Ideal point

Point at infinity in hyperbolic geometry
ideal points in hyperbolic geometry

In hyperbolic geometry, an ideal point, omega point or point at infinity is a well defined point outside the hyperbolic plane or space. Given a line l and a point P not on l, right and left limiting parallels to l through P converge to l at ideal points. Unlike the projective case, ideal points form a boundary, not a submanifold. So, these lines do not intersect at an ideal point and such points, although well defined, do not belong to the hyperbolic space itself. The ideal points together form the Cayley absolute or boundary of a hyperbolic geometry. For instance, the unit circle forms the Cayley absolute of the Poincaré disk model and the Klein disk model. The real line forms the Cayley absolute of the Poincaré half plane model. Pasch's axiom and the exterior angle theorem still hold for an omega triangle, defined by two points in hyperbolic space and an omega point.

The hyperbolic distance between an ideal point and any other point or ideal point is infinite. The centres of horocycles and horoballs are ideal points; two horocycles are concentric when they have the same centre.

if all vertices of a quadrilateral are ideal points, the quadrilateral is an ideal quadrilateral. While all ideal triangles are congruent, not all convex ideal quadrilaterals are. They can vary from each other, for instance, in the angle at which their two diagonals cross each other. Nevertheless all convex ideal quadrilaterals have certain properties in common:
The interior angles of a convex ideal quadrilateral are all zero. Any convex ideal quadrilateral has an infinite perimeter. Any convex ideal quadrilateral has area where K is the (always negative) curvature of the plane.

The ideal quadrilateral where the two diagonals are perpendicular to each other form an ideal square. It was used by Ferdinand Karl Schweikart in his memorandum on what he called "astral geometry", one of the first publications acknowledging the possibility of hyperbolic geometry.

An ideal n gon can be subdivided into (n − 2) ideal triangles, with area (n − 2) times the area of an ideal triangle.

In the Klein disk model and the Poincaré disk model of the hyperbolic plane the ideal points are on the unit circle (hyperbolic plane) or unit sphere (higher dimensions) which is the unreachable boundary of the hyperbolic plane. When projecting the same hyperbolic line to the Klein disk model and the Poincaré disk model both lines go through the same two ideal points (the ideal points in both models are on the same spot).

Given two distinct points p and q in the open unit disk the unique straight line connecting them intersects the unit circle in two ideal points, a and b, labeled so that the points are, in order, a, p, q, b so that |aq| > |ap| and |pb| > |qb|. Then the hyperbolic distance between p and q is expressed as

Given two distinct points p and q in the open unit disk then the unique circle arc orthogonal to the boundary connecting them intersects the unit circle in two ideal points, a and b, labeled so that the points are, in order, a, p, q, b so that |aq| > |ap| and |pb| > |qb|. Then the hyperbolic distance between p and q is expressed as

Where the distances are measured along the (straight line) segments aq, ap, pb and qb.

In the Poincaré half plane model the ideal points are the points on the boundary axis. There is also another ideal point that is not represented in the half plane model (but rays parallel to the positive y axis approach it).

In the hyperboloid model there are no ideal points.