Planar p-Elasticae and Rotational Linear Weingarten Surfaces

Abstract

We variationally characterize the profile curves of rotational linear Weingarten surfaces as planar p-elastic curves. Moreover, by evolving these planar p-elasticae under the binormal flow with prescribed velocity, we describe a procedure to construct all rotational linear Weingarten surfaces, locally. Finally, we apply our findings to two well-known family of surfaces.