Does the motor cortex draw on a wire plane?

Read full text
Authors: Patrick Iglesias-Zemmour
Cited by: 0

Abstract

The two-thirds power law of human motor control ($v \propto κ^{-1/3}$) is geometrically equivalent to constant equi-affine speed. In classical differential geometry, however, the equi-affine metric is not a tensor: it depends on acceleration, which does not transform covariantly under arbitrary coordinate changes. To recover tensorial behavior, one must either restrict the symmetry group to the affine group or introduce an affine connection -- sacrificing full diffeomorphism covariance. This article proposes a different geometric setting. We equip the Euclidean plane with the "wire diffeology', the smooth structure generated by all smooth curves. In this diffeological space, the equi-affine metric becomes a true covariant $3$-tensor under the **full** diffeomorphism group -- no restriction of symmetries, no additional structure required. The construction is motivated by a simple fact: the motor cortex traces curves, not two-dimensional patches. Accordingly, curves are taken as primitive, echoing the motor control literature in which movements are built from a repertoire of elementary building blocks -- motor primitives. The wire plane offers a geometric formalization of this idea in which the two-thirds power law emerges as a fully covariant invariant.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Differential Geometry Research Motor Control and Adaptation Relativity and Gravitational Theory

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
12 February 2026
Language
EN
Document type
Preprint