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Well, the problem is a question in Montiel's book. How to prove that a planar curve $\alpha$ such that all osculating circles intersects a given point is actually a circle (or a part of it)?

I've tried to use the expression $\alpha(t)+\frac{1}{k(s)}(N(s)+v(s))$ where $v(s)$ is a unit vector.

Using that $\alpha(s)=aT(s)+bN(s)$, I could only proof that (if $k'\neq 0 $) $$k=\frac{-b}{a^2+b^2}$$ and $$v'=-k'\alpha.$$

checkmath
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  • I do not understand the statement. Given a circle $\Gamma$, you are claiming that any circle tangential to it must pass through a given point? Or are you saying that "Given a curve $\alpha$, there is a unique circle that is tangential to it and passes through a given point"? In either case, the statement doesn't seem true to me. – Calvin Lin Sep 24 '13 at 01:58
  • Neither of these alternatives, the given a curve $\alpha$ s.t all osculating circles intersects the origin , then the curve $\alpha$ must be a circle. – checkmath Sep 24 '13 at 02:42

1 Answers1

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The center of the osculating circle is given by $C=P+\rho\mathbf{N}$, where all quantities depend on $s$ and $\rho=1/\kappa$ is the radius of curvature.
If the fixed point $Q$ belong to all osculating circles, then $$ (Q-C)^2=\rho^2 $$ and differentiating (taking into account $Q'=\mathbf{0}$) $$ (Q-C)\cdot(-C')=\rho\rho'\tag1. $$ We can obtain $C'$ from the previous expression for $C$: \begin{align} C'&=P'+\rho\mathbf{N}'+\rho'\mathbf{N}\\ &=\mathbf{T}+\rho(-\kappa\mathbf{T})+\rho'\mathbf{N}=\rho'\mathbf{N} \end{align} where we have used the Frenet formula $\mathbf{N}'=-\kappa\mathbf{T}+\tau\mathbf{B}$ with $\tau=0$ (because the curve is a plane curve).
The eq. $(1)$ becomes
$$ -(Q-C)\cdot\mathbf{N}\rho'=\rho\rho' $$ The relation is true if $\rho'=0$ and then also $C'=0$, so that the osculating circle is constant (does not depend on $s$), and the curve $$ P=C-\rho\mathbf{N} $$ is a circle or an arc of it.
If by contradiction $\rho'\neq0$ then $$ \rho=-(Q-C)\cdot\mathbf{N}=(C-Q)\cdot\mathbf{N}= \rho\cos\theta\quad\implies\quad\theta=0 $$ where $\theta$ is the angle between $\mathbf{N}$ and the radius $C-Q$, i.e. $$ C-Q=\rho\mathbf{N}=C-P\quad\implies\quad P=Q=\text{const} $$