In geometry, a real projective line is a projective line over the real numbers. It is an extension of the usual concept of a line that has been historically introduced to solve a problem set by visual perspective: two parallel lines do not intersect but seem to intersect "at infinity". For solving this problem, points at infinity have been introduced, in such a way that in a real projective plane, two distinct projective lines meet in exactly one point. The set of these points at infinity, the "horizon" of the visual perspective in the plane, is a real projective line. It is the set of directions emanating from an observer situated at any point, with opposite directions identified.
An example of a real projective line is the projectively extended real line, which is often called the projective line.
Formally, a real projective line P(R) is defined as the set of all one-dimensional linear subspaces of a two-dimensional vector space over the reals. The automorphisms of a real projective line are called projective transformations, homographies, or linear fractional transformations. They form the projective linear group PGL(2, R). Each element of PGL(2, R) can be defined by a nonsingular 2×2 real matrix, and two matrices define the same element of PGL(2, R) if one is the product of the other and a nonzero real number.
Topologically, real projective lines are homeomorphic to circles. The complex analog of a real projective line is a complex projective line, also called a Riemann sphere.
The points of the real projective line are usually defined as equivalence classes of an equivalence relation. The starting point is a real vector space of dimension 2, . Define on the binary relation to hold when there exists a nonzero real number such that . The definition of a vector space implies almost immediately that this is an equivalence relation. The equivalence classes are the vector lines from which the zero vector has been removed. The real projective line is the set of all equivalence classes. Each equivalence class is considered as a single point, or, in other words, a point is defined as being an equivalence class.
If one chooses a basis of, this amounts (by identifying a vector with its coordinate vector) to identify with the direct product, and the equivalence relation becomes if there exists a nonzero real number such that . In this case, the projective line is preferably denoted or
RP1
As is defined through an equivalence relation, the canonical projection from to defines a topology (the quotient topology) and a differential structure on the projective line. However, the fact that equivalence classes are not finite induces some difficulties for defining the differential structure. These are solved by considering as a Euclidean vector space. The circle of the unit vectors is, in the case of, the set of the vectors whose coordinates satisfy . This circle intersects each equivalence classes in exactly two opposite points. Therefore, the projective line may be considered as the quotient space of the circle by the equivalence relation such that if and only if either or .
See also: projectivization.
The projective line is a manifold. This can be seen by above construction through an equivalence relation, but is easier to understand by providing an atlas consisting of two charts
y\ne0, [x:y]\mapsto
| x | |
| y |
x\ne0, [x:y]\mapsto
| y | |
| x |
Either of or may be zero, but not both, so both charts are needed to cover the projective line. The transition map between these two charts is the multiplicative inverse. As it is a differentiable function, and even an analytic function (outside of zero), the real projective line is both a differentiable manifold and an analytic manifold.
The inverse function of chart #1 is the map
x\mapsto[x:1].
The same construction may be done with the other chart. In this case, the point at infinity is . This shows that the notion of point at infinity is not intrinsic to the real projective line, but is relative to the choice of an embedding of the real line into the projective line.
The real projective line is a complete projective range that is found in the real projective plane and in the complex projective line. Its structure is thus inherited from these superstructures. Primary among these structures is the relation of projective harmonic conjugates among the points of the projective range.
The real projective line has a cyclic order that extends the usual order of the real numbers.
Matrix-vector multiplication defines a left action of on the space of column vectors: explicitly,
\begin{pmatrix}a&b\ c&d\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}x\ y\end{pmatrix}=\begin{pmatrix}ax+by\ cx+dy\end{pmatrix}.
\begin{pmatrix}a&b\ c&d\end{pmatrix}[x:y]=[ax+by:cx+dy].
[x:y]
style\begin{pmatrix}x\\y\end{pmatrix};
[x y].
The elements of that act trivially on are the nonzero scalar multiples of the identity matrix; these form a subgroup denoted . The projective linear group is defined to be the quotient group . By the above, there is an induced faithful action of on . For this reason, the group may also be called the group of linear automorphisms of .
Using the identification sending to and to, one obtains a corresponding action of on, which is by linear fractional transformations: explicitly, since
\begin{pmatrix}a&b\ c&d\end{pmatrix}[x:1]=[ax+b:cx+d] and \begin{pmatrix}a&b\ c&d\end{pmatrix}[1:0]=[a:c],
\begin{pmatrix}a&b\ c&d\end{pmatrix}
x\mapsto
| ax+b | |
| cx+d |
infty\mapsto
| a | |
| c |
x\mapsto
| x-1 | |
| x+1 |
x\mapstoax+b