Math 497C Oct 1, 20041
Curves and Surfaces
Fall 2004, PSU
Lecture Notes 7
1.17 The Frenet-Serret Frame and Torsion
Recall that if α : I → Rn is a unit speed curve, then the unit tangent vector
is defined as
T (t) := α0 (t).
Further, if κ(t) = kT 0 (t)k =
6 0, we may define the principal normal as
T 0 (t)
N (t) := .
κ(t)
As we saw earlier, in R2 , {T, N } form a moving frame whose derivatives
may be expressed in terms of {T, N } itself. In R3 , however, we need a third
vector to form a frame. This is achieved by defining the binormal as
B(t) := T (t) × N (t).
Then similar to the computations we did in finding the derivatives of {T, N },
it is easily shown that
0
T (t) 0 κ(t) 0 T (t)
N (t) = −κ(t) 0 τ (t) N (t) ,
B(t) 0 −τ (t) 0 B(t)
where τ is the torsion which is defined as
τ (t) := −hB 0 , N i.
Note that torsion is well defined only when κ 6= 0, so that N is defined.
Torsion is a measure of how much a space curve deviates from lying in a
plane:
1
Last revised: September 27, 2007
1
Exercise 1. Show that if the torsion of a curve α : I → R3 is zero everywhere
then it lies in a plane. (Hint: We need to check that there exist a point p
and a (fixed) vector v in R3 such that hα(t) − p, vi = 0. Let v = B, and p
be any point of the curve.)
Exercise 2. Computer the curvature and torsion of the circular helix
(r cos t, r sin t, ht)
where r and h are constants. How does changing the values of r and h effect
the curvature and torsion.
1.18 Curves of Constant Curvature and Torsion
The above exercise shows that the curvature and torsion of a circular helix
are constant. The converse is also true
Theorem 3. The only curve α : I → R3 whose curvature and torsion are
nonzero constants is the circular helix.
The rest of this section develops a number of exercises which leads to the
proof of the above theorem
Exercise 4. Show that α : I → R3 is a circular helix (up to rigid motion)
provided that there exists a vector v in R3 such that
hT, vi = const,
and the projection of α into a plane orthogonal to v is a circle.
So first we need to show that when κ and τ are constants, v of the above
exercise can be found. We do this with the aid of the Frenet-Serret frame.
Since {T, N, B} is an orthonormal frame, we may arite
v = a(t)T (t) + b(t)N (t) + c(t)B(t).
Next we need to find a, b and c subject to the condtions that v is a constant
vector, i.e., v 0 = 0, and that hT, vi = const. The latter implies that
a = const
because hT, vi = a. In particular, we may set a = 1.
2
Exercise 5. By setting v 0 = 0 show that
κ
v = T + B,
τ
and check that v is the desired vector, i.e. hT, vi = const and v 0 = 0.
So to complete the proof of the theorem, only the following remains:
Exercise 6. Show that the projection of α into a plane orthogonal to v, i.e.,
v
α(t) := α(t) − hα(t), vi
kvk2
is a circle. (Hint: Compute the curvature of α.)
1.19 Intrinsic Characterization of Spherical Curves
In this section we derive a characterization in terms of curvature and torsion
for unit speed curves which lie on a shphere. Suppose α : I → R3 lies on
a sphere of radius r. Then there exists a point p in R3 (the center of the
sphere) such that
kα(t) − pk = r.
Thus differentiation yields
hT (t), α(t) − pi = 0.
Differentiating again we obtain:
hT 0 (t), α(t) − pi + 1 = 0.
The above expression shows that κ(t) 6= 0. Consequently N is well defined,
and we may rewrite the above expression as
κ(t)hN (t), α(t) − pi + 1 = 0.
Differentiating for the third time yields
κ0 (t)hN (t), α(t) − pi + κ(t)h−κ(t)T (t) + τ (t)B(t), α(t) − pi = 0,
which using the previous expressions above we may rewrite as
κ0 (t)
− + κ(t)τ (t)hB(t), α(t) − pi = 0.
κ(t)
3
Next note that, since {T, N, B} is orthonormal,
r2 = kα(t) − pk2
= hα(t) − p, T (t)i2 + hα(t) − p, N (t)i2 + hα(t) − p, B(t)i2
1
= 0 + 2 + hα(t) − p, B(t)i2 .
κ (t)
Thus, combining the previous two calculations, we obtain:
s
κ0 (t) 1
− + κ(t)τ (t) r2 − 2 = 0.
κ(t) κ (t)
Exercise 7. Check the converse, that is supposing that the curvature and
torsion of some curve satisfies the above expression, verify whether the curve
has to lie on a sphere of radius r.
To do the above exercise, we need to first find out where the center p of
the sphere could lie. To this end we start by writing
p = α(t) + a(t)T (t) + b(t)N (t) + c(t)B(t),
and try to find a(t), b(t) and c(t) so that p0 = (0, 0, 0), and kα(t) − pk = r.
To make things easier, we may note that α(t) = 0 (why?). Then we just
need to find b(t) and c(t) subject to the two constraints mentioned above.
We need to verify whether this is possible, when κ and τ satisfy the above
expression.
1.20 The Local Canonical form
In this section we show that all C 3 curve in R3 essentially look the same in
the neighborhood of any point which has nonvanishing curvature and a given
sign for torsion.
Let α : (−, ) → R3 be a C 3 curve. By Taylor’s theorem
1 1
α(t) = α(0) + α0 (0)t + α00 (0)t2 + α000 (0)t3 + R(t)
2 6
4
where limt→0 |R(t)|/t3 = 0, i.e., for t small, the remainder term R(t) is neg-
ligible. Now suppose that α has unit speed. Then
α0 = T
α00 = T 0 = κN
α000 = (κN )0 = κ0 N + κ(−κT + τ B) = −κ2 T + κ0 N + τ B.
So we have
κ0 N0 t2 (−κ20 T0 + κ00 N0 + τ0 B0 )t3
α(t) = α(0) + T0 t + + + R(t)
2 6
κ2 κ0 κ0 −κ0 τ0 3
= α(0) + (t − 0 t3 )T0 + ( t2 + 0 t3 )N0 + ( t )B0 + R(t)
6 2 6 6
Now if, after a rigid motion, we suppose that α(0) = (0, 0, 0), T = (1, 0, 0),
N = (0, 1, 0), and B = (0, 0, 1), then we have
κ20 3 κ0 2 κ00 3
−κ0 τ0 3
α(t) = t − t + Rx , t + t + Ry , t + Rz ,
6 2 6 6
where (Rx , Ry , Rz ) = R. It follows then that when t is small
κ0 2 −κ0 τ0 3
α(t) ≈ t, t, t .
2 6
Thus, up to third order of differentiation, any curve with nonvanishing cur-
vature in space may be approximated by a cubic curve. Also note that the
above approximtion shows that any planar curve with nonvanishing curvature
locally looks like a parabola.
Exercise 8. Show that the curvature of a space curve α at a point t0 with
nonvanishing curvature is the same as the curvature of the projection of α
into the the osculating plane at time t0 . (The osculating plane is the plane
generated by T and N .
