Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Costin Vilcu

Publications and source records attributed to Costin Vilcu.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Skeletal Cut Loci on Convex Polyhedra

On a convex polyhedron P, the cut locus C(x) with respect to a point x is a tree of geodesic segments (shortest paths) on P that includes every vertex. We say that P has a skeletal cut locus if there is some x in P such that C(x) subset Sk(P), where Sk(P) is the 1-skeleton of P. At a first glance, there seems to be very little relation between the cut locus and the 1-skeleton, as the first one is an intrinsic geometry notion, and the second one specifies the combinatorics of P. In this paper we study skeletal cut loci, obtaining four main results. First, given any combinatorial tree T, there exists a convex polyhedron P and a point x in P with a cut locus that lies in Sk(P), and whose combinatorics match T. Second, any (non-degenerate) polyhedron P has at most a finite number of points x for which C(x) subset Sk(P). Third, we show that almost all polyhedra have no skeletal cut locus. Fourth, we provide a combinatorial restriction to the existence of skeletal cut loci. Because the source unfolding of P with respect to x is always a non-overlapping net for P, and because the boundary of the source unfolding is the (unfolded) cut locus, source unfoldings of polyhedra with skeletal cut loci are edge-unfoldings, and moreover "blooming," avoiding self-intersection during an unfolding process. We also explore partially skeletal cut loci, leading to partial edge-unfoldings; i.e., unfoldings obtained by cutting along some polyhedron edges and cutting some non-edges.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2022

Reshaping Convex Polyhedra

Given a convex polyhedral surface P, we define a tailoring as excising from P a simple polygonal domain that contains one vertex v, and whose boundary can be sutured closed to a new convex polyhedron via Alexandrov's Gluing Theorem. In particular, a digon-tailoring cuts off from P a digon containing v, a subset of P bounded by two equal-length geodesic segments that share endpoints, and can then zip closed. In the first part of this monograph, we primarily study properties of the tailoring operation on convex polyhedra. We show that P can be reshaped to any polyhedral convex surface Q a subset of conv(P) by a sequence of tailorings. This investigation uncovered previously unexplored topics, including a notion of unfolding of Q onto P--cutting up Q into pieces pasted non-overlapping onto P, and to continuously folding P onto Q. In the second part of this monograph, we study vertex-merging processes on convex polyhedra (each vertex-merge being in a sense the reverse of a digon-tailoring), creating embeddings of P into enlarged surfaces. We aim to produce non-overlapping polyhedral and planar unfoldings, which led us to develop an apparently new theory of convex sets, and of minimal length enclosing polygons, on convex polyhedra. All our theorem proofs are constructive, implying polynomial-time algorithms.

math.MG↗
arXiv2022

Simple Closed Quasigeodesics on Tetrahedra

Pogorelov proved in 1949 that every every convex polyhedron has at least three simple closed quasigeodesics. Whereas a geodesic has exactly pi surface angle to either side at each point, a quasigeodesic has at most pi surface angle to either side at each point. Pogorelov's existence proof did not suggest a way to identify the three quasigeodesics, and it is only recently that a finite algorithm has been proposed. Here we identify three simple closed quasigeodesics on any tetrahedron: at least one through 1 vertex, at least one through 2 vertices, and at least one through 3 vertices. The only exception is that isosceles tetrahedra have simple closed geodesics but do not have a 1-vertex quasigeodesic. We also identify an infinite class of tetrahedra that each have at least 34 simple closed quasigeodesics.

math.MG↗
arXiv2020

Tailoring for Every Body: Reshaping Convex Polyhedra

Given any two convex polyhedra P and Q, we prove as one of our main results that the surface of P can be reshaped to a homothet of Q by a finite sequence of "tailoring" steps. Each tailoring excises a digon surrounding a single vertex and sutures the digon closed. One phrasing of this result is that, if Q can be "sculpted" from P by a series of slices with planes, then Q can be tailored from P. And there is a sense in which tailoring is finer than sculpting in that P may be tailored to polyhedra that are not achievable by sculpting P. It is an easy corollary that, if S is the surface of any convex body, then any convex polyhedron P may be tailored to approximate a homothet of S as closely as desired. So P can be "whittled" to e.g., a sphere S. Another main result achieves the same reshaping, but by excising more complicated shapes we call "crests," still each enclosing one vertex. Reversing either digon-tailoring or crest-tailoring leads to proofs that any Q inside P can be enlarged to P by cutting Q and inserting and sealing surface patches. One surprising corollary of these results is that, for Q a subset of P, we can cut-up Q into pieces and paste them non-overlapping onto an isometric subset of P. This can be viewed as a form of "unfolding" Q onto P. All our proofs are constructive, and lead to polynomial-time algorithms.

math.MG↗
arXiv2014

Moderate smoothness of most Alexandrov surfaces

We show that, in the sense of Baire category, most Alexandrov surfaces with curvature bounded below by $κ$ have no conical points. We use this result to prove that at most points of such surfaces, the lower and the upper Gaussian curvatures are equal to $κ$ and $\infty$ respectively.

math.MG↗
arXiv2012

Source Unfoldings of Convex Polyhedra via Certain Closed Curves

We extend the notion of a source unfolding of a convex polyhedron P to be based on a closed polygonal curve Q in a particular class rather than based on a point. The class requires that Q "lives on a cone" to both sides; it includes simple, closed quasigeodesics. Cutting a particular subset of the cut locus of Q (in P) leads to a non-overlapping unfolding of the polyhedron. This gives a new general method to unfold the surface of any convex polyhedron to a simple, planar polygon.

cs.CG↗
arXiv2011

Conical Existence of Closed Curves on Convex Polyhedra

Let C be a simple, closed, directed curve on the surface of a convex polyhedron P. We identify several classes of curves C that "live on a cone," in the sense that C and a neighborhood to one side may be isometrically embedded on the surface of a cone Lambda, with the apex a of Lambda enclosed inside (the image of) C; we also prove that each point of C is "visible to" a. In particular, we obtain that these curves have non-self-intersecting developments in the plane. Moreover, the curves we identify that live on cones to both sides support a new type of "source unfolding" of the entire surface of P to one non-overlapping piece, as reported in a companion paper.

cs.DM↗