Non-null Lie quadratics in E3

Interpolation problems in the space SO(3) of rotations of Euclidean 3-space E3 are reviewed in Secs. I s2 as background and motivation to a study of curves in E3 called Lie quadratics. Except for a special class called null, Lie quadratics have resisted analysis until now. The rest of the present paper is devoted to new results showing non-null Lie quadratics have rich analytical, geometrical, and asymptotic structures: rates of growth are studied using differential equations and inequalities, Lie quadratics are proved to be extendible over the whole of R, and existence of axes is proved under fairly general conditions. Examples show sharpness of many results.