Rational quadratic parameterizations of quadrics

Abstract

Every irreducible quadric in E3 has infinitely many different rational quadratic parameterizations. These parameterizations and the relationships between them are investigated. It is shown that every faithful rational quadratic parameterization of a quadric can be generated by a stereographic projection from a point on the quadric, called the center of projection (COP). Two such parameterizations for the same quadric are related by a rational linear reparameterization if they have the same COP; otherwise they are related by a rational quadratic reparameterization. We also consider unfaithful parameterizations for which, in general, a one-to-one correspondence between points on the surface and parameters in the plane does not exist. It is shown that all unfaithful rational quadratic parameterizations of a properly degenerate quadric can be characterized by a simple canonical form, and there exist no unfaithful rational quadratic parameterizations for a nondegenerate quadric. In addition, given a faithful rational quadratic parameterization of a quadric, a new technique is presented to compute its base points and inversion formula. These results are applied to solve the problems of parameterizing the intersection of two quadrics and reparameterizing a given quadric parameterization with respect to a different COP without implicitization.