A3.7

Geometry of Surfaces
Part II, 2003

(i) Suppose that CC is a curve in the Euclidean (ξ,η)(\xi, \eta)-plane and that CC is parameterized by its arc length σ\sigma. Suppose that SS in Euclidean R3\mathbb{R}^{3} is the surface of revolution obtained by rotating CC about the ξ\xi-axis. Take σ,θ\sigma, \theta as coordinates on SS, where θ\theta is the angle of rotation.

Show that the Riemannian metric on SS induced from the Euclidean metric on R3\mathbb{R}^{3} is

ds2=dσ2+η(σ)2dθ2d s^{2}=d \sigma^{2}+\eta(\sigma)^{2} d \theta^{2}

(ii) For the surface SS described in Part (i), let eσ=/σe_{\sigma}=\partial / \partial \sigma and eθ=/θe_{\theta}=\partial / \partial \theta. Show that, along any geodesic γ\gamma on SS, the quantity g(γ˙,eθ)g\left(\dot{\gamma}, e_{\theta}\right) is constant. Here gg is the metric tensor on SS.

[You may wish to compute [X,eθ]=XeθeθX\left[X, e_{\theta}\right]=X e_{\theta}-e_{\theta} X for any vector field X=Aeσ+BeθX=A e_{\sigma}+B e_{\theta}, where A,BA, B are functions of σ,θ\sigma, \theta. Then use symmetry to compute Dγ˙(g(γ˙,eθ))D_{\dot{\gamma}}\left(g\left(\dot{\gamma}, e_{\theta}\right)\right), which is the rate of change of g(γ˙,eθ)g\left(\dot{\gamma}, e_{\theta}\right) along γ\gamma.]