X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Nash embedding theorem


Flat manifold

A flat torus can be isometrically embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space with a C1 map (by the Nash embedding theorem) but not with a C2 map, and the Clifford torus provides an isometric analytic embedding of a flat torus in four dimensions.

Nash embedding theorem

There is also an older method called Kantorovich iteration that uses Newton's method directly (without the introduction of smoothing operators).

The basic idea of Nash's solution of the embedding problem is the use of Newton's method to prove the existence of a solution to the above system of PDEs.



see also