Homotopies of Curves on the 2-Sphere with Geodesic Curvature in a Prescribed Interval

TL;DR

This paper classifies the connected components of spaces of closed curves on the 2-sphere with geodesic curvature in a prescribed interval, revealing their topological structure and homotopy types.

Contribution

It provides a complete topological classification of curve spaces with bounded geodesic curvature on the sphere, extending Little's 1970 results to broader curvature intervals.

Findings

Number of connected components depends on the curvature interval

Components contain curves traversed multiple times

Certain components are homotopy equivalent to SO(3)

Abstract

Let $C_{k_1}^{k_2}$ denote the set of all closed curves of class $C^r$ on the sphere $S^2$ whose geodesic curvatures are restricted to lie in $(k_1,k_2)$, furnished with the $C^r$ topology (for some $r >= 2$ and possibly infinite $k_1 < k_2$). In 1970, J. Little proved that the space $C_0^{+\infty}$ of closed curves having positive geodesic curvature has three connected components. Let $r_i = arccot k_i$ (i = 1, 2). We show that $C_{k_1}^{k_2}$ has n connected components $C_1, ..., C_n$, where n is the greatest integer smaller than or equal to $\pi/(r_1-r_2) + 1$, and $C_j$ contains circles traversed j times ($1 <= j <= n$). The component $C_{n-1}$ also contains circles traversed $(n-1) + 2m$ times, and $C_n$ also contains circles traversed $n + 2m$ times, for any natural number m. In addition, each of $C_1, ..., C_{n-2}$ is homotopy equivalent to $SO_3$ ($n >= 3$). A simple characterization of the components in terms of the properties of a curve and a proof that $C_{k_1}^{k_2}$ is homeomorphic to $C_{k'_1}^{k'_2}$ whenever $r_1 - r_2 = r'_1 - r'_2$ ($r'_i = arccot k'_i$) are also presented.