Tschirnhausen Cubic Catacaustic

The Tschirnhausen cubic (black curve) is defined parametrically as

[math] x = a3(t^2-3) [/math]

[math] y = at(t^2-3) [/math]

Its catacaustic (red curve) with radiant point [math](-8a,p)[/math] is the semicubical parabola with parametric equations

[math] x = a6(t^2-1) [/math]

[math] y = a4t^3 [/math]

The catacaustic is the envelope of the rays reflected by the Tschirnhausen cubic. The ray's source is the radiant point.

You can get a feeling why the red curve is called envelope of the blue line if you drag the point of reflection.

References

• Weisstein, Eric W. "Tschirnhausen Cubic Catacaustic." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.
• Wikipedia on Caustics

The underlying JavaScript code

var brd = JXG.JSXGraph.initBoard('jxgbox',{boundingbox:[-10,10,10,-10], keepaspectratio:true, axis:true});
brd.suspendUpdate();
var a = brd.create('slider',[[-5,6],[5,6],[-5,1,5]], {name:'a'});

var cubic = brd.create('curve',
             [function(t){ return a.Value()*3*(t*t-3);},
              function(t){ return a.Value()*t*(t*t-3);},
              -5, 5
             ],
             {strokeWidth:1, strokeColor:'black'});

var radpoint = brd.create('point',[function(){ return -a.Value()*8;},0],{name:'radiant point'});
var reflectionpoint = brd.create('glider',[-7,1,cubic],{name:'point of reflection'});
var dir = brd.create('segment',[radpoint,reflectionpoint],{strokeWidth:1});
var infty = brd.create('point',
     [
       function(){ 
            var a = dir.stdform[1], b = dir.stdform[2],
                t = reflectionpoint.position,
                u = JXG.Math.Numerics.D(cubic.X)(t), 
                v = JXG.Math.Numerics.D(cubic.Y)(t),
                dirx = a*v*v-2*b*u*v-a*u*u,
                diry = b*u*u-2*a*u*v-b*v*v;
            return [0, diry, -dirx];  
       }
     ],{name:'', visible:false});

var reflection = brd.create('line',
       [reflectionpoint,infty],
       {strokeWidth:1, straightFirst:false, trace:true});

var cataustic = brd.create('curve',
                 [function(t){ return a.Value()*6*(t*t-1);},
                  function(t){ return a.Value()*4*t*t*t;},
                 -4, 4
                 ],
                 {strokeWidth:3, strokeColor:'red'});
brd.unsuspendUpdate();