Visualizing Ricci flow of manifolds of revolution
Rubinstein, J. Hyam ; Sinclair, Robert
Experiment. Math., Tome 14 (2005) no. 1, p. 285-298 / Harvested from Project Euclid
We present numerical visualizations of Ricci flow of surfaces and three-dimensional manifolds of revolution. {\tt Ricci\_rot} is an educational tool that visualizes surfaces of revolution moving under Ricci flow. That these surfaces tend to remain embedded in {\small $\mathbb{R}^3$} is what makes direct visualization possible. The numerical lessons gained in developing this tool may be applicable to numerical simulation of Ricci flow of other surfaces. Similarly for simple three-dimensional manifolds like the 3-sphere, with a metric that is invariant under the action of {\small $SO(3)$} with 2-sphere orbits, the metric can be represented by a 2-sphere of revolution, where the distance to the axis of revolution represents the radius of a 2-sphere orbit. Hence we can also visualize the behaviour of such a metric under Ricci flow. We discuss briefly why surfaces and 3-manifolds of revolution remain embedded in {\small $\mathbb{R}^3$} and {\small $\mathbb{R}^4$}, respectively, under Ricci flow and finally indulge in some speculation about the idea of Ricci flow in the larger space of positive definite and indefinite metrics.
Publié le : 2005-05-14
Classification:  Ricci flow,  neckpinch,  mathematical visualization,  53C44,  53-04
@article{1128371754,
     author = {Rubinstein, J. Hyam and Sinclair, Robert},
     title = {Visualizing Ricci flow of manifolds of revolution},
     journal = {Experiment. Math.},
     volume = {14},
     number = {1},
     year = {2005},
     pages = { 285-298},
     language = {en},
     url = {http://dml.mathdoc.fr/item/1128371754}
}
Rubinstein, J. Hyam; Sinclair, Robert. Visualizing Ricci flow of manifolds of revolution. Experiment. Math., Tome 14 (2005) no. 1, pp.  285-298. http://gdmltest.u-ga.fr/item/1128371754/