On the area of constrained polygonal linkages

Abstract

Consider a mechanical linkages whose underlying graph is a polygon with a diagonal constraint, or more general, a partial two-tree. We show that (with an appropriate definition) the oriented area is a Bott–Morse function on the configuration space of the linkage. Its critical points are described and Bott–Morse indices are computed. This paper is a generalization of analogous results for polygonal linkages (obtained earlier by G. Khimshiashvili, G. Panina, and A. Zhukova).