Joint Projective Invariants on First Jet Spaces of Point Configurations via Moving Frames

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive method using moving frames to explicitly construct and analyze projective differential invariants of point configurations on the plane, providing new tools for symbolic and numerical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a unified construction for all n-point configurations, explicitly generating the field of invariants and analyzing their cohomological properties.

Findings

Constructed a complete generating set for the field of invariants.

Proved the invariantization of the Jacobian yields a primitive element.

Established a cochain complex framework with explicit contracting homotopy.

Abstract

We consider the action of the projective group $PGL(3,\mathbb{R})$ on the $n$-fold first-order jet space of point configurations on the plane. Using the method of moving frames, we construct an explicit complete generating set for the field of absolute first-order joint projective differential invariants $\mathcal{I}_{n,0}$ for any $n \ge 3$. This approach provides a unified construction for all $n$, immediately ensuring functional independence of the fundamental invariants and yielding formulas suitable for both symbolic and numerical implementation. Next, we study the field of relative first-order invariants $\mathcal{I}_n$ with Jacobian multiplier. It is shown that the invariantization of the Jacobian under the projective action yields a primitive element of the field extension $\mathcal{I}_n / \mathcal{I}_{n,0}$. Finally, we introduce a multiplicative cochain complex $C^\bullet$ associated with the action of $PGL(3,\mathbb{R})$ on the jet space, and show that the invariantization operator induced by the moving frame generates an explicit contracting homotopy. This provides a constructive proof of the vanishing of higher cohomology and an interpretation of the "defect" of invariantization as an exact cocycle in $C^\bullet$.