Chapter 9

Poincars Disk Model for e Hyperbolic Geometry

Recall that Saccheri introduced a certain family of quadrilaterals. Look again at Section 7.3 to remind yourself of the properties of these quadrilaterals. Saccheri studied the three dierent possibilities for the summit angles of these quadrilaterals. Hypothesis of the Acute Angle (HAA) The summit angles are acute Hypothesis of the Right Angle (HRA) The summit angles are right angles Hypothesis of the Obtuse Angle (HOA) The summit angles are obtuse Saccheri intended to show that the rst and last could not happen, hence he would have found a proof for Euclids Fifth Axiom. He was able to show that the Hypothesis of the Obtuse Angle led to a contradiction. This result is now know as the Saccheri-Legendre Theorem (Theorem 7.3). He was unable to arrive at a contradiction when he looked at the Hypothesis of the Acute Angle. He gave up rather than accept that there was another geometry available to study. It has been said that he wrote that the Hypothesis of the Acute Angle must be false because God wants it that way.

9.2

The Poincar Disk Model e

When we adopt the Hyperbolic Axiomthen there are certain ramications: 1. The sum of the angles in a triangle is less than two right angles. 2. All similar triangles that are congruent, i.e. AAA is a congruence criterion. 3. There are no lines everywhere equidistant from one another. 4. If three angles of a quadrilateral are right angles, then the fourth angle is less than a right angle. 5. If a line intersects one of two parallel lines, it may not intersect the other. 6. Lines parallel to the same line need not be parallel to one another. 7. Two lines which intersect one another may both be parallel to the same line. 99

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How can we visualize this? Surely it cannot be by just looking at the Euclidean plane in a slightly dierent way. We need a model with which we could study the hyperbolic plane. If it is to be a Euclidean object that we use to study the hyperbolic plane, H 2 , then we must have to make some major changes in our concept of point, line, and/or distance. We need a model to see what H 2 looks like. We know that it will not be easy, but we do not want some extremely dicult model to construct. We will work with a small subset of the plane, but give it a dierent way of measuring distance. There are three traditional models for H 2 . They are known as the Klein model, the Poincar Disk model, and the Poincar Half-Plane model. We will start with the Disk model e e and move to the Half-Plane model later. There are geometric isomorphisms between these models, it is just that some properties are easier to see in one model than the other. The two Poincar models tend to give us the opportunity to do computations more easily than e the Klein model though the Klein model is somewhat easier to describe. In order to give a model for H 2 , we need to decide on a set of points, then determine what lines are and how to measure distance. For Poincars Disk Model we take the set of e points that lie inside the unit circle, i.e., the set H
2

= {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 < 1}.

Note that points on the circle itself are not in the hyperbolic plane. However they do play an important part in determining our model. Euclidean points on the circle itself are called ideal points, omega points, vanishing points, or points at innity. [Note: Poincar himself thought of this set as the set of all complex numbers with length e less than 1 H 2 = {z C | z < 1}. We will see why this is important when we study the Poincar half plane model.] e A unit circle is any circle in the Euclidean plane is a circle with radius one.

Denition 9.1 Given a unit circle in the Euclidean plane, points of the hyperbolic plane are the points in the interior of . Points on this unit circle are called omega points () of the hyperbolic plane. If we take to be the unit circle centered at the origin, then we would think of the hyperbolic plane as H 2 = {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 < 1} and the omega points are the points = {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 = 1}. The points in the Euclidean plane satisfying {(x, y) | x2 + y 2 > 1} are called ultraideal points. We now have what our points will be. We see that we are going to have to modify our concept of line in order to have the Hyperbolic Axiom to hold.

Figure 9.1: Poincar line e

Denition 9.2 Given a unit circle in the Euclidean plane, lines of the hyperbolic plane are arcs of circles drawn orthogonal1 to and located in the interior of .
1

Circles are orthogonal to one another when their radii at the points of intersection are perpendicular.

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9.2.1

Construction of Lines

This sounds nice, but how do you draw them? 1. Start with a circle centered at O and consider the ray OA, where A lies on the circle, . 2. Construct the line perpendicular to OA at A. 3. Choose a point P on this perpendicular line for the center of the second circle and make P A the radius of a circle centered at P . 4. Let B denote the second point of intersection with circle . Then the arc AB represents a line in this model.

Figure 9.2: Poincar lines through A e Now, how do you construct these lines in more general circumstances? There are three cases we need to consider. Case I :A, B Case II : A and B lies inside Case III : A and B both lie inside . Case I : Construct rays P A and P B where P is the center of the circle . Construct the lines perpendicular to P A and P B at A and B respectively. Let Q be the point of intersection of those two lines. The circle centered at Q with radius QA intersects at A and B. The line between A and B is the arc of that lies inside . MATH 6118-090 Spring 2008

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Note that this arc is clearly orthogonal to by its construction. Case II : Construct rays P A and P B where P is the center of the circle . Construct the line perpendicular to P A at A. Draw segment AB and construct its perpendicular bisector. Let Q be the point of intersection of this line and the tangent line to at A. The circle centered at Q with radius QA contains A and B. The line containing A and B is the arc of that lies inside . This arc, as constructed is orthogonal to at A. We want to see that it is orthogonal at the other point of intersection with the circle. Let that point of intersection be X. Then, X means that P A P X. Since X lies on our second circle it follows that QX QA. = = P Q, we have that P AQ P XQ, which means that P XQ is a right Since P Q = = angle, as we wanted to show. Case III : Construct the ray P A and then construct the line perpendicular to P A at A. This intersects in points X and Y. Construct the tangents to at X and at Y . These tangent lines intersect at a point C. The circle centered at Q is the circle passing through A, B, and C. The line containing A and B is the arc of that lies inside . From our construction, we have that X P XC P AX and it follows that C 2 = r 2 . Now, Q lies on |P A||P C| = |P X| T the perpendicular bisectors of AC and AB as is the circumcircle for ABC. There A is a point T on the circle so that the tanP G1 gent line to at T passes through P . Q G2 Construct the line through P and Q B which intersects the circle in two points G1 and G2 so that G1 lies between P and Q. Now, |P T |2 = |P Q|2 |QT |2 = (|P Q| |QT |) (|P Q| + |QT |) = (|P Q| |QG1 |) (|P Q| + |QG2 |) = |P G1 ||P G2 | which by Theorem 5.3, = |P A||P C| = r 2 Therefore, T lies on the circle and and are orthogonal at that point. A similar argument shows that they are orthogonal at the other point of intersection. Figure 9.3: Poincar line in Case III e

9.2.2

Distance

Now, this area inside the unit circle must represent the innite hyperbolic plane. This means that our standard distance formula will not work. We introduce a distance metric by 2dr d = 1 r2 where represents the hyperbolic distance and r is the Euclidean distance from the center of the circle. Note that d as r 1. This means that lines are going to have innite extent. MATH 6118-090 Spring 2008

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The relationship between the Euclidean distance of a point from the center of the circle and the hyperbolic distance is:
r

=
0

2du = log 1 u2

1+r 1r

= 2 tanh1 r,

or r = tanh . 2 Now, for those of you who dont remember ever having seen this function tanh(x), we give a little review. The hyperbolic trigonometric functions cosh(x) and sinh(x) are dened by: ex ex 2 ex + ex cosh(x) = 2 sinh(x) = and tanh(x) = sinh(x) ex ex e2x 1 = x = 2x . cosh(x) e + ex e +1

We will study these in more depth later. Now, we can use this to dene the distance between two points on a Poincar line. Given e two hyperbolic points A and B, let the Poincar line intersect the circle in the omega points e P and Q. Dene AP/AQ AP BQ (AB, P Q) = = , BP/BQ AQ BP to be the cross ratio of A and B with respect to P and Q, where AP denotes the the Euclidean arclength. Dene the hyperbolic distance from A to B to be d(A, B) = log |AB, P Q|. We will prove the following later. Theorem 9.1 If a point A in the interior of is located at a Euclidean distance r < 1 from the center O, its hyperbolic distance from the center is given by d(A, O) = log 1+r . 1r

Lemma 9.1 The hyperbolic distance from any point in the interior of to the circle itself is innite.

9.2.3

Parallel Lines

It is easy to see that the Hyperbolic Axiom works in this model. Given a line AB a and point D AB, then we can draw at least two lines through D that do not intersect AB. / Call these two lines through D lines 1 and 2 . Notice how two of our previous now results do not hold, as we remarked earlier. We have that AB and 1 and AB and 2 are parallel, but 1 and 2 are not parallel. Note also that 2 intersects one of a pair of parallel lines (1 ), but does not intersect the other parallel line (AB). MATH 6118-090 Spring 2008

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Figure 9.4: Multiple parallels through A As we now know, the hyperbolic plane has two types of parallel lines. The denition that we will give here will depend explicitly on the model that we have chosen. Consider the hyperbolic line AB which intersects the circle in the ideal points and . Take a point D AB. Construct the line through and D. Since this line does not intersect the / line AB inside the circle, these two hyperbolic lines are parallel. However, they seem to be approaching one another as we go to innity. Since there are two ends of the Poincar e line AB, there are two of these lines. The line AB and D are horoparallel. The dening property is as follows. Denition 9.3 Let P AB. Consider the collection of lines DP as P goes to or . The rst line through D in this collection that does not intersect AB in H 2 is the horoparallel line to AB in that direction. Drop a perpendicular from D to AB and label this point of intersection M . Angles DM and DM are called angles of parallelism. Theorem 9.2 The angles of parallelism associated with a given line and point are congruent. Proof: Assume not, i.e., assume DM = DM . Then one angle is greater than the other. Without loss of generality, we may assume that DM < DM . Then there is a point E in the interior of DM such that DM = EDM . The line ED must intersect AB since D is the limiting parallel line to AB in that direction. Let the point of intersection be F . Choose G on AB on the opposite side of DM from F so that F M = GM . Then GM D F M D. This implies = that GDM = F DM = DM . This means that D intersects AB at G. This contradicts the condition Limiting Parallel that D is limiting parallel to AB. Thus, the angles of Figure 9.5: Poincar Lines e parallelism are congruent.
D M

Theorem 9.3 The angles of parallelism associated with a given line and point are acute. MATH 6118-090 Spring 2008

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Proof: Assume not, i.e., assume that M D 90 . Then there is a point E interior to > M D so that M DE = 90 . Then, since DE and are perpendicular to the same AB line, they are parallel. Thus, DE does not intersect AB which contradicts the condition that D is the limiting parallel line. If the angle of parallelism is 90 then we can show that we have Euclidean geometry. Thus, in H 2 the angle of parallelism is acute. Theorem 9.4 (Lobachevskiis Theorem) Given a point P at a hyperbolic distance from a hyperbolic line AB (i.e., d(P, M ) = ), the angle of parallelism, , associated with the line and the point satises e = tan . 2 Note then that
0

lim =

and lim = 0. 2

Proof: The proof of this is interesting in that we play one geometry against the other in order to arrive at our conclusion.
B

B P

Figure 9.6: Theorem

Lobachevskiis

Figure 9.7: After the rst translation

We are given a line AB and a point P not on the line. Construct the line through P which is perpendicular to AB. Call the point of intersection R as in Figure 9.6. Then we have that = d(P, R). We can translate P to the center of the unit circle and translate our line to a line so that our line perpendicular to AB is a radius of as we have done in Figure 9.7. Construct the radii from P to the ideal points A and B and construct the lines tangent to at these points. These tangent lines intersect at a point Q which lies on P R. Now, since we have moved our problem to the center of the circle, we can use our previous result to see that if r is the Euclidean distance from P to R, then we have = log or rewriting this we have e = MATH 6118-090 1+r 1r or e = . 1r 1+r Spring 2008 1+r , 1r

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Now, we are talking about Euclidean distances (with r) and using our Euclidean right triangles with radius 1 we have that: r = QP QR = QP QA = sec QP A tan QP A = sec tan = Now, algebra leads us to: e = = = = = = 1r 1+r cos + sin 1 cos sin + 1 cos + sin 1 cos + sin + 1 cos sin + 1 cos + sin + 1 cos2 + 2 cos sin + sin2 1 cos2 + 2 cos sin2 + 1 2 sin cos sin = 2 cos2 + 2 cos 1 + cos 2 sin 2 cos 2
2

1 sin . cos

2 cos2 = tan 2

1 +1

9.2.4

Hyperbolic Circles

Now, if we have a center of a circle that is not at the center P of the unit circle , we know that the hyperbolic distance in one direction looks skewed with respect to the Euclidean distance. That would lead us to expect that a circle in this model might take on an elliptic or oval shape. We will prove later that this is not the case. In fact, hyperbolic circles embedded in Euclidean space retain their circular appearance their centers are oset! Theorem 9.5 Given a hyperbolic circle with radius R, the circumference C of the circle is given by C = 2 sinh(R).

9.2.5

Common Figures in the Disk Model

What do some of the common gures, with which we have become accustomed, look like in the Poincar Disk Model? e

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E F C

Figure 9.8: Saccheri quadrilateral in the Poincar Disk e

A
A H G D B F E C

C B

Figure 9.9: Acute Triangle

Figure 9.10: Obtuse Triangle

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