Claim: K(p)>0K(p) \gt 0 for any pSrMp \in S_{r}\cap M

Let’s say pSrMp \in S_{r}\cap M. Then, SrS_{r} and MM have the same unit normal vector at pp. Therefore, the tangent plane at point pp is the same.

TpSr=TpM T_{p}S_{r} = T_{p}M

Now, let’s say XTpSrTpM\mathbf{X} \in T_{p}S_{r} \cap T_{p}M. And let’s consider the plane generated by Π\Pi as {n,X}\left\{\mathbf{n}, X\right\}. Then, the normal curvature of MM in the direction X\mathbf{X}, κn\kappa_{n}, is the same as the curvature of the curve ΠM\Pi \cap M. However, this has the same sign as the normal curvature of SrS_{r} at pp. Therefore, κn1r\left| \kappa_{n} \right| \ge \frac{1}{r}, and if κ1,κ2\kappa_{1}, \kappa_{2} is called the principal curvature,

K=κ1κ21r2>0 K = \kappa_{1}\kappa_{2} \ge \dfrac{1}{r^{2}} \gt 0


  1. Richard S. Millman and George D. Parker, Elements of Differential Geometry (1977), p174 ↩︎