Gauss's lemma

@needham2021visual page 274.

On a general surface, if we launch particles in all directions from a point p, travelling a distance σ along geodesics, they will form a geodesic circle K(σ) with radius σ (this is a definition).

Lemma
The geodesic circle K(σ) cuts its geodesic every geodesic radius at a right angle.

Pasted image 20220627194850.png

Proof
Idea: suppose p is placed along a geodesic γ1 from o at distance R. Consider also the point q at a nearby geodesic γ2 to the previous one and at the same distance R. If the angle were lesser than π/2 we could look for a point r on γ1 such that we have a geodesic triangle rpq with the angle at q being π/2. In this case

d(o,r)+d(r,q)<d(o,r)+d(r,p)=R

so it cannot be d(o,q)=R.
By a symmetry argument (exchanging the roles of p and q) it can be shown that the angle cannot be greater than π/2.