The Nash manifold of four-point configurations modulo similarity subgroups

Abstract

We construct and study the Nash manifold of four-point configurations in the real plane modulo the action of a Nash subgroup of the group of similarity transformations. We do so by using the finer notion of a quadrangle in place of that of a four-point configuration, since this retains limiting line data in degenerations. We prove that the space ${\mathcal Q}$ of quadrangles is an 8-dimensional Nash manifold and that, for every Nash subgroup $G$ of the similarity group, the orbit space ${\mathcal Q}/G$ is a Nash manifold. We define a geometric invariant, called aspect, with values in $[-1,1]$, and prove that, over each of the intervals $(-1,0)$ and $(0,1)$, the corresponding part of ${\mathcal Q}/G$ is Nash diffeomorphic to the product of the interval with a fixed fiber. Thus the nonexceptional part of the moduli problem reduces to the analysis of two model fibers, each having a natural geometric interpretation in terms of the quadrangles themselves.