1. Introduction
A central topic in the study of space curves in Euclidean 3-space is the investigation of pairs of curves defined through relationships among their respective Frenet vector fields [
1]. From such geometric correspondences, several well-known families of curves, such as Bertrand, Mannheim, evolute, and involute curves, naturally arise as special cases [
2,
3]. These curve classes have attracted significant attention, and ongoing research continues to explore their properties and generalizations [
4,
5,
6,
7].
Another important consequence of these geometric relations is the appearance of space curves connected via the Combescure transformation. Two curves in Euclidean 3-space that correspond pointwise and have parallel tangent vectors at corresponding points are said to be related by this transformation [
8]. Under such a correspondence, the two curves share a common Frenet frame.
In [
9], various geometric properties of a curve
, obtained from a given curve
through a Combescure transformation in
, were analyzed. By exploiting the fact that these curves possess a common Frenet frame, an equivalence relation was introduced, and the corresponding equivalence classes were examined for specific families of curves. It was shown that all members of the equivalence class of a helix are themselves helices, and the same result holds for
k-slant helices. The Combescure transformation also finds applications in the theory of surfaces, manifold theory, and Riemannian spaces [
10,
11,
12,
13,
14]. However, since these topics lie beyond the scope of the present study, they will not be discussed here.
The theoretical framework developed for curves in Euclidean space has also been extended to spaces equipped with different metric structures. The most notable examples include three-dimensional Minkowski space and Minkowski spacetime. The differential geometry of curves in Minkowski space (or, more generally, in semi-Riemannian manifolds) has been extensively studied by both mathematicians and theoretical physicists.
In Minkowski 3-space, curves are classified as spacelike, timelike, or null (lightlike) depending on the causal character of their velocity vectors. It is well known that timelike and spacelike curves exhibit many analogous geometric properties [
15,
16]. However, the degeneracy of the induced metric along a null curve makes their study significantly more involved than in the non-degenerate cases. In Minkowski 3-space, non-null and pseudo-null curves associated with the Combescure transformation have been investigated in two separate studies [
17].
Since it constitutes a part of our study, let us provide a brief literature overview on the Vortex Filament and Da Rios equations and their solutions. The vortex filament equation is an evolution equation for space curves in
, first introduced by L. S. Da Rios [
18] to describe the motion of a one-dimensional vortex filament in an incompressible, inviscid fluid. If
denotes the position vector of the filament, it satisfies
which is known as the vortex filament equation. This relation was later rediscovered by Betchov, Arms, and Hama [
19,
20] as a local approximation of vortex tube evolution derived from the Biot–Savart law.
The vortex filament can also be regarded as a dynamical system on the space of curves in Minkowski 3-space [
21]. Motions that preserve the filament’s form correspond to travelling wave solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation [
22], and the associated soliton surface is called the Hasimoto surface (or NLS surface).
Geometrically, if
is a spacelike curve with a timelike normal (or binormal) vector field, the motion governed by the vortex filament equation generates a spacelike (or timelike) Hasimoto surface. These situations are related to the nonlinear heat system
as discussed in [
23]. Moreover, if
is timelike, the motion produces a timelike Hasimoto surface governed by the repulsive-type Schrödinger equation
which was analyzed in detail in [
24]. The vortex filament equation for null Cartan curves has been studied by Grbović and Nešović [
25]. The following significant results were obtained.
Theorem 1. Let α be a null Cartan curve in with the Cartan frame , and let S be a ruled surface defined bywhere ,
, and are differentiable functions of the pseudo-arc parameter s of α. Then S is a solution of the vortex filament Equation (1) if and only if: - 1.
α is a null Cartan helix with constant nonzero torsion , and S is a non-degenerate cylindrical ruled surface with spacelike or timelike rulings, given by - 2.
α is a null Cartan cubic, and S is a lightlike cylindrical ruled surface with null rulings, expressed as
Let us now summarize what has been accomplished in this study.
This paper is organized as follows. In
Section 2, Minkowski 3-space is first introduced, and the Frenet frame and curvatures of a Cartan null curve in this space are presented. In
Section 3, the Combescure mate of a Cartan null curve is defined, and the parametric equation of the Combescure mate is obtained by means of a differentiable function
C (Theorem 2). Furthermore, the relations between the Frenet vectors and curvatures of a Cartan null curve and its Combescure mate are derived (Theorem 3). Appropriate examples along with their graphical representations are also provided to illustrate the obtained results. In
Section 4, considering Theorem 1 mentioned in the introduction, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the differentiable function
C appearing in the parametrization of the conjugate curve are determined so that the ruled surface
, generated by the Cartan null curve associated with the Combescure transformation, also becomes a solution of the Da Rios vortex filament equation, provided that the ruled surface
S, generated by a given Cartan null curve, satisfies the same equation (Theorem 4). Appropriate examples together with their graphical representations are also presented. It should be noted that only the parametric equations of the obtained surfaces are derived, and no discussion is made regarding their differential geometric properties.
2. Preliminaries
Minkowski space
is a three-dimensional affine space endowed with an indefinite flat metric
with signature
. This means that metric bilinear form can be written as
for any two vectors
and
in
. Recall that a vector
is called spacelike, if
or
, timelike if
, and null (lightlike) if
and
. The norm of a vector
u is given by
, and two vectors
u and
v are said to be orthogonal if
. An arbitrary curve
in
can locally be spacelike, timelike or null (lightlike), if all its velocity vectors
are respectively spacelike, timelike or null. A null curve
is parameterized by pseudo-arc
s if
A spacelike or a timelike curve
has unit speed, if
[
15,
16]. The Lorentzian vector product of two vectors
u and
v is given by
A null curve
is called a null Cartan curve if it is parameterized by the pseudo-arc function
s defined by
Let
denote the moving Frenet frame along a curve
in
and
B, representing the tangent, principal normal, and binormal vector fields, respectively. Where
,
, the vector
B is a scalar multiple of the vector
, (by
we denote Euclidean cross product) satisfying
[
26].
It is known that there exists a unique Cartan frame
along a null Cartan curve
satisfying the Cartan equations [
27]:
where the first curvature
. The second curvature (torsion)
is an arbitrary function of the pseudo-arc parameter
s. The Cartan frame vectors of
satisfy the relations
3. Combescure-Related Cartan Null Curves in Minkowski 3-Space
In this section, we studied Combescure-related Cartan null curves in Minkowski 3-space. By constructing an explicit parametrization of the associated curve, we derive the relations between the corresponding Frenet frame elements under this transformation. The theoretical results are supported by a representative example, and the graphical illustration of the curves is also provided to visualize the geometric behavior of the transformation.
Definition 1. Let and be null curves in with Frenet apparatus and , respectively. If the tangent vectors at the corresponding points of φ and are parallel, these curves are called related by a transformation of Combescure.
Theorem 2. Let and be null curves in with Frenet apparatus and , respectively. Then φ and Combescure-related curves if and only if there exists differentiable function such thatwhere Proof. Let
and
be null curves in
with Frenet apparatus
and
, respectively. Assume that the vectors
T and
are parallel, and
where
and
w are differentiable functions on
Then differentiating (
6) with respect to
s and using the (
2), we obtain
By taking the scalar product of Equation (
7) with
and
respectively, and using the fact that
and
T are parallel, we obtain:
Let
be a differentiable function. If we take
, then from (
8), we obtain
Substituting (
9) in (
6) yields
Differentiating (
10) with respect to
s and using (
2), we obtain
Substituting (
10) in (
11) and the scalar product with itself, we have
Taking into account that the curve
is a pseudo arc-length parametrized Cartan null curve, it follows that
Conversely, we assume that
is given by
Differentiating (
13) with respect to
s and using Frenet frame, we get
We get that
and
are parallel, thus the Cartan null curves
and
are related by a transformation of Combescure. This completes the proof. □
Theorem 3. Let and be Cartan null curves related by a transformation of Combescure with Frenet apparatus and respectively. Then, the following relationships hold between their Frenet vectors and curvatures:where Proof. Assume that
and
are pseudo null curves related by a transformation of Combescure and the parameterization of
is given by (
4)
Differentiating (
4) with respect to
s and using Frenet equations, we get
Since
then:
Differentiating (
17) with respect to
s and using Frenet formulae, we have:
Now assume that there exist differentiable functions
such that the binormal vector
can be expressed as:
Taking the scalar product of Equation (
19) with
T and
respectively, using (
3)
we get
From (
17) and (
18)
we obtain
and
If we use these equations in (
20)
we have
Substituting these results back in (
19) yields
Next, using the property
and Equation (
18)
we derive
From (
3)
Therefore
Thus, the final expression for the binormal vector
is
Differentiating (
18) with respect to
s and using Frenet formulae, we have:
Taking the inner product of Equations (
26) and (
27) side by side yields
□
Corollary 1. If , is taken in Theorem 2, then is obtained. In this case, the Combescure-related curve pair is also a Bertrand curve pair.
Example 1. Consider the curve given bywith the curvatures and Frenet vectorsSince , is a Cartan null curve, by using Theorem 2 and taking , we obtain the curve related by transformation of Combescure as followsSince is a Cartan null curve with curvatures and If the Frenet vectors of are calculated, we getSince the vectors T and are parallel. This implies that the curves φ and are Cartan null curves with pseudo arc-length parameter, related by a Combescure transformation (See Figure 1). 4. Solutions of the Da Rios Vortex Filament Equation Generated by Combescure-Related Cartan Null Curves
In this section, by using a given Cartan null curve and its Combescure-related Cartan null mate curve, the differentiable function appearing in the parametrization of the mate curve is determined so that the ruled surface generated by the mate curve provides a solution to the Da Rios vortex filament equation. As a result, new solutions to the Da Rios vortex filament equation are obtained.
Theorem 4. Let and be Cartan null curves related by transformation of Combescure with Frenet apparatus and respectively. If the ruled surface S generated by the curve φ satisfies the Da Rios vortex filament equation, then a necessary and sufficient condition for the Combescure-related curve to also satisfy the Da Rios vortex filament equation is that the differentiable function in the parametrization of given by Equation (4) is one of the following: - 1.
Let φ be a Cartan null curve with torsion function In this case:
- (a)
Ifthen the torsion function of is , where - (b)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where - (c)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where
- 2.
Let φ be a Cartan null curve with torsion function . In this case:
- (a)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where - (b)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where , - (c)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where - (d)
Ifthen the torsion function of is where
Proof. Let us assume that the curves and are Combescure-related Cartan null curves in the Minkowski 3-space, and that the ruled surface S generated from is a solution of the Da Rios vortex filament equation. Then, by Theorem 4, must be either a null Cartan cubic or a null Cartan helix. In order for the ruled surface generated by the Combescure-related curve , to also be a solution of the Da Rios vortex filament equation, we need to determine the differentiable function given in the parameterization of
We consider the following two cases:
Case 1: Assume that is a null Cartan cubic. In this case, the torsion For the ruled surface , generated by , to be a solution of the Da Rios vortex filament equation, must also be either a null Cartan cubic or a null Cartan helix.
Suppose
is a null Cartan cubic, then
Using this in Equation (
15)
we obtain
Solving differential Equation (
28), we find that the general solution is
Taking the derivative of (
29) with respect to
s and substituting into Equation (
5) gives
From (
30), it is clear that
Squaring both sides yields
The general solution to this differential equation is
where
and
are real constants.
Now assume that
is a null Cartan helix. Then, for a non-zero real constant
d, we have
Substituting
and
into Equation (
15) gives
Solving (6), we obtain the following general solutions
For
For
Now by using
and differentiating (
34) with respect to
s and substituting into Equation (
15), we get
Here, it is evident that
Squaring both sides of (
36) leads to
The general solution to this equation is
For
similar steps yield the following result
Case 2: Now, assume that is a null Cartan helix, so its torsion is , where c is a non-zero real constant. Then, for the ruled surface , generated by to be a solution of the Da Rios vortex filament equation, the curve must again be either a null Cartan cubic or a null Cartan helix. The proof follows similarly to Case 1, and thus the second part of Theorem 4 is proven. □
Example 2. Consider the null Cartan helix in Minkowski 3-space given bywith curvatures and Frenet vectorsIf we take and in part (2a) of Theorem 4, then it follows thatSubstituting (38) in (4), the curve which is Combescure-related to is obtained as followswith curvatures Where If we take and in part (2c) of Theorem 4, then it follows thatSubstituting (39) in (4), the curve which is Combescure-related to is obtained as followswith curvatures Where Figure 2 and Figure 3 are shown the example’s curves and surfaces.