A2.7

Geometry of Surfaces
Part II, 2003

(i) What are geodesic polar coordinates at a point PP on a surface MM with a Riemannian metric ds2d s^{2} ?

Assume that

ds2=dr2+H(r,θ)2dθ2d s^{2}=d r^{2}+H(r, \theta)^{2} d \theta^{2}

for geodesic polar coordinates r,θr, \theta and some function HH. What can you say about HH and dH/drd H / d r at r=0r=0 ?

(ii) Given that the Gaussian curvature KK may be computed by the formula K=H12H/r2K=-H^{-1} \partial^{2} H / \partial r^{2}, show that for small RR the area of the geodesic disc of radius RR centred at PP is

πR2(π/12)KR4+a(R),\pi R^{2}-(\pi / 12) K R^{4}+a(R),

where a(R)a(R) is a function satisfying limR0a(R)/R4=0\lim _{R \rightarrow 0} a(R) / R^{4}=0.