1. Introduction
The theory of dual numbers, introduced by Clifford [
1] in 1873, has played a fundamental role in the development of kinematics and line geometry. Subsequently, E. Study [
2] established a one-to-one correspondence between oriented lines in Euclidean three-dimensional space and points on the dual unit sphere, which is now known as the E. Study mapping. This correspondence provides an effective geometric framework in which differentiable dual spherical curves can be associated with ruled surfaces in line space. The extension of the E. Study mapping to space-like and time-like lines in Minkowski 3-space has also been investigated, establishing a correspondence between directed lines and ordered pairs in Lorentzian geometry [
3].
Ruled surfaces and their dual representations have attracted considerable attention due to their applications in differential geometry, kinematics, and motion theory. In this context, Önder and Uğurlu [
4] characterized normal and spherical curves in dual space and obtained fundamental geometric relations for ruled surfaces. Later, Yapar and Sağıroğlu [
5] introduced curvature motions on the dual hyperbolic unit sphere and investigated the associated ruled surfaces and line congruences by means of E. Study’s correspondence.
Integral invariants are among the most important tools for the global analysis of ruled surfaces. Özyılmaz and Yaylı [
6] studied the integral invariants of time-like ruled surfaces and derived relations involving dual spherical motions and dual angles of pitch. Bektaş and Şenyurt [
7] investigated ruled surfaces generated by closed time-like curves in dual Lorentzian space and obtained several characterizations in terms of pitch, angle of pitch, and drall invariants. More recently, Gür Mazlum, Şenyurt, and Grilli [
8] examined dual parallel equidistant ruled surfaces and established new relations between Gaussian curvatures and dual integral invariants.
Recent studies have further expanded the theory of dual curves, dual frames, and their associated ruled surfaces. Gilani et al. [
9] investigated dual curves and dual focal curves in dual Lorentzian space and established relationships between dual frames and curvature properties. In a related study, Çalışkan [
10] examined dual Darboux ruled surfaces and discussed geometric relations between dual curves and ruled surface invariants. Moreover, investigations based on dual spherical indicatrices and E. Study correspondence have continued to provide new perspectives for the characterization of ruled surfaces [
11,
12]. These studies demonstrate that dual geometric methods remain an effective approach for analyzing the differential properties and global invariants of ruled surfaces.
Although significant progress has been achieved in the study of ruled surfaces, dual spherical motions, and integral invariants, several aspects of dual Lorentzian closed strips remain unexplored. In particular, while dual integral invariants such as pitch, angle of pitch, and drall have been extensively studied in Euclidean and certain Lorentzian settings, a unified framework for these invariants associated with dual Lorentzian closed strips has not yet been established. Furthermore, explicit relations between the dual Darboux–Ribaucour frame, dual integral invariants, and the corresponding Lorentzian line-space quantities require further investigation.
Motivated by these considerations, this paper develops a systematic study of dual Lorentzian closed strips in Lorentzian line space . The main contributions of this work can be summarized as follows:
A dual Lorentzian closed strip together with its associated dual Darboux–Ribaucour moving frame is introduced, and the corresponding differential characterizations are obtained.
Explicit formulas for the dual integral invariants, including dual angles of pitch, dual pitches, and dralls of the ruled surfaces generated by the frame vectors, are derived. Moreover, fundamental relations among these invariants are established.
By means of E. Study’s correspondence, the obtained dual results are transferred to Lorentzian line space . New expressions for the dual Lorentzian geodesic curvature, normal curvature, and geodesic torsion are derived, extending the theory of dual closed strips to the Lorentzian setting.
2. Preliminaries
Basic definitions and fundamental properties of dual numbers can be found in the work of Guggenheimer [
13]. The essential concepts of dual Lorentzian vectors, including the dual Lorentzian inner product and the Lorentzian cross product, are presented in detail by Şentürk and Yüce [
14].
A differentiable curve on the dual Lorentzian unit sphere is called a dual Lorentzian curve. Here, s denotes a real parameter, which is generally chosen as the arc-length parameter of the indicatrix . The dual arc-length of is denoted by where the real part s represents the arc length of the indicatrix, while the dual part describes the translational displacement associated with the corresponding ruled surface in the Lorentzian line space . The derivative of the dual position vector with respect to the dual arc-length parameter defines the unit dual tangent vector of the ruled surface and plays a fundamental role in its differential geometry.
Through E. Study’s correspondence, every differentiable curve on the dual Lorentzian unit sphere corresponds uniquely to a Lorentzian ruled surface, that is, to a differentiable one-parameter family of oriented lines in the Lorentzian line space.
Suppose that , is a dual Lorentzian closed timelike curve parametrized by the arc length s of its indicatrix. Since is a unit timelike vector tangent to the indicatrix, we have where the prime denotes differentiation with respect to s.
The relation
admits infinitely many solutions for the vector function
. If
is one such solution, then the general solution can be written as
where
is an arbitrary real-valued function. Taking the Lorentzian inner product yields
Choosing
ensures that
satisfies
. Consequently, the dual Lorentzian closed curve admits the unique representation
It should be noted that the vector function
is uniquely determined by the curve
. Accordingly, the dual arc length of
is given by
where
.
Definition 1.
Let us examine a Lorentz strip positioned along the dual Lorentzian closed curve within the dual Lorentzian space . This structure is identified as a dual Lorentzian closed strip. Depending on the geometric nature of the curve within this space, the strip is classified as follows: The strip is called a dual Lorentzian closed curvature, geodesic, or asymptotic strip if is a Lorentzian curvature line , geodesic curve , or asymptotic curve , respectively.
Throughout this paper, all strips and ruled surfaces are assumed to be positively oriented. From Equation (
3), we have
, or equivalently,
. Moreover, since
is equivalent to
, it follows that
. Consequently,
Now consider the orientable dual Lorentzian closed strip
, where
and
N is spacelike. Here,
. Defining the dual spacelike unit vector
, it follows immediately from Equation (
4) that
.
The trihedron
is called the dual timelike Darboux–Ribaucour frame associated with the dual Lorentzian closed strip. Here,
A is timelike, whereas
G and
N are spacelike. By applying the principles of inner products and their respective derivatives to these vectors, the system of differential equation governing the frame can be organized into the following matrix representation:
In Equation (
5), the dual functions
and
denote the dual geodesic curvature, dual normal curvature, and dual geodesic torsion of the dual Lorentzian closed strip, respectively.
Since
, it follows that
. Hence,
where
and
. Using the above relation, we obtain
and
where
and
. Here
,
, and
denote the geodesic curvature, normal curvature, and geodesic torsion of the indicatrix
x, respectively. Accordingly, Equations (7)–(9) provide explicit representations of the dual geodesic curvature, dual normal curvature, and dual geodesic torsion of the dual Lorentzian closed strip in terms of the corresponding real geometric invariants.
By means of E. Study’s mapping, the motion of the dual Lorentzian unit sphere K with respect to a fixed dual Lorentzian unit sphere represents the spatial kinematic relationship between the moving Lorentzian space H and the fixed Lorentzian space . Consequently, the one-parameter motion generates a closed Lorentzian ruled surface in the fixed space. The present study is based on the theory of dual Lorentzian spherical motions and E. Study’s correspondence established in the literature, with particular emphasis on the characterization of dual pitch, dual angle of pitch, and the associated integral invariants in the Lorentzian line space .
Definition 2.
The dual Lorentzian Steiner vector of the closed motion is defined bywhich is the dual analogue of the classical Steiner vector introduced in [15]. For a closed Lorentzian ruled surface
x in the Lorentzian line space
, the real angle of pitch is defined by
where
d denotes the real part of the Steiner vector associated with the motion. Likewise, the real pitch of the ruled surface is given by
where
d and
denote the real and dual parts of the dual Lorentzian Steiner vector, respectively [
15].
Definition 3.
Let be an orientable closed Lorentzian ruled surface satisfying . Using Equations (12) and (13), the dual angle of pitch of the ruled surface is defined as 3. Dual Pitch Angles of Closed Lorentzian Ruled Surfaces Generated by Vectors A, G, N and D
Definition 4.
Using Equations (11) and (14), the dual angles of pitch of the closed Lorentzian ruled surfaces generated in by the vectors A, G, and N are defined as follows:Equivalently, the real and dual components of are given byFor G,Equivalently, the real and dual components of are given bySimilarly for N,the real and dual components of are given by Consequently, substituting Equations (15)–(17) into the definition of the dual Lorentzian Steiner vector yields
Theorem 1.
During the one-parameter motion of the dual Lorentzian closed strip associated with the moving frame , the components of the dual Lorentzian Steiner vector are precisely the dual angles of pitch of the closed Lorentzian ruled surfaces generated in by the vectors A, G, and N.
Next, consider a fixed dual timelike unit vector
D attached to the moving frame
, defined by
where
and
are fixed dual hyperbolic angles. According to Definition 4, the dual angle of pitch of the closed Lorentzian ruled surface generated in
by the vector
D is given by
Substituting Equation (
18) into Equation (
20), we obtain
Separating the real and dual parts of Equation (
21) gives
Consequently, we can state the following theorem.
Theorem 2.
For the one-parameter motion associated with a dual Lorentzian closed strip, Equations (22) and (23) establish the relationships between the integral invariants of the Lorentzian line space and the real angles of pitch and real pitches of the closed Lorentzian ruled surfaces generated by the lines a, g, and n.
Furthermore, the distribution parameter of the closed Lorentzian ruled surface generated during the closed motion by a dual unit vector
is defined by
According to Equation (
24), the distribution parameters of the closed Lorentzian ruled surfaces generated by the vectors
A,
G,
N, and
D are given by
where
7. Conclusions
In this paper, a theoretical framework for dual Lorentzian closed strips was developed within the Lorentzian line space . By introducing the dual Darboux–Ribaucour moving frame associated with a dual Lorentzian closed strip, the differential properties of the strip were characterized through the dual geodesic curvature, dual normal curvature, and dual geodesic torsion. The obtained results provide explicit relations between these geometric quantities and the corresponding dual integral invariants.
The dual angles of pitch, dual pitches, and drall invariants of the ruled surfaces generated by the frame vectors , and an arbitrary fixed timelike vector D were derived. Moreover, several relations among these invariants were established for different special classes of dual Lorentzian closed strips, including curvature, geodesic, and asymptotic strips. Through E. Study’s correspondence, these results were interpreted in the Lorentzian line space, providing a geometric connection between dual spherical motions and ruled surface invariants.
The developed theoretical framework may provide a useful geometric foundation for applications involving spatial motions, kinematic modeling, and robotic mechanisms where Lorentzian line geometry and dual representations are relevant. In particular, the obtained invariant relations may contribute to the geometric description of constrained motions and motion planning problems. Furthermore, the Lorentzian formulation may offer potential connections with geometric models arising in relativistic settings, where the causal character of curves and surfaces plays an essential role.
Future research may focus on the computational realization of the obtained formulas, including numerical examples and application-oriented models. Extending the present results to other classes of dual Lorentzian motions, investigating the behavior of invariants under different causal conditions, and applying the developed theory to mechanical and robotic systems constitute promising directions for further studies.