Abstract
If (M 2,g) is a surface with Riemannian metric, then a family of immersed curves C t | 0 ≤ t < T on M 2 evolves by Curve Shortening if where K g is the geodesic curvature, and v is a unit normal to the curve. Since K g v can be written as where s is arclength along C, (1) is essentially a parabolic equation, i.e. a nonlinear heat equation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
S.B. Angenent, The zeroset of a solution of a parabolic equation, J.reine u.angewandte Mathematik, 390 (1988) 79–96.
S.B. Angenent, Parabolic Equations for Curves on Surfaces II, Ann of Math. 133 (1991), 171–215.
V.I. Arnol’d, Topological Invariants of Plane Curves and Caustics, A.M.S. University Lecture Series 5 (1994).
V.I. Arnol’d, On the number of flattening points of space curves, Report No. 1, 1994/1995 Institut Mittag-Leffler, to appear in Advances in Soviet Mathematics (1995).
M. Grayson & R.S. Hamilton, The heat equation shrinking plane convex curves, J. of Diff. Geom., 23 (1986) 69–96.
M.A. Grayson, Shortening embedded curves, Annals of Math., 129 (1989) 71–111.
C. Sturm, Mémoire sur une classe d’équations à différences partielles, J.Math.Pures at Appl. 1 (1836) 373–444.
G. Sapiro & A. Tannenbaum, On Affine plane Curve Shortening, J.Funct.Anal. 119 (1994) 79–120.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Angenent, S. (1999). Inflection Points, Extatic Points and Curve Shortening. In: Simó, C. (eds) Hamiltonian Systems with Three or More Degrees of Freedom. NATO ASI Series, vol 533. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4673-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4673-9_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5968-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4673-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive