In 1992 Du and Hwang published a paper confirming the correctness of a well known 1968 conjecture of Gilbert and Pollak suggesting that the Euclidean Steiner ratio for the plane is 2/3. The original objective of this thesis was to adapt the technique used in this proof to obtain results for other Minkowski spaces. In an attempt to create a rigorous and complete version of the proof, some known results were given new proofs (results for hexagonal trees and for the rectilinear Steiner ratio) and some new results were obtained (on approximation of Steiner ratios and on transforming Steiner trees). The most surprising result, however, was the discovery of a fundamental gap in the proof of Du and Hwang. We give counter examples demonstrating that a statement made about inner spanning trees, which plays an important role in the proof, is not correct. There seems to be no simple way out of this dilemma, and whether the Gilbert-Pollak conjecture is true or not for any number of points seems once again to be an open question. Finally we consider the question of whether Du and Hwang's strategy can be used for cases where the number of points is restricted. After introducing some extra lemmas, we are able to show that the Gilbert-Pollak conjecture is true for 7 or fewer points. This is an improvement on the 1991 proof for 6 points of Rubinstein and Thomas. / Mathematical Sciences / Ph. D. (Mathematics)

Nesta tese, investigamos a geometria de curvas no 3-espaço e no 4-espaço de Minkowski usando a teoria de singularidades, mais especificamente, a teoria de contato. Para isto, estudamos as famílias de funções altura e de funções distância ao quadrado sobre as curvas. Os conjuntos discriminantes e conjuntos de bifurcação destas famílias são ferramentas essenciais para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho. Para curvas no 3-espaço de Minkowski, estudamos seus conjuntos focais e conjunto de bifurcação da família de funções distância ao quadrado sobre estas curvas para investigar o que acontece próximo de pontos tipo luz. Estudamos também os conjuntos focais e conjuntos de bifurcação esféricos de curvas nos espaços de Sitter do 3-espaço e do 4-espaço de Minkowski. Definimos imagens normal Darboux pseudo-esféricas de curvas sobre uma superfície tipo tempo no 3-espaço de Minkowski e estudamos as singularidades e propriedades geométricas destas imagens normal Darboux. Além disso, investigamos a relação da imagem normal Darboux de Sitter (hiperbólica) de uma curva tipo espaço em S21 com a superfície tipo luz ao longo desta curva tipo espaço. Definimos as superfícies horoesférica e dual hiperbólica de curvas tipo espaço no espaço de Sitter S31 e estudamos estas superfícies usando técnicas da teoria de singularidades. Damos uma relação entre estas superfícies do ponto de vista de dualidades Legendrianas. Finalmente, consideramos curvas sobre uma hipersuperfície tipo espaço no 4-espaço de Minkowski e definimos a superfície hiperbólica desta curva. Estudamos a geometria local da superfície hiperbólica e da curva hiperbólica, que é definida como sendo o local das singularidades da superfície hiperbólica. / We study in this thesis the geometry of curves in Minkowski 3-space and 4-space using singularity theory, more specifically, the contact theory. For this we study the families of height functions and of the distance square functions on the curves. The discriminant sets and bifurcation sets of these families are essential tools in our work. For curves in Minkowski 3-space, we study their focal sets and the bifurcation set of the family of the distance square functions on these curves in order to investigate what happens near the lightlike points. We also study the spherical focal sets and bifurcation sets of curves in the de Sitter space in Minkowski 3-space and 4-space. We define pseudo-spherical normal Darboux images of curves on a timelike surface in Minkowski 3-space and study the singularities and geometric properties of these normal Darboux images. Furthermore, we investigate the relation of the de Sitter (hyperbolic) normal Darboux image of a spacelike curve in S21 with the lightlike surface along this spacelike curve. We define the horospherical and hyperbolic dual surfaces of spacelike curves in de Sitter space S31 and study these surfaces using singularity theory technics. We give a relation between these surfaces from the view point of Legendrian dualities. Finally, we consider curves on a spacelike hypersurface in Minkowski 4-space and define the hyperbolic surface of this curve. We study the local geometry of the hyperbolic surface and of the hyperbolic curve that is defined as being the locus of singularities of the hyperbolic surface.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2014-08-06T11:17:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Volumes_e_curvaturas_medias_na_geometria_de_finsler.pdf: 818570 bytes, checksum: fce77ff7f92ae9cc2bf9af2aa0318c4c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-06T11:17:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Volumes_e_curvaturas_medias_na_geometria_de_finsler.pdf: 818570 bytes, checksum: fce77ff7f92ae9cc2bf9af2aa0318c4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-16 / In Finsler geometry, we have several volume forms, hence various of mean curvature forms. The two best known volumes forms are the Busemann-Hausdorff and Holmes- Thompson volume form. The minimal surface with respect to these volume forms are called BH-minimal and HT-minimal surface, respectively. Let (R3; eFb) be a Minkowski space of Randers type with eFb = ea+eb; where ea is the Euclidean metric and eb = bdx3; 0 < b < 1: If a connected surface M in (R3; eFb) is minimal with respect to both volume forms Busemann-Hausdorff and Holmes-Thompson, then up to a parallel translation of R3; M is either a piece of plane or a piece of helicoid which is generated by lines screwing along the x3-axis. Furthermore it gives an explicit rotation hypersurfaces BH-minimal and HT-minimal generated by a plane curve around the axis in the direction of eb] in Minkowski (a;b)-space (Vn+1; eFb); where Vn+1 is an (n+1)-dimensional real vector space, eFb = eaf eb ea ; ea is the Euclidean metric, eb is a one form of constant length b = kebkea; eb] is the dual vector of eb with respect to ea: As an application, it give us an explicit expression of surface of rotation “ forward” BH-minimal generated by the rotation around the axis in the direction of eb] in Minkowski space of Randers type (V3; ea+eb): / Na Geometria de Finsler, temos várias formas volume, consequentemente várias formas curvaturas médias. As duas mais conhecidas são as formas de volumes Busemann- Hausdorff e Holmes-Thompson. As superfícies mínimas com respeito a estes são chamados superfícies BH-mínimas e HT-mínimas, respectivamente. Seja (R3; eFb) um espaço de Minkowski do tipo Randers com eFb = ea+eb; onde ea é a métrica Euclidiana e eb = bdx3;0 < b < 1: Uma superfície em (R3; eFb) conexa M é mínima com respeito a ambas formas volumes Busemann-Hausdorff e Holmes-Thompson, então a menos de uma translação paralela de R3; M é parte de um plano ou parte de um helicóide, a qual é gerada pela rotação de uma reta (perpendicular ao eixo x3) ao longo do eixo x3: Ademais podemos obter explicitamente hipersuperfícies de rotação BH-mínima e HT-mínima geradas por uma curva plana em torno do eixo na direção de eb] num espaço (a; b) de Minkowski (Vn+1; eFb); onde Vn+1 é um espaço vetorial de dimensão (n+1); eFb = eaf eb ea ; ea é a métrica Euclidiana, eb é uma 1-forma constante com norma b := kebkea; eb] é o vetor dual de eb com respeito a a: Como aplicação, se dá uma expressão explícita de superfície de rotação completa “forward” BH-mínima gerada pela rotação em torno do eixo na direção de eb] num espaço de Minkowski do tipo Randers (V3; ea+eb):

The results presented in this dissertation refer to the geometry of Minkowski spaces, i.e., of real finite-dimensional Banach spaces. First we study geometric properties of radial projections of bisectors in Minkowski spaces, especially the relation between the geometric structure of radial projections and Birkhoff orthogonality. As an application of our results it is shown that for any Minkowski space there exists a number, which plays somehow the role that $\sqrt2$ plays in Euclidean space. This number is referred to as the critical number of any Minkowski space. Lower and upper bounds on the critical number are given, and the cases when these bounds are attained are characterized. Moreover, with the help of the properties of bisectors we show that a linear map from a normed linear space $X$ to another normed linear space $Y$ preserves isosceles orthogonality if and only if it is a scalar multiple of a linear isometry. Further on, we examine the two tangent segments from any exterior point to the unit circle, the relation between the length of a chord of the unit circle and the length of the arc corresponding to it, the distances from the normalization of the sum of two unit vectors to those two vectors, and the extension of the notions of orthocentric systems and orthocenters in Euclidean plane into Minkowski spaces. Also we prove theorems referring to chords of Minkowski circles and balls which are either concurrent or parallel. All these discussions yield many interesting characterizations of the Euclidean spaces among all (strictly convex) Minkowski spaces. In the final chapter we investigate the relation between the length of a closed curve and the length of its midpoint curve as well as the length of its image under the so-called halving pair transformation. We show that the image curve under the halving pair transformation is convex provided the original curve is convex. Moreover, we obtain several inequalities to show the relation between the halving distance and other quantities well known in convex geometry. It is known that the lower bound for the geometric dilation of rectifiable simple closed curves in the Euclidean plane is $\pi/2$, which can be attained only by circles. We extend this result to Minkowski planes by proving that the lower bound for the geometric dilation of rectifiable simple closed curves in a Minkowski plane $X$ is analogously a quarter of the circumference of the unit circle $S_X$ of $X$, but can also be attained by curves that are not Minkowskian circles. In addition we show that the lower bound is attained only by Minkowskian circles if the respective norm is strictly convex. Also we give a sufficient condition for the geometric dilation of a closed convex curve to be larger than a quarter of the perimeter of the unit circle.

In 1992 Du and Hwang published a paper confirming the correctness of a well known 1968 conjecture of Gilbert and Pollak suggesting that the Euclidean Steiner ratio for the plane is 2/3. The original objective of this thesis was to adapt the technique used in this proof to obtain results for other Minkowski spaces. In an attempt to create a rigorous and complete version of the proof, some known results were given new proofs (results for hexagonal trees and for the rectilinear Steiner ratio) and some new results were obtained (on approximation of Steiner ratios and on transforming Steiner trees). The most surprising result, however, was the discovery of a fundamental gap in the proof of Du and Hwang. We give counter examples demonstrating that a statement made about inner spanning trees, which plays an important role in the proof, is not correct. There seems to be no simple way out of this dilemma, and whether the Gilbert-Pollak conjecture is true or not for any number of points seems once again to be an open question. Finally we consider the question of whether Du and Hwang's strategy can be used for cases where the number of points is restricted. After introducing some extra lemmas, we are able to show that the Gilbert-Pollak conjecture is true for 7 or fewer points. This is an improvement on the 1991 proof for 6 points of Rubinstein and Thomas. / Mathematical Sciences / Ph. D. (Mathematics)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:02:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Superficies helicoidais.pdf: 906474 bytes, checksum: 1d89336393ea70fe9a7948ddebe670f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-31 / In this work, based in [2] and [6] we studies helicoidal surfaces of the Euclidean space and Minkowski space R31 with prescribed Gaussian or mean curvature given by smooth functions. In the Minkowski space we consider three especial kinds of helicoidal surfaces, corresponding to the space-like, time-like or light-like axes of revolution and show some geometric meanings of the helicoidal surfaces of the space-like type. We also define certain solinoid (tubular) surfaces around a hyperbolic helix in R31and we study some of their geometric properties. / Neste trabalho, baseado nos artigos [2] e [6] estudamos superfícies helicoidais no Espaço Euclidiano e no Espaço de Minkowski R31 com curvatura média ou Gaussiana dada por funções diferenciáveis. No Espaço de Minkowski R31 , consideramos três tipos especiais de superfícies helicoidais, correspondendo aos eixos de revolução space-like, time-like ou light-like e apresentamos alguns significados geométricos de superfícies helicoidais do tipo space-like. Também definimos superfícies (tubulares) solenóides em torno de uma hélice hiperbólica em R31 e estudamos algumas de suas propriedades geométricas.

Nesta tese, investigamos a geometria de curvas no 3-espaço e no 4-espaço de Minkowski usando a teoria de singularidades, mais especificamente, a teoria de contato. Para isto, estudamos as famílias de funções altura e de funções distância ao quadrado sobre as curvas. Os conjuntos discriminantes e conjuntos de bifurcação destas famílias são ferramentas essenciais para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho. Para curvas no 3-espaço de Minkowski, estudamos seus conjuntos focais e conjunto de bifurcação da família de funções distância ao quadrado sobre estas curvas para investigar o que acontece próximo de pontos tipo luz. Estudamos também os conjuntos focais e conjuntos de bifurcação esféricos de curvas nos espaços de Sitter do 3-espaço e do 4-espaço de Minkowski. Definimos imagens normal Darboux pseudo-esféricas de curvas sobre uma superfície tipo tempo no 3-espaço de Minkowski e estudamos as singularidades e propriedades geométricas destas imagens normal Darboux. Além disso, investigamos a relação da imagem normal Darboux de Sitter (hiperbólica) de uma curva tipo espaço em S21 com a superfície tipo luz ao longo desta curva tipo espaço. Definimos as superfícies horoesférica e dual hiperbólica de curvas tipo espaço no espaço de Sitter S31 e estudamos estas superfícies usando técnicas da teoria de singularidades. Damos uma relação entre estas superfícies do ponto de vista de dualidades Legendrianas. Finalmente, consideramos curvas sobre uma hipersuperfície tipo espaço no 4-espaço de Minkowski e definimos a superfície hiperbólica desta curva. Estudamos a geometria local da superfície hiperbólica e da curva hiperbólica, que é definida como sendo o local das singularidades da superfície hiperbólica. / We study in this thesis the geometry of curves in Minkowski 3-space and 4-space using singularity theory, more specifically, the contact theory. For this we study the families of height functions and of the distance square functions on the curves. The discriminant sets and bifurcation sets of these families are essential tools in our work. For curves in Minkowski 3-space, we study their focal sets and the bifurcation set of the family of the distance square functions on these curves in order to investigate what happens near the lightlike points. We also study the spherical focal sets and bifurcation sets of curves in the de Sitter space in Minkowski 3-space and 4-space. We define pseudo-spherical normal Darboux images of curves on a timelike surface in Minkowski 3-space and study the singularities and geometric properties of these normal Darboux images. Furthermore, we investigate the relation of the de Sitter (hyperbolic) normal Darboux image of a spacelike curve in S21 with the lightlike surface along this spacelike curve. We define the horospherical and hyperbolic dual surfaces of spacelike curves in de Sitter space S31 and study these surfaces using singularity theory technics. We give a relation between these surfaces from the view point of Legendrian dualities. Finally, we consider curves on a spacelike hypersurface in Minkowski 4-space and define the hyperbolic surface of this curve. We study the local geometry of the hyperbolic surface and of the hyperbolic curve that is defined as being the locus of singularities of the hyperbolic surface.

Στην παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή μελετάμε τρία Προβλήματα που αναφέρονται στην Ψευδο-Ευκλείδεια Γεωμετρία. Στα δύο πρώτα Κεφάλαια, Κεφάλαιο 1 και Κεφάλαιο 2 αναφέρουμε γνωστά αποτελέσματα και περιγράφουμε βασικές έννοιες της Ρημάννιας και Ψευδό - Ρημάννιας Γεωμετρίας. Στο Κεφάλαιο 3 μελετάμε επιφάνειες εκ περιστροφής στον τρισδιάστατο Lorentz - Minkowski χώρο ικανοποιώντας δοσμένη γεωμετρική συνθήκη. Στο Κεφάλαιο 4 βρίσκουμε όλες τις κανονικές μορφές του τελεστή σχήματος των τρισδιάστατων υπερεπιφανειών τύπου (-, +, -) του τετρασδιάστατου Ψευδο - Ευκλείδειου χώρου τύπου (-, +, -, +). Τέλος, στο Κεφάλαιο 5 μελετάμε τη σχέση που υπάρχει μεταξύ των διαρμονικών και ελαχιστικών υπερεπιφανειών που αναφέρθηκαν στο Κεφάλαιο 4, χρησιμοποιώντας τον τελεστή σχήματός τους. Ειδικότερα, αποδεικνύουμε ότι κάθε τέτοια διαρμονική υπερεπιφάνεια είναι ελαχιστική. / In the present PH.D. thesis we study three problems referred in the pseudo-Euclidean geometry. In the first two chapters, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, we review known results and describe the basic notions of the Riemannian and Pseudo-Riemannian geometry. In Chapter 3, we study surfaces of revolution of the three dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space satisfying given geometric condition. In Chapter 4, we find all the canonical forms of the shape operator of the three dimensional hypersurfaces of signature (-, +, -) of the four dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space of signature (-, +, -, +). Finally, in Chapter 5, we study the relation which exists between the biharmonic and minimal hypersurfaces referred in Chapter 4, by using their shape operator. Precisely, we prove that every such biharmonic hypersurface is minimal.

L'étude des espaces-temps plats singuliers munis d'une surface de Cauchy polyédrale est motivée par leur rôle de model jouet de gravité quantique proposé par Deser, Jackiw et 'T Hooft. Cette thèse porte sur les paramétrisations de certaines classes d'espaces-temps plat singuliers : les espaces-temps plats avec particules massives et BTZ Cauchy-compacts maximaux. Deux paramétrisations sont proposées, l'une reposant sur une extension du théorème de Mess aux espaces-temps plats avec BTZ et la surface de Penner-Epstein, l'autre reposant sur une généralisation du théorème d'Alexandrov aux espaces-temps plats avec particules massives et BTZ. Ce travail propose également une amorce de cadre théorique permettant de considérer des espaces-temps singuliers plus généraux. / The study of singular flat spacetimes with polyhedral Cauchy-surfaces is motivated by the quantum gravity toy model role they play in the seminal work of Deser, Jackiw and 'T Hooft. This thesis study parametrisations of classes of singular flat spacetimes : Cauchy-compact maximal flat spacetimes with massive and BTZ-like singularities. Two parametrisations are constructed. The first is based on an extension of Mess theorem to flat spacetimes with BTZ and Penner-Epstein convex hull construction. The second is based on a generalisation of Alexandrov polyhedron theorem to radiant Cauchy-compact flat spacetimes with massive and BTZ-like singularities. This work also initiate a wider theoretical background that encompass singular spacetimes.

The results presented in this dissertation refer to the geometry of Minkowski spaces, i.e., of real finite-dimensional Banach spaces. First we study geometric properties of radial projections of bisectors in Minkowski spaces, especially the relation between the geometric structure of radial projections and Birkhoff orthogonality. As an application of our results it is shown that for any Minkowski space there exists a number, which plays somehow the role that $\sqrt2$ plays in Euclidean space. This number is referred to as the critical number of any Minkowski space. Lower and upper bounds on the critical number are given, and the cases when these bounds are attained are characterized. Moreover, with the help of the properties of bisectors we show that a linear map from a normed linear space $X$ to another normed linear space $Y$ preserves isosceles orthogonality if and only if it is a scalar multiple of a linear isometry. Further on, we examine the two tangent segments from any exterior point to the unit circle, the relation between the length of a chord of the unit circle and the length of the arc corresponding to it, the distances from the normalization of the sum of two unit vectors to those two vectors, and the extension of the notions of orthocentric systems and orthocenters in Euclidean plane into Minkowski spaces. Also we prove theorems referring to chords of Minkowski circles and balls which are either concurrent or parallel. All these discussions yield many interesting characterizations of the Euclidean spaces among all (strictly convex) Minkowski spaces. In the final chapter we investigate the relation between the length of a closed curve and the length of its midpoint curve as well as the length of its image under the so-called halving pair transformation. We show that the image curve under the halving pair transformation is convex provided the original curve is convex. Moreover, we obtain several inequalities to show the relation between the halving distance and other quantities well known in convex geometry. It is known that the lower bound for the geometric dilation of rectifiable simple closed curves in the Euclidean plane is $\pi/2$, which can be attained only by circles. We extend this result to Minkowski planes by proving that the lower bound for the geometric dilation of rectifiable simple closed curves in a Minkowski plane $X$ is analogously a quarter of the circumference of the unit circle $S_X$ of $X$, but can also be attained by curves that are not Minkowskian circles. In addition we show that the lower bound is attained only by Minkowskian circles if the respective norm is strictly convex. Also we give a sufficient condition for the geometric dilation of a closed convex curve to be larger than a quarter of the perimeter of the unit circle.