Evolution of planar curves under a nonlocal geometric equation is investigated. It models the simultaneous contraction and growth of carbonate particles called ooids in geosciences. Using classical ODE results and a bijective mapping, we demonstrate that the steady parameters associated with the physical environment determine a unique, time-invariant, compact shape among smooth, convex curves embedded in ℝ2. It is also revealed that any time-invariant solution possesses D2 symmetry. The model predictions remarkably agree with ooid shapes observed in nature.

In recent works [Gonçalves and Mansfield, Stud. Appl. Math., 128 (2012), 1–29; Mansfield, A Practical Guide to the Invariant Calculus (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010)], the authors considered various Lagrangians, which are invariant under a Lie group action, in the case where the independent variables are themselves invariant. Using a moving frame for the Lie group action, they showed how to obtain the invariantized Euler–Lagrange equations and the space of conservation laws in terms of vectors of invariants and the Adjoint representation of a moving frame. In this paper, we show how these calculations extend to the general case where the independent variables may participate in the action. We take for our main expository example the standard linear action of SL(2) on the two independent variables. This choice is motivated by applications to variational fluid problems which conserve potential vorticity. We also give the results for Lagrangians invariant under the standard linear action of SL(3) on the three independent variables.

Given a non-oscillating gradient trajectory $\left| \text{ }\!\!\gamma\!\!\text{ } \right|$ of a real analytic function $f$, we show that the limit $v$ of the secants at the limit point $0$ of $\left| \text{ }\!\!\gamma\!\!\text{ } \right|$ along the trajectory $\left| \text{ }\!\!\gamma\!\!\text{ } \right|$ is an eigenvector of the limit of the direction of the Hessian matrix Hess$\left( f \right)$ at $0$ along $\left| \text{ }\!\!\gamma\!\!\text{ } \right|$. The same holds true at infinity if the function is globally sub-analytic. We also deduce some interesting estimates along the trajectory. Away from the ends of the ambient space, this property is of metric nature and still holds in a general Riemannian analytic setting.

This paper investigates the relationship between a system of differential equations and the underlying geometry associated with it. The geometry of a surface determines shortest paths, or geodesics connecting nearby points, which are defined as the solutions to a pair of second-order differential equations: the Euler–Lagrange equations of the metric. We ask when the converse holds, that is, when solutions to a system of differential equations reveals an underlying geometry. Specifically, when may the solutions to a given pair of second order ordinary differential equations ${{d}^{2}}{{y}^{1}}/d{{t}^{2}}=f\left( y,\dot{y},t \right)$ and ${{d}^{2}}{{y}^{2}}/d{{t}^{2}}=g\left( y,\dot{y},t \right)$ be reparameterized by $t\to T\left( y,t \right)$ so as to give locally the geodesics of a Euclidean space? Our approach is based upon Cartan's method of equivalence. In the second part of the paper, the equivalence problem is solved for a generic pair of second order ordinary differential equations of the above form revealing the existence of 24 invariant functions.