Paper 2, Section II, F

Geometry
Part IB, 2013

Let AA and BB be disjoint circles in C\mathbb{C}. Prove that there is a Möbius transformation which takes AA and BB to two concentric circles.

A collection of circles XiC,0in1X_{i} \subset \mathbb{C}, 0 \leqslant i \leqslant n-1, for which

  1. XiX_{i} is tangent to A,BA, B and Xi+1X_{i+1}, where indices are modn\bmod n;

  2. the circles are disjoint away from tangency points;

is called a constellation on (A,B)(A, B). Prove that for any n2n \geqslant 2 there is some pair (A,B)(A, B) and a constellation on (A,B)(A, B) made up of precisely nn circles. Draw a picture illustrating your answer.

Given a constellation on (A,B)(A, B), prove that the tangency points XiXi+1X_{i} \cap X_{i+1} for 0in10 \leqslant i \leqslant n-1 all lie on a circle. Moreover, prove that if we take any other circle Y0Y_{0} tangent to AA and BB, and then construct YiY_{i} for i1i \geqslant 1 inductively so that YiY_{i} is tangent to A,BA, B and Yi1Y_{i-1}, then we will have Yn=Y0Y_{n}=Y_{0}, i.e. the chain of circles will again close up to form a constellation.