Boundary torsion and convex caps of locally convex surfaces

Abstract

We prove that the torsion of any closed space curve which bounds a simply connected locally convex surface vanishes at least 4 times. This answers a question of Rosenberg related to a problem of Yau on characterizing the boundary of positively curved disks in Euclidean space. Furthermore, our result generalizes the 4 vertex theorem of Sedykh for convex space curves, and thus constitutes a far reaching extension of the classical 4 vertex theorem. The proof involves studying the arrangement of convex caps in a locally convex surface, and yields a Bose type formula for these objects.