Paper 3, Section II, F

Geometry
Part IB, 2013

Show that the set of all straight lines in R2\mathbb{R}^{2} admits the structure of an abstract smooth surface SS. Show that SS is an open Möbius band (i.e. the Möbius band without its boundary circle), and deduce that SS admits a Riemannian metric with vanishing Gauss curvature.

Show that there is no metric d:S×SR0d: S \times S \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}, in the sense of metric spaces, which

  1. induces the locally Euclidean topology on SS constructed above;

  2. is invariant under the natural action on SS of the group of translations of R2\mathbb{R}^{2}.

Show that the set of great circles on the two-dimensional sphere admits the structure of a smooth surface SS^{\prime}. Is SS^{\prime} homeomorphic to SS ? Does SS^{\prime} admit a Riemannian metric with vanishing Gauss curvature? Briefly justify your answers.