Rigidity (mathematics)
In mathematics, a rigid collection C of mathematical objects (for instance sets or functions) is one in which every c ∈ C is uniquely determined by less information about c than one would expect.
The above statement does not define a mathematical property. Instead, it describes in what sense the adjective rigid is typically used in mathematics, by mathematicians.
Some examples include:
- Harmonic functions on the unit disk are rigid in the sense that they are uniquely determined by their boundary values.
- Holomorphic functions are determined by the set of all derivatives at a single point. A smooth function from the real line to the complex plane is not, in general, determined by all its derivatives at a single point, but it is if we require additionally that it be possible to extend the function to one on a neighbourhood of the real line in the complex plane. The Schwarz lemma is an example of such a rigidity theorem.
- By the fundamental theorem of algebra, polynomials in C are rigid in the sense that any polynomial is completely determined by its values on any infinite set, say N, or the unit disk. Note that by the previous example, a polynomial is also determined within the set of holomorphic functions by the finite set of its non-zero derivatives at any single point.
- Linear maps L(X, Y) between vector spaces X, Y are rigid in the sense that any L ∈ L(X, Y) is completely determined by its values on any set of basis vectors of X.
- Mostow's rigidity theorem, which states that the geometric structure of negatively curved manifolds is determined by their topological structure.
- A well-ordered set is rigid in the sense that the only (order-preserving) automorphism on it is the identity function. Consequently, an isomorphism between two given well-ordered sets will be unique.
- Cauchy's theorem on geometry of convex polytopes states that a convex polytope is uniquely determined by the geometry of its faces and combinatorial adjacency rules.
- Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem states that a convex polyhedron in three dimensions is uniquely determined by the metric space of geodesics on its surface.
See also
- Uniqueness theorem
- Structural rigidity, a mathematical theory describing the degrees of freedom of ensembles of rigid physical objects connected together by flexible hinges.
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