Duality (projective Geometry) - Mapping The Sphere Onto The Plane

Mapping The Sphere Onto The Plane

The unit sphere modulo −1 model of the projective plane is isomorphic (w.r.t. incidence properties) to the planar model: the affine plane extended with a projective line at infinity.

To map a point on the sphere to a point on the plane, let the plane be tangent to the sphere at some point which shall be the origin of the plane's coordinate system (2-D origin). Then construct a line passing through the center of the sphere (3-D origin) and the point on the sphere. This line intersects the plane at a point which is the projection of the point on the sphere onto the plane (or vice versa).

This projection can be used to define a one-to-one onto mapping

If points in are expressed in homogeneous coordinates, then

Also, lines in the planar model are projections of great circles of the sphere. This is so because through any line in the plane pass an infinitude of different planes: one of these planes passes through the 3-D origin, but a plane passing through the 3-D origin intersects the sphere along a great circle.

As we have seen, any great circle in the unit sphere has a projective point perpendicular to it, which can be defined as its dual. But this point is a pair of antipodal points on the unit sphere, through both of which passes a unique 3-D line, and this line extended past the unit sphere intersects the tangent plane at a point, which means that there is a geometric way to associate a unique point on the plane to every line on the plane, such that the point is the dual of the line.