Title: Curve cuspless reconstruction via sub-Riemannian geometry
Authors: U. Boscain, R. Duits, F. Rossi, Yu. L. Sachkov
Journal title: ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations
Year: 2014
Volume: 20
Pages: 748--770
Abstract:

We consider the problem of minimizing  for a planar curve having fixed initial and final positions and directions. The total length ℓ is free. Here s is the arclength parameter, K(s) is the curvature of the curve and ξ > 0 is a fixed constant. This problem comes from a model of geometry of vision due to Petitot, Citti and Sarti. We study existence of local and global minimizers for this problem. We prove that if for a certain choice of boundary conditions there is no global minimizer, then there is neither a local minimizer nor a geodesic. We finally give properties of the set of boundary conditions for which there exists a solution to the problem.