Reflexion maps and geometry of surfaces in R^4

Abstract

In this article we introduce new affinely invariant points---`special parabolic points'---on the parabolic set of a generic surface $M$ in real 4-space, associated with symmetries in the 2-parameter family of reflexions of $M$ in points of itself. The parabolic set itself is detected in this way, and each arc is given a sign, which changes at the special points, where the family has an additional degree of symmetry. Other points of $M$ which are detected by the family of reflexions include inflexion points of real and imaginary type, and the first of these is also associated with sign changes on the parabolic set. We show how to compute the special points globally for the case where $M$ is given in Monge form and give some examples illustrating the birth of special parbolic points in a 1-parameter family of surfaces. The tool we use from singularity theory is the contact classification of certain symmetric maps from the plane to the plane and we give the beginning of this classification, including versal unfoldings which we relate to the geometry of $M$.