Axial curvatures for corank 1 singular n-manifolds in $${{\mathbb {R}}}^{n+k}$$

Abstract

AbstractFor singular n-manifolds in $${{\mathbb {R}}}^{n+k}$$ R n + k with a corank 1 singular point at $$p\in M^n_{{\text {sing}}}$$ p ∈ M sing n we define up to $$l(n-1)$$ l ( n - 1 ) different axial curvatures at p,  where $$l=\min \{n,k+1\}.$$ l = min { n , k + 1 } . These curvatures are obtained using the curvature locus (the image by the second fundamental form of the unitary tangent vectors) and are therefore second order invariants. In fact, in the case $$n=2$$ n = 2 they generalise all second order curvatures which have been defined for frontal type surfaces. We relate these curvatures with the principal curvatures in certain normal directions of an associated regular $$(n-1)$$ ( n - 1 ) -manifold contained in $$M^n_{{\text {sing}}}.$$ M sing n . We obtain many interesting geometrical interpretations in the cases $$n=2,3.$$ n = 2 , 3 . For instance, for frontal type 3-manifolds with 2-dimensional singular set, the Gaussian curvature of the singular set can be expressed in terms of the axial curvatures. Similarly for the curvature of the singular set when it is 1-dimensional. Finally, we show that all the umbilic curvatures which have been defined for singular manifolds up to now can be seen as the absolute value of one of our axial curvatures.