arXiv research

Simple lifts of non-simple curves on surfaces.

Characterizes covers using simple closed curves on surfaces.

The paper characterizes simple closed curves on surfaces using profinite rigidity.

Study on frequencies of non-simple curves in surfaces of large genus.

Mirzakhani obtained the asymptotic growth, when $L\to\infty$, of the number of curves in the mapping class group orbit of some given simple curve and with length at most $L$. Years later she extended this result from simple to arbitrary curves. Here we give a short and relative low-tech argument showing how to derive t…

Curvature criteria for A-simple singularities and their parallel curves identified.

When geometric structures on surfaces are determined by the lengths of curves, it is natural to ask: which curves' lengths do we really need to know? It is a result of Duchin--Leininger--Rafi that any flat metric induced by a unit-norm quadratic differential is determined by its marked simple length spectrum. We genera…

Simple curves enclose two small disks if they're wide and bend moderately.

The paper examines how closed curves on surfaces intersect and how this intersection determines the curves.

Let M be a compact, orientable, mean convex 3-manifold with boundary. We show that the set of all simple closed curves in the boundary of M which bound unique area minimizing disks in M is dense in the space of simple closed curves in the boundary of M which are nullhomotopic in M. We also show that the set of all simp…

Simple closed curves in ε-boundaries separate sets in the plane.

Homotopy types of curve and arc complexes are studied.

We produce a sequence of finite dimensional representations of the fundamental group $π_1(S)$ of a closed surface where all simple closed curves act with finite order, but where each non--simple closed curve eventually acts with infinite order. As a consequence, we obtain a representation theoretic algorithm which deci…

Conditions for simple closed curves in surface covers.

While the equality of differential signatures (Calabi et al, Int. J. Comput. Vis. 26: 107-135, 1998) is known to be a necessary condition for congruence, it is not sufficient (Musso and Nicolodi, J. Math Imaging Vis. 35: 68-85, 2009). Hickman (J. Math Imaging Vis. 43: 206-213, 2012, Theorem 2) claimed that for non-dege…

If $Γ$ is the range of a Jordan curve that bounds a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^2,$ then $\frac{1}{2}(Γ+Γ)=\mathsf{co}(Γ),$ where $+$ is the Minkowski sum and $\mathsf{co}$ is the convex hull. Answering a question of V.N. Ushakov, we construct a simple closed curve in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with range $Γ$ such that $\frac{1}{2}(…

Study shortest non-separating curves on non-orientable surfaces, proving NP-hardness and tractability.

It is shown that various questions about the existence of simple closed curves in normal subgroups of surface groups are undecidable.

Automorphisms of fine 1-curve graph linked to surface homeomorphisms.

We prove algebraic analogues of the facts that a curve on a surface with self-intersection number zero is homotopic to a cover of a simple curve, and that two simple curves on a surface with intersection number zero can be isotoped to be disjoint.

Study on moduli spaces of sextic curves with simple singularities and their compactifications.

Study earthquake deformations on a once-punctured torus.

We give optimal lower bounds for the number of sextactic points on a simple closed curve in the real projective plane. Sextactic points are after inflection points the simplest projectively invariant singularities on such curves. Our method is axiomatic and can be applied in other situations.

The paper proves rigidity of length identities for simple closed curves on hyperbolic surfaces.

Suppose that $M$ is a $2$-dimensional oriented Riemannian manifold, and let $γ$ be a simple closed curve on $M$. Let $m γ$ denote the curve formed by tracing $γ$ $m$ times. We prove that if $m γ$ is contractible through curves of length less than $L$, then $γ$ is contractible through curves of length less than $L$. In …

In this paper we provide a classification of fundamental group elements representing simple closed curves on the punctured Klein bottle, Similar to the Birman-Series classification of curves on the punctured torus[1]. In the process, an explicit description of the mapping class group is given. We then apply this to giv…

We construct simple curves from immersed curves in the setting of handlebodies and Heegaard splittings. We define a measure of complexity we call girth for closed curves in a handlebody. We extend this complexity to Heegaard splittings and pose a conjecture about all Heegaard splittings. We prove a test case of this co…

In this paper, we give several results on area minimizing surfaces in strictly mean convex 3-manifolds. First, we study the genus of absolutely area minimizing surfaces in a compact, orientable, strictly mean convex 3-manifold M bounded by a simple closed curve in the boundary of M. Our main result is that for any g>=0…

We consider collections of disjoint simple closed curves in a compact orientable surface which decompose the surface into pairs of pants. The isotopy classes of such curve systems form the vertices of a 2-complex, whose edges correspond to certain simple moves in which only one curve changes, and whose 2-cells correspo…

In this note, we develop a condition on a closed curve on a surface or in a 3-manifold that implies that the curve has the property that its length function on the space of all hyperbolic structures on the surface or 3-manifold completely determines the curve. For an orientable surface $S$ of negative Euler characteris…

Random simple closed curves map Teichmüller space to geodesic currents.

Characterizes unknotted curves on Seifert surfaces of twist knots.

We show that for every positive integer n there is a simple closed curve in the plane (which can be taken infinitely differentiable and convex) which has exactly n inscribed squares.

Given a pair of curves C_1 and C_2 on a hyperbolic surface F, when does there exist a pseudo-Anosov map sending one to another? More generally, one may ask the same question for C_i to be sets of disjoint simple closed curves. We will give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such maps.

Goldman and Turaev found a Lie bialgebra structure on the vector space generated by non-trivial free homotopy classes of curves on a surface. When the surface has non-empty boundary, this vector space has a basis of cyclic reduced words in the generators of the fundamental group and their inverses. We give a combinator…

Determinants of theta curves and symmetric graphs are studied.

Survey on geodesics on tetrahedra in curved spaces.

We give bounds on the number of non-simple closed curves on a negatively curved surface, given upper bounds on both length and self-intersection number. In particular, it was previously known that the number of all closed curves of length at most $L$ grows exponentially in $L$. We get exponentially tighter bounds given…

Let $N_g^k$ be a nonorientable surface of genus \ $g\geq 5$ \ with \ $k$-punctures. In this note, we will give an algebraic characterization of a Dehn twist about a simple closed curve on $N_g^k$. Along the way, we will fill some little gaps in the proofs of some theorems in \cite{A} and \cite{I1} giving algebraic char…

Characterizes when curves form bouquets in surfaces.

We provide new results and new proofs of results about the torsion of curves in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Let $γ$ be a smooth curve in $\mathbb{R}^3$ that is the graph over a simple closed curve in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with positive curvature. We give a new proof that if $γ$ has nonnegative (or nonpositive) torsion, then $γ$ has zero …

Globally irreducible nodes (i.e. nodes whose branches belong to the same irreducible component) have mild effects on the most common topological invariants of an algebraic curve. In other words, adding a globally irreducible node (simple nodal degeneration) to a curve should not change them a lot. In this paper we stud…

We prove that there is a true asymptotic formula for the number of one sided simple closed curves of length $\leq L$ on any Fuchsian real projective plane with three points removed. The exponent of growth is independent of the hyperbolic structure, and it is noninteger, in contrast to counting results of Mirzakhani for…

Spheres in curve complexes are almost simply connected.

We present a loop group description for curves in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and apply it to classify the circletons: Circles dressed by simple factors.

Curve shortening in metric-affine plane shrinks convex curves to points.

The study finds at least two short, simple geodesic chords on a disk with convex boundary.

Study finds minimum lengths of curves on a one-holed torus.