1. Introduction
One of the essential goals of the vintage differential geometry is the debate on some categories of surfaces with specific properties in both Minkowski 3-space
and Euclidean 3-space
such as ruled and developable surfaces, minimal surfaces, etc. [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10]. A ruled surface is a type of surface that is generated by a moving line that travels along a given curve. The distinct attitudes of the designing lines are the rulings of the surface. Developable surfaces are a specific type of ruled surface, characterized by the property that all points lying on the same generating line share the same tangent plane. It is worth noting that the Gaussian curvature vanishes everywhere on the surface, and the generating lines can be viewed as curvature lines exhibiting the vanishing normal curvature. Hence, the application of ruled surfaces in various fields, including product design, manufacturing, locomotion analysis, imitation of rigid bodies, and model-based target admission frameworks, has been extensive. There is a substantial body of literature available on the subject, which includes various monographs (see, e.g., [
11,
12,
13]).
A canonical
is a subset of surfaces that are relatively easier to systematically and kinematically characterize. There exist two distinct categories of canonical
(see, e.g., [
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20]). The first surface is referred to as the canonical
, whereas the second surface is known as the non-canonical
. The cross-section of a canonical
is a circle, and the normal of the circle plane is largely symmetrical to the cross-section. Previous work has discussed other classes of the canonical
, including the tubular surface, pipe surface, string, and canal surface. These classes exhibit comparative diversity. Occasionally, certain books on differential geometry have made a distinction by referring to them as offset surfaces. The term “canonical
” refers to the surface that encompasses a collection of circles with variable radii [
16]. A non-canonical
is characterized by having a non-circular cross-section and a circle plane with a normal vector that is notably not parallel to the normal vector of the cross-section.
There is an adjacent organization within ruled surfaces and
. The characteristics of a tangential ruled surface are straight lines, which are tangential to the limit of regression. The limit of regression interprets the singular points of the tangential developable surface. Izumiya et al. [
17] utilized the technique of mobile frames to inspect the
with steady radii. They focused on several symmetrical characteristics of
with ruled surfaces, and reconnoitred the singularities of
. In the Minkowski 3-space
, the Lorentzian metric possesses three possible Lorentzian causal characteristics, namely positive, negative, or zero. In contrast, the metric in Euclidean 3-space
, can only be positive definite. Hence, the kinematic and geometric aspects can yield additional significance in the context of
[
3,
4,
5].
The current study encompasses the following parts: In
Section 2, we sum up the applicable definitions and consequences on curves and surfaces in Minkowski 3-space
. In
Section 3, we explain and research geometrical characteristics and singularities of
with steady radii via those of ruled surfaces. Then we extend the characteristics of
to a certain sort of
coined
. Meanwhile, we designed new epitomes with figures supporting our idea of how to organize
and
.
2. Basic Concepts
This section provides a concise overview of the theory of curves and surfaces in Minkowski 3-space
[
3,
4,
5]. Let
denote the Minkowski 3-space. For any
the Lorentzian metric
can be represented by
Considering that
is not positive definite, it follows that there are three distinct types of vectors in
. A vector
is a spacelike (
) if
or
, a
if
, and a lightlike (
) or null if
and
. Likewise, a regular curve in
can be
,
, or null (
), if all of its tangent vectors are
,
, or null (
), respectively. For any two vectors
and
of
, the vector product is
where
,
,
is the canonical basis of
. For
, the norm is specified by
, and the Lorentzian and hyperbolic unit spheres are, respectively,
and
The surface
M in
is denoted by
The unit vector normal is
, where
. The first fundamental form
I is represented by
where
,
. The 2nd fundamental form
is pointed by
where
,
. The Gaussian curvature
K and the mean curvature
H, respectively, are
where
.
Definition 1. M in is a () surface if its normal vector is a () vector [14,15]. 3. Timelike Circular Surfaces
This section focuses on the characterization of . Assume a non-null curve , that is, a curve with such that for every , and a positive number . Then a can be defined as the surface that is generated by a one-parameter family of Lorentzian circles, where the centers of these circles lie on the given curve . Each Lorentzian circle can be described as a creating (generating) circle that lies on a plane referred to as the circle plane. Let symbolize the unit normal vector of a Lorentzian circle plane and be linked with any point of the spine curve , given radii r of the created Lorentzian circle; a is represented by both and . The spherical image of is a or curve on a Lorentzian unit sphere, that is, . In this work, we will study the with the non-null spine curve , and the spherical image of is a curve of class with k sufficiently large.
If
v is the arc length of the spherical image of
, then the Blaschke frame is
Then, the Blaschke formulae are
where
is the spherical (geodesic) curvature function of
. Further,
and
form a basis of the Lorentzian circle plane at each point of
. The tangent vector of
is
where
,
, and
are the curvature functions (invariants) of
. Therefore, for a positive value of
r, and according to the differential system Equation (
4), it is possible to obtain a
M as follows:
where
creates the Lorentzian circle [
15,
16,
17]. It is evident that Equation (
6) assigns a technique for constructing
with a specified radii
as
where
is a steady vector. The invariants
,
,
, and
allow the geometric advantages of
M with
. In this work, we remove
with
being a constant vector, whose geometrical ownerships are of little benefit.
Through rigorous computational analysis, we obtain
Then,
The
unit vector is
where
Further, we have
Then,
The Gaussian and mean curvatures can be acquired, respectively, as
and
Definition 2. For a M, we have the following:
(1) M is a canal (tubular) surface if γ is perpendicular to the Lorentzian circular plane, that is, χχ, χ, and satisfy (2) M is a non-canal ( ) if γ is tangent to the Lorentzian circular plane, that is, χχ, χ, and satisfy Therefore, the Lorentzian sphere, the canal surface, and the correspond to the cone, the cylinder surface, and the tangent developable surface, respectively. Hence, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the characteristics of , particularly in relation to their similarities to ruled surfaces.
Example 1. In the next discussion, we will postulate the canal surface for which the parametric curves are principal lines. Since , from Equations (9) and (13) it follows that . If we substitute this into Equation (4), we obtain the ODE . The curve that satisfies this ODE is a great circle on . For example, a great circle can be represented as . The normal vector can be given from as . Thus . In this case, via Equation (7), can be specified bywhere is a fixed point. Then, the canal surface pencil is With , Figure 1 and Figure 2 show members in the pencil with , v and . 3.1. Striction Curve
The striction curve of a ruled surface is significant for studying the singularities. Then, we expound a parallel idea for a
as follows. The curve
is a striction curve on
M if and only if
From Equations (
5) and (
18), it follows that
From Equation (
19), it can be found that
Thus, from Equations (
6) and (
20), the striction curve is
Hence, it may be concluded that any
which is non-canal (either tangential or a
) possesses a single striction curve. As a result, by utilizing Equations (
16) and (
21), all curves on the
canal surface are transverse to the created circle, that is,
. Thus,
canal surfaces have similarities to Lorentzian cylindrical surfaces.
3.2. Principal Lines and Local Singularities
Principal lines and singularities are significat features of and are indicated as follows.
3.2.1. Principal Lines
From Equations (
9) and (
13), the
-curves and
v-curves are commonly not principal lines (
). Then, it can be shown that the
-curve is a principal line if and only if
for all the values of
. Then, after some algebraic calculations, we have
Hence, we have the following situations:
Situation (a)—If
, then
, that is, the spine curve is a steady point. This signifies that
M is a Lorentzian sphere with radii
r, that is,
Situation (b)—If , the spine curve is perpendicular to the Lorentzian circular plane, that is, . This demonstrates that the vector is perpendicular to the normal plane at every point along the spine curve . In the current situation, the surface denoted as M can be characterized as a canal surface, which is constructed by a spine curve that possesses properties.
Situation (c)—If
, then
, in other words, the
tangent vector of the spine curve occurring in the the normal plane at any given location along the spine curve. In the current situation, the surface denoted as
M can be described as a
tangential
(
). This surface is generated by a spine curve that is
. Further, if
is steady, it follows that
where
is a constant vector. From Equations (
6) and (
23), it can be obtained that
This demonstrates that all the Lorentzian circles lie on a Lorentzian sphere of radii , having as its center point in .
Therefore, we present the following theorem.
Theorem 1. In addition to the , there exist two sets of non- characterized by their generating Lorentzian circles being principal lines. The aforementioned sets consist of and Lorentzian spheres, wherein the radii of the spheres are greater than those of the generating Lorentzian circles.
A comprehensive analysis of the characteristics and properties of a tangent () will be provided in the subsequent sections.
3.2.2. Singularities
From Equation (
11),
M has a singular point at (
,
) if and only if
which leads to the two (linearly attached) equations:
Thus, we inspect the following:
Situation (A). When . For M to have a singular point, it is necessary that . Thus, we have the following:
(a) If
, and
, then the singular points are at
. Since
, we obtain
. Further, one can see that
Hence, the
M exhibits a singular point located at (
,
) such that
Subsequently, it can be shown that the M possesses a singular point located at (, ), where the inequality holds.
(b) If , then we obtain . Thus, the singular point of M is at (, ) such that , and .
Situation (B). When
. In this situation, it is necessary that
. Let
, which leads to
. Then, we attain
, which leads to
. Then, in view of Equation (
21), the striction curve is specified by
. Further, if
, then the spine curve
also has a singular point at
.
The above considerations are illustrated by the following example:
Example 2. Via Example 1, in terms of the Blaschke frame with , we have We discuss the following:
(i) If and , then Taking the integral with zero integration gives It may be observed that γ does not possess any singular points (Figure 3). Then, via the conditions of Equation (26), we have Subsequently, considering Equation (21), the striction curve is The M with the spine curve is obtained by Singularities become manifest on the striction curve (blue), where , and (Figure 4). (ii) Let , , and . Then . Similarly, we derivewhich has a cusp at (Figure 5). The striction curve is The with the spine curve is Singularities appear on the striction curve (blue), where , , and (Figure 6). (iii) If and , then we have
, which is a . By the integration, we obtainwhich contains a cusp point at (Figure 7). The canal with the spine curve is given by The existence of a singular point at on the M can be easily observed by Situation (B) of singularity. For , , and the surface is explained in Figure 8. 3.3. Timelike Roller Coaster Surfaces
are appointed to be those for which the tangent vector of spine curve
is lying in the Lorentzian circle plane at each point of
. This signifies that
or
. We will take
, and
. If so, such a surface is a
with a
spine curve, that is,
. Then, the norm
can be specified by
From Equation (
27), it follows that singularities only appear if
, and
. Then, from Equation (
21), the striction curve is given by
Since
, the Gaussian and mean curvatures are
Equation (
29) shows that the Gaussian and mean curvatures, whose simplifications make substantial use of the situation of a surface in the space, are not based on the geodesic curvature of the spherical indicatrix of
, but only on
and
. However, if a pencil of
has the identical value of
, then the values of their Gaussian and mean curvatures are identical at the matching points, which is a geometrically significant observation. Hence, we may state the following:
Theorem 2. If a set of possesses the same radii r, invariant , and its derivative , then the Gaussian curvature and principal lines at corresponding points are the same. Furthermore, it should be noted that these values are independent of the geodesic curvature of .
Since every generating Lorentzian circle is a principal line, the value of one principal curvature is
The other principal curvature is
Therefore, it is possible to formulate the subsequent corollary:
Corollary 1. The principal line of a is steady on each Lorentzian circle.
However, to conclude with the kinematic geometry of a
, it is necessary to construct the Serret–Frenet (
) of the spine curve
. Then, let
s be the arc length of the
spine curve
and
, ∀
, where the
frame of
can be represented as
where
Then, the
equations are
where
From Equation (
31), it follows that if
is steady, the
spine curve
is a helix. From Equations (
6) and (
30), we have
Further, the striction curve is
Therefore, we not only ascertain the existence of the , but we also provide a precise characterization of the surface. This has significant importance in terms of practical applications.
A flat surface is one with zero Gaussian curvature. For
M to be a flat surface, we have
Then, for all
, we obtain
From Equations (
31) and (
34),
via the
invariant becomes
Thus, in a neighborhood of all points on M, we find that is a non-zero constant. So, a with is a part of a plane. Comparably, we find that M is a minimal flat surface. Thus, we have the following corollary:
Corollary 2. All the flat minimal are subsets of Lorentzian planes.
Example 3. Let be a helix specified bywhere , , and . Then, Thus, the pencil is For and , , and the with the spine curve (green) is shown in Figure 9. Singularities become evident on the striction curves (blue). It is clear that has no singular point; see Figure 10. 4. Conclusions
Through the differential procedure of the mobile frame, the geometrical characteristics of the
are demonstrated, and their geometrical significance is discussed. In addition, the situations for
to be flat or minimal surfaces are studied. Lastly, some interpretative epitomes were furnished. Additionally, interdisciplinary discussions can supply worthy unprecedented insights, but synthesizing treatises across corrections with highly assorted standards, shapes, designation, and procedures requires an appropriate approach. Recently, there has been a growth of noteworthy studies that explore various topics such as symmetry, the analysis of molecular cluster geometry, submanifold theory, singularity theory, eigenproblems, and related subjects [
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27,
28,
29]. In future works, we plan to investigate the
and their singularities in order to enhance the results presented in this paper. We will also explore the approaches and results discussed in [
26,
27,
28,
29] to further improve our analysis.