English

Basic geometry of the affine group over Z

Dynamical Systems 2019-02-05 v1

Abstract

The subject matter of this paper is the geometry of the affine group over the integers, GL(n,Z)Zn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\ltimes \mathbb{Z}^n. Turing-computable complete GL(n,Z)Zn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\ltimes \mathbb{Z}^n-orbit invariants are constructed for angles, segments, triangles and ellipses. In rational affine GL(n,Q)Qn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb Q)\ltimes \mathbb Q^n-geometry, ellipses are classified by the Clifford--Hasse--Witt invariant, via the Hasse-Minkowski theorem. We classify ellipses in GL(n,Z)Zn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\ltimes \mathbb{Z}^n-geometry combining results by Apollonius of Perga and Pappus of Alexandria with the Hirzebruch-Jung continued fraction algorithm and the Morelli-W\l odarczyk solution of the weak Oda conjecture on the factorization of toric varieties. We then consider {\it rational polyhedra}, i.e., finite unions of simplexes in Rn\mathbb R^n with rational vertices. Markov's unrecognizability theorem for combinatorial manifolds states the undecidability of the problem whether two rational polyhedra PP and PP' are continuously GL(n,Q)Qn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb Q)\ltimes \mathbb Q^n-equidissectable. The same problem for the continuous GL(n,Z)Zn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\ltimes \mathbb{Z}^n-equi\-dis\-sect\-ability of PP and PP' is open. We prove the decidability of the problem whether two rational polyhedra P,QP,Q in Rn\mathbb R^n have the same GL(n,Z)Zn\mathsf{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\ltimes \mathbb{Z}^n-orbit.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1902.00971,
  title  = {Basic geometry of the affine group over Z},
  author = {Daniele Mundici},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.00971},
  year   = {2019}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:30:54.062Z