Mathematics

The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers.

Maryam Mirzakhani (2008)

mathematics

14 July 2026

Two tori can share the same local geometry and still be different shapes

A construction in Publications mathematiques de l'IHES gives the first compact Bonnet pairs: two smooth, real-analytic tori in three-dimensional space that have the same intrinsic metric and the same mean curvature at corresponding points, yet are not the same surface up to a rigid motion. The result closes old uniqueness questions in surface geometry, and it is a precise counterexample to a tempting idea: that enough local measurements must identify a compact shape.