Abstract and Applied Analysis

Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 718726, 6 pages

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/718726

Research Article

A New Approach on Helices in Pseudo-Riemannian Manifolds

Evren Zıplar,¹ Yusuf Yaylı,² and İsmail Gök²

¹Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, ÇankırıKaratekin University, 18000 Çankırı, Turkey

²Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Ankara University, 06100 Ankara, Turkey

Received 7 October 2013; Accepted 16 February 2014; Published 19 March 2014

Academic Editor: Sining Zheng

Copyright © 2014 Evren Zıplar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract.

A proper curve in the -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold is called a -slant helix if the function is a nonzero constant along , where is a  parallel vector field along and is th Frenet frame. In this work, we study such curves and give important characterizations about them.

1. Introduction

Curves theory is an essential structure in the differential geometry works. Helix is one of the most spectacular curves because of its helical structure in nature and science. Helices are used in the field of imitation of kinematic motion or the shape of DNA and carbon nanotubes. Moreover, the helical structure can be seen in fractal geometry, especially in hyperhelices [1, 2].

Furthermore, “helices share common origins in the geometries of the platonic solids, with inherent hierarchical potential that is typical of biological structures. The helices provide an energy-efficient solution to close-packing in molecular biology, a common motif in protein construction, and a readily observable pattern at many size levels throughout the body. The helices are described in a variety of anatomical structures, suggesting their importance to structural biology and manual therapy” [3].

A curve of constant slope or general helix in Euclidean 3-space is defined by the property that its tangent vector field makes a constant angle with a fixed straight line (the axis of general helix). A classical result stated by Lancret in 1802 and first proved by de Saint Venant in 1845 [4, 5] as follows: A necessary and sufficient condition for a curve to be a general helix is that the ratio of the first curvature to the second curvature should be constant; that is, is constant along the curve, where and denote the first and second curvatures of the curve, respectively. In [6], Özdamar and Hacisaliholu defined harmonic curvature functions of a curve and generalized helices in to those in -dimensional Euclidean space . Moreover, they gave a characterization for the inclined curves in :

Harmonic curvature functions have important role in characterizations of general helices in higher dimensions, because the notion of a general helix can be generalized to higher dimension in different ways. However, these ways are not easy to show which curves are general helices and finding the axis of a general helix is complicated in higher dimension. Thanks to harmonic curvature functions, we can easily obtain the axis of such curves. Moreover, this way is confirmed in 3-dimensional spaces.

Izumiya and Takeuchi defined a new kind of helix (slant helix) and they gave a characterization of slant helices in Euclidean -space [7]. In 2008, Önder et al. defined a new kind of slant helix in Euclidean -space which is called -slant helix and they gave some characterizations of these slant helices in Euclidean -space [8]. And then in 2009 Gök et al. generalized -slant helix in to , , called -slant helix in Euclidean and Minkowski -space [9, 10]. Lots of authors in their papers have investigated inclined curves and slant helices using the harmonic curvature functions in Euclidean and Minkowski -space [11–15]. But, Şenol et al. [16] see for the first time that the characterization of inclined curves and slant helices in (1) is true only for the case necessity but not true for the case sufficiency in Euclidean  -space. Then, they consider the precharacterizations about inclined curves and slant helices and restructure them with the necessary and sufficient condition [16].

Similar to the work in [16], in this work, we define -slant helix and give characterizations about the helix with necessary and sufficient condition in -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifolds for the first time.

2. Preliminaries

In this section, we give some basic definitions from differential geometry.

Definition 1. A metric tensor on a smooth manifold is a symmetric nondegenerate tensor field on .

In other words, for all (tangent bundle) and at each point of if for all ; then (nondegenerate), where is the tangent space of at the point and [17].

Definition 2. A pseudo-Riemannian manifold (or semi-Riemannian manifold) is a smooth manifold furnished with a metric tensor . That is, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold is an ordered pair [17].

Definition 3. One will recall the notion of a proper curve of order in -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold with the metric tensor . Let be a nonnull curve in parametrized by the arc length , where is an open interval of the real line . One denotes the tangent vector field of by . One assumes that satisfies the following Frenet formula:

where

and is Levi-Civita connection of .

One calls such a curve a proper curve of order , its th curvature, and its Frenet Frame field.

Moreover, let one recall that for , where is the tangent bundle of [18].

3. -Slant Helices and Their Harmonic Curvature Functions

In this section, we give definition of a -slant helix curve in a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold. Furthermore, we give characterizations by using harmonic curvatures for -slant helices.

Definition 4. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (nonnull) with the curvatures   in . Then, harmonic curvature functions of are defined by

along in , where

Note that .

Definition 5. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (nonnull). One calls as a -slant helix in if the function

is a nonzero constant along and is a parallel vector field along in ; that is, . Here, is th Frenet frame field and . Also, is called the axis of .

Lemma 6. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (nonnull). Let one assume that for . Then, is nonzero constant if and only if , where and are the unit tangent vector field and the harmonic curvatures of , respectively.

Proof. First, we assume that is nonzero constant. Consider the following functions given in Definition 4:

for . So, from the equality, we can write

Hence, in (8), if we take instead of , we get

together with

or

On the other hand, since is constant, we have

and so

By using (9) and (11), we obtain

Therefore, by using (13), (14), and (15), an algebraic calculus shows that

or

Since , we get the relation

Conversely, we assume that

By using (19) and , we can write

From (15), we have the following equation system:

Moreover, from (14) and (20), we obtain

So, by using the above equation system and considering (22), an algebraic calculus shows that

And, by integrating (23), we can easily say that

is a nonzero constant. This completes the proof.

Proposition 7. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (nonnull). If is -slant helix in , then we have

where is the axis of . Here, denote the Frenet frame of and denote the harmonic curvature functions of the curve .

Proof. We will use the induction method. Let . Since is the axis of the -slant helix , we get

From the definition of -slant helix, we have

A differentiation in (27) and the Frenet formulas gives us

Again, differentiation in (28) and the Frenet formulas give

respectively. Hence, it is shown that (25) is true for .

We now assume that (25) is true for the first . Then, we have

A differentiation in (30) and the Frenet formulas give us that

Since we have the induction hypothesis, , we get

which gives

Theorem 8. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (nonnull). Then, is a -slant helix in if and only if it satisfies that

is equal to nonzero constant and .

Proof. Suppose to be a -slant helix. According to Definition 5 and the proof of Proposition 7,

where is the axis of . From Proposition 7, we have

for . Moreover, from (35) and Frenet formulas, we can write

Since is different from zero, . It is known that the system is a basis of (tangent bundle) along . Hence, can be expressed in the form

Moreover, from (38), we get the system

by using the metric . Therefore, from Proposition 7 and the above system, we can see that the following system is true:

Thus, the axis of the curve can be easily obtained as

by making use of equality (38) and the last system.

Therefore, from (41), we can write

Moreover, by the definition of metric tensor, we have

Since is a -slant helix, constant and is nonzero constant along . Hence, from (42), we obtain that

is constant. In other words,

is constant.

Now, we will show that . We assume that . Then, for in (36), we have

If we take derivative in each part of (46) in the direction on , then we have

On the other hand, since is a -slant helix. Then, from (47), we have

by using the Frenet formulas. Since is positive, it must be . Now, for in (36),

Since and , it must be . Continuing this process, we get . Let us recall that ; thus we have a contradiction because all the curvatures are nowhere zero. Consequently, .

Conversely, we assume that = constant and . We take the vector field

or

where is constant. We will show that it is parallel along ; that is, . By direct calculation, we have

Here, in the case , we omit the term of sum.

On the other hand, by using (9), we can write

for together with (11). Moreover, from Lemma 6, we know that

Therefore, by using (11), (53), and (54) and by the definition of , algebraic calculus shows that . Besides, is constant. Consequently, is a -slant helix in .

Corollary 9. Let be a -dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and let be a proper curve of order (non-null). Then, is a -slant helix in if and only if and , where denote the harmonic curvature functions of the curve .

Proof. It is obvious by using Lemma 6. and Theorem 8.

4. Conclusion

In this work, -slant helix is defined and new characterizations are given about the helix by using the harmonic curvature functions in pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. Links with other disciplines of the curve can be examined since the curve is important for other branches of science such as molecular biology and mathematical physics. On the other hand, the curve can be analyzed in different spaces of mathematics.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the referees for valuable suggestions to improve the paper.

References

A. Jain, G. Wang, and K. M. Vasquez, “DNA triple helices: biological consequences and therapeutic potential,” Biochimie, vol. 90, no. 8, pp. 1117–1130, 2008.

Y. Yin, T. Zhang, F. Yang, and X. Qiu, “Geometric conditions for fractal super carbon nanotubes with strict self-similarities,” Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 1257–1266, 2008.

G. Scarr, “Helical tensegrity as a structural mechanism in human anatomy,” International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 24–32, 2011.

M. A. Lancret, “Memoire sur les courbes a double courbure,” Mémoires Présentés à l'Institut, vol. 1, pp. 416–454, 1806.

D. J. Struik, Lectures on Classical Differential Geometry, Dover, New York, NY, USA, 1988.

E. Özdamar and H. H. Hacisalihoğlu, “A characterization of inclined curves in Euclidean -space,” Communications de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université d'Ankara. Series A1, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 15–22, 1975.

S. Izumiya and N. Takeuchi, “New special curves and developable surfaces,” Turkish Journal of Mathematics, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 531–537, 2004.

M. Önder, M. Kazaz, H. Kocayiğit, and O. Kiliç, “-slant helix in Euclidean 4-space ,” International Journal of Contemporary Mathematical Sciences, vol. 3, no. 29–32, pp. 1433–1440, 2008.

İ. Gök, Ç. Camci, and H. H. Hacisalihoğlu, “-slant helices in Euclidean -space ,” Mathematical Communications, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 317–329, 2009.

İ. Gök, Ç. Camcı, and H. H. Hacısalihoğlu, “-slant helices in Minkowski -space ,” Communications de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université d'Ankara. Séries A1, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 29–38, 2009.

A. T. Ali and R. López, “Some characterizations of inclined curves in Euclidean space,” Novi Sad Journal of Mathematics, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 9–17, 2010.

A. T. Ali and M. Turgut, “Some characterizations of slant helices in the Euclidean space ,” Hacettepe Journal of Mathematics and Statistics, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 327–336, 2010.

M. Külahcı, M. Bektaş, and M. Ergüt, “On harmonic curvatures of a Frenet curve in Lorentzian space,” Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 1668–1675, 2009.

S. Özkaldı, İ. Gök, Y. Yaylı, and H. H. Hacisalihoğlu, “LC slant helix on hypersurfaces in Minkowski space ,” TWMS Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 137–145, 2010.

Ç. Camcı, K. İlarslan, L. Kula, and H. H. Hacısalihoğlu, “Harmonic curvatures and generalized helices in ,” Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 2590–2596, 2009.

A. Şenol, E. Ziplar, Y. Yayli, and İ. Gök, “A new approach on helices in Euclidean -space,” Mathematical Communications, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 241–256, 2013.

B. O'Neill, Semi-Riemannian Geometry with Applications to Relativity, Academic Press, New York, NY, USA, 1983.

H. H. Song, “On proper helices in pseudo-Riemannian submanifolds,” Journal of Geometry, vol. 91, no. 1-2, pp. 150–168, 2008.