English

Optimal Synthesis in a Radially Symmetric Grushin Space

Differential Geometry 2026-04-07 v1

Abstract

We study the geometry of R3\mathbb{R}^3 equipped with a rotationally invariant Carnot-Carth\'{e}odory metric obtained by weighting motion in the zz-direction by a function f(r)f(r) of the cylindrical radius. When ff vanishes only at r=0r=0, the space exhibits a Grushin--type singularity along the vertical axis. We provide sufficient conditions on ff ensuring a Grushin--like structure and describe the full optimal synthesis at singular points. For Riemannian points, we propose a candidate cut time determined by a discrete symmetry of the Hamiltonian flow. In the integrable case f(r)=rf(r)=r, we prove that this candidate coincides with the true cut time and give an explicit description of the cut locus.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.04201,
  title  = {Optimal Synthesis in a Radially Symmetric Grushin Space},
  author = {Michael Albert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.04201},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

33 Pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:54:36.268Z