Almost all real linear second order ordinary differential equations are solved by geodesic curves in two dimensional Riemannian hyperbolic geometry

I show that a real linear second order ordinary differential equation u ″ ( x ) + h ( x ) u ( x ) = 0 , with differentiable h ( x ) , locally admits two linearly independent solutions which exist on an open interval around any x 0 ∈ R : u top ( x ) = exp ⁡ [ ∫ x 0 x d ξ Φ ( ξ ) Φ ′ ( ξ ) − [ h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] 2 + [ Φ ′ ( ξ ) ] 2 h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] , u bot ( x ) = exp ⁡ [ ∫ x 0 x d ξ Φ ( ξ ) Φ ′ ( ξ ) + [ h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] 2 + [ Φ ′ ( ξ ) ] 2 h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] , where Φ ( x ) is any geodesic curve in a two dimensional hyperbolic geometry of a Riemannian manifold M h , which is non-vertical at x 0 . I define M h to be an upper half plane { ( x , Φ ) ∈ R 2 | Φ > 0 } , with points in which Φ 2 = h ( x ) being removed, equipped with metric g h = [ ( h ( x ) − Φ 2 ) 2 d x 2 + d Φ 2 ] / Φ 2 . A non-trivial character of the presented result stems from the fact that g h is solely defined in terms of the function h ( x ) . I also show that a local diffeomorphism between M h and Poincaré upper half plane H is induced by any pair of linearly independent solutions of u ″ ( x ) + h ( x ) u ( x ) = 0 . If this pair is selected to be u top ( x ) and u bot ( x ) , the associate geodesic curve Φ ( x ) is mapped to a vertical geodesic curve on H . With these results, supported by complementary remarks and examples, I establish a fundamental link between linear second order ordinary differential equations and two dimensional hyperbolic geometry, adding to textbook knowledge about these profound subareas of mathematics.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Differential Equations
Published
2026-09-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jde.2026.114756
Primary Topic
Numerical methods in inverse problems
Type
article
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article

Almost all real linear second order ordinary differential equations are solved by geodesic curves in two dimensional Riemannian hyperbolic geometry

Łukasz Rudnicki
Journal of Differential Equations
Numerical methods in inverse problems
article

Almost all real linear second order ordinary differential equations are solved by geodesic curves in two dimensional Riemannian hyperbolic geometry

Łukasz Rudnicki
article en

Abstract

I show that a real linear second order ordinary differential equation u ″ ( x ) + h ( x ) u ( x ) = 0 , with differentiable h ( x ) , locally admits two linearly independent solutions which exist on an open interval around any x 0 ∈ R : u top ( x ) = exp ⁡ [ ∫ x 0 x d ξ Φ ( ξ ) Φ ′ ( ξ ) − [ h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] 2 + [ Φ ′ ( ξ ) ] 2 h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] , u bot ( x ) = exp ⁡ [ ∫ x 0 x d ξ Φ ( ξ ) Φ ′ ( ξ ) + [ h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] 2 + [ Φ ′ ( ξ ) ] 2 h ( ξ ) − Φ 2 ( ξ ) ] , where Φ ( x ) is any geodesic curve in a two dimensional hyperbolic geometry of a Riemannian manifold M h , which is non-vertical at x 0 . I define M h to be an upper half plane { ( x , Φ ) ∈ R 2 | Φ > 0 } , with points in which Φ 2 = h ( x ) being removed, equipped with metric g h = [ ( h ( x ) − Φ 2 ) 2 d x 2 + d Φ 2 ] / Φ 2 . A non-trivial character of the presented result stems from the fact that g h is solely defined in terms of the function h ( x ) . I also show that a local diffeomorphism between M h and Poincaré upper half plane H is induced by any pair of linearly independent solutions of u ″ ( x ) + h ( x ) u ( x ) = 0 . If this pair is selected to be u top ( x ) and u bot ( x ) , the associate geodesic curve Φ ( x ) is mapped to a vertical geodesic curve on H . With these results, supported by complementary remarks and examples, I establish a fundamental link between linear second order ordinary differential equations and two dimensional hyperbolic geometry, adding to textbook knowledge about these profound subareas of mathematics.

Journal of Differential EquationsVol. 486
University of Gdańsk (PL)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 92%
Numerical methods in inverse problems
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