We prove that any minimal (maximal) strongly regular surface in the three-dimensional Minkowski space locally admits canonical principal parameters. Using this result, we find a canonical representation of minimal strongly regular time-like surfaces, which makes more precise the Weierstrass representation and shows more precisely the correspondence between these surfaces and holomorphic functions (in the Gauss plane). We also find a canonical representation of maximal strongly regular space-like surfaces, which makes more precise the Weierstrass representation and shows more precisely the correspondence between these surfaces and holomorphic functions (in the Lorentz plane). This allows us to describe locally the solutions of the corresponding natural partial differential equations.
Using techniques of integrable systems, we study a Weierstrass representation formula for timelike surfaces with prescribed mean curvature in Minkowski 3-space. It is shown that timelike minimal surfaces are obtained by integrating a pair of Lorentz holomorphic and Lorentz antiholomorphic null curves in Minkowski 3-space. The relationship between timelike minimal surfaces and bosonic Nambu-Goto string worldsheets in spacetime is also discussed in the appendix.
We give a conformal representation in terms of meromorphic data for a certain class of spacelike surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski 4-space L^4 whose mean curvature vector is either lightlike or zero at each point. This representation extends simultaneously the Weierstrass representation for minimal surfaces in Euclidean 3-space and for maximal surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space, and the Bryant representation for mean curvature one surfaces in the hyperbolic 3-space and in the de Sitter 3-space.
We use the Björling problem in Lorentz-Minkowski space to obtain explicit parametrizations of maximal surfaces containing a circle and a helix. We investigate the Weierstrass representation of these surfaces.
It is known that any maximal space-like surface without isotropic points in the four-dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space with neutral metric admits locally geometric parameters which are special case of isothermal parameters. With respect to such parameters the surface is determined uniquely up to a motion by the Gauss curvature and the curvature of the normal connection, which satisfy a system of two PDE's (the system of natural PDE's). For any maximal space-like surface parametrized by canonical parameters we obtain a special Weierstrass representation -- canonical Weierstrass representation.…
Bour's minimal surface has remarkable properties in three dimensional Minkowski space. We reveal the definite and indefinite cases of the Bour's surface using Weierstrass representations, and give some differential geometric properties of the astonishing maximal and minimal surfaces.
A space-like surface in Minkowski space-time is minimal if its mean curvature vector field is zero. Any minimal space-like surface of general type admits special isothermal parameters - canonical parameters. For any minimal surface of general type parameterized by canonical parameters we obtain Weierstrass representations - canonical Weierstrass representations via two holomorphic functions. We find the expressions of the Gauss curvature and the normal curvature of the surface with respect to this pair of holomorphic functions. We find the relation between two pairs of holomorphic functions ge…
In this paper, we will give an Enneper-type representation for spacelike and timelike minimal surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski space $L^{3}$, using the complex and the paracomplex analysis (respectively). Then, we exhibit various examples of minimal surfaces in $L^{3}$ constructed via the Enneper representation formula, that it is equivalent to the Weierstrass representation obtained by Kobayashi (for spacelike immersions) and by Konderak (for the timelike ones).
We give an infinite dimensional generalized Weierstrass representation for spacelike constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in Minkowski 3-space $\real^{2,1}$. The formulation is analogous to that given by Dorfmeister, Pedit and Wu for CMC surfaces in Euclidean space, replacing the group $SU_2$ with $SU_{1,1}$. The non-compactness of the latter group, however, means that the Iwasawa decomposition of the loop group, used to construct the surfaces, is not global. We prove that it is defined on an open dense subset, after doubling the size of the real form $SU_{1,1}$, and prove several results co…
We construct new integrable systems to present Weierstrass type representations for spacelike surfaces whose mean curvature vector $\mathbf{H}$ satisfies the null condition $\langle \mathbf{H}, \mathbf{H} \rangle=0$ in the four dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space ${\mathbb{L}}^{4}$. Our new Weierstrass presentations extend simultaneously classical Weierstrass representations (of the first kind and the second kind) for maximal surfaces in ${\mathbb{L}}^{3}$ and minimal surfaces in ${\mathbb{R}}^{3}$. We solve a linear partial differental equation to construct explicit examples of marginally tra…
We obtain the Weierstrass-Enneper representation for maximal graphs(whose Gauss map is one-one) in Lorentz-Minkowski space. For this we use the method of Barbishov and Chernikov, which they have used to find the solutions of Born-Infeld equation in hodographic coordinates. We could use their method in our case, because we realized that the maximal surface equation and Born-Infeld equation are related via a wick rotation in the first variable of the parametrising domain.
We shall investigate maximal surfaces in Minkowski 3-space with singularities. Although the plane is the only complete maximal surface without singular points, there are many other complete maximal surfaces with singularities and we show that they satisfy an Osserman-type inequality.
We study nonorientable maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space. We prove some existence results for surfaces of this kind with high genus and one end.
The geometry and topology of complete nonorientable maximal surfaces with lightlike singularities in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space are studied. Some topological congruence formulae for surfaces of this kind are obtained. As a consequence, some existence and uniqueness results for maximal Moebius strips and maximal Klein bottles with one end are proved.
We establish what semi-discrete linear Weingarten surfaces with Weierstrass-type representations in $3$-dimensional Riemannian and Lorentzian spaceforms are, confirming their required properties regarding curvatures and parallel surfaces, and then classify them. We then define and analyze their singularities. In particular, we discuss singularities of (1) semi-discrete surfaces with non-zero constant Gaussian curvature, (2) parallel surfaces of semi-discrete minimal and maximal surfaces, and (3) semi-discrete constant mean curvature $1$ surfaces in de Sitter $3$-space. We include comparisons w…
In this paper, we study the Dirichlet problem associated to the maximal surface equation. We prove the uniqueness of bounded solutions to this problem in unbounded domain in R^2.
We prove that maximal annuli in $\mathbb{L}^{3}$ bounded by circles, straight lines or cone points in a pair of parallel spacelike planes are part of either a Lorentzian catenoid or a Lorentzian Riemann's example. We show that under the same boundary condition, the same conclusion holds even when the maximal annuli have a planar end. Moreover, we extend Shiffman's convexity result to maximal annuli but by using Perron's method we construct a maximal annulus with a planar end where Shiffman type result fails.
We show that, up to some natural normalizations, the moduli space of singly periodic complete embedded maximal surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski space $ł^3=(\r^3,dx_1^2+dx_2^2-dx_3^2),$ with fundamental piece having a finite number $(n+1)$ of singularities, is a real analytic manifold of dimension $3n+4.$ The underlying topology agrees with the topology of uniform convergence of graphs on compact subsets of $\{x_3=0\}.$
The Jorge-Meeks $n$-noid ($n\ge 2$) is a complete minimal surface of genus zero with $n$ catenoidal ends in the Euclidean 3-space $\boldsymbol{R}^3$, which has $(2π/n)$-rotation symmetry with respect to its axis. In this paper, we show that the corresponding maximal surface $f_n$ in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space $\boldsymbol{R}^3_1$ has an analytic extension $\tilde f_n$ as a properly embedded zero mean curvature surface. The extension changes type into a time-like (minimal) surface.
Lecture notes from the mini-course "Topics in Lorentz Geometry" taught at the University of São Paulo, in March/2019. The text has three parts: (i) an overall view of linear algebra in the pseudo-Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n_ν$, with focus on Lorentz-Minkowski space and its role in Physics; (ii) a version of the Fundamental Theorem of Curves in 3-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space, with adaptations to curves with degenerate osculating plane; (iii) the problem of the diagonalization of the Weingarten map for timelike surfaces, local classification of surfaces with constant Gaussian curvature …
Consider a surface $S$ immersed in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space $\boldsymbol R^3_1$. A complete light-like line in $\boldsymbol R^3_1$ is called an entire null line on the surface $S$ in $\boldsymbol R^3_1$ if it lies on $S$ and consists of only null points with respect to the induced metric. In this paper, we show the existence of embedded space-like maximal graphs containing entire null lines. If such a graph is defined on a convex domain in $\boldsymbol R^2$, then it must be a light-like plane. Our example is critical in the sense that it is defined on a certain non-convex domain.
A maximal surface $\sb$ with isolated singularities in a complete flat Lorentzian 3-manifold $\N$ is said to be entire if it lifts to a (periodic) entire multigraph $\tilde{\sb}$ in $ł^3.$ In addition, $\sb$ is called of finite type if it has finite topology, finitely many singular points and $\tilde{\sb}$ is finitely sheeted. Complete and proper maximal immersions with isolated singularities in $\N$ are entire, and entire embedded maximal surfaces in $\N$ with a finite number of singularities are of finite type. We classify complete flat Lorentzian 3-manifolds carrying entire maximal surfaces…
Until now, the only known maximal surfaces in Minkowski 3-space of finite topology with compact singular set and without branch points were either genus zero or genus one, or came from a correspondence with minimal surfaces in Euclidean 3-space given by the third and fourth authors in a previous paper. In this paper, we discuss singularities and several global properties of maximal surfaces, and give explicit examples of such surfaces of arbitrary genus. When the genus is one, our examples are embedded outside a compact set. Moreover, we deform such examples to CMC-1 faces (mean curvature one …
A minimal space-like surface in Minkowski space-time is said to be of general type if it is free of degenerate points. The fact that minimal space-like surfaces of general type in Minkowski space-time admit canonical parameters of the first (second) type implies that any minimal space-like surface is determined uniquely up to a motion in space-time by the Gauss curvature and the normal curvature, satisfying a system of two PDE's (the system of natural PDE's). In fact this solves the problem of Lund-Regge for minimal space-like surfaces. Using canonical Weierstrass representations of minimal sp…
We prove an isoperimetric-type inequality for maximal, spacelike submanifold in the Minkowski space. The argument is based on the recent work of Brendle.
We show that a complete embedded maximal surface in the 3-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space $L^3$ with a finite number of singularities is, up to a Lorentzian isometry, an entire graph over any spacelike plane asymptotic to a vertical half catenoid or a horizontal plane and with conelike singular points. We study the space $G_n$ of entire maximal graphs over $\{x_3=0\}$ in $L^3$ with $n+1 \geq 2$ conelike singularities and vertical limit normal vector at infinity. We show that $G_n$ is a real analytic manifold of dimension $3n+4,$ and the coordinates are given by the position of the singular…
We apply Garnier's method to solve the Plateau problem for maximal surfaces in Minkowski 3-space. Our study relies on the improved version we gave of R. Garnier's resolution of the Plateau problem for polygonal boundary curves in Euclidean 3-space. Since in Minkowski space the method does not allow us to avoid the existence of singularities, the appropriate framework is to consider maxfaces -- generalized maximal surfaces without branch points, introduced by M. Umehara and K. Yamada. We prove that any given spacelike polygonal curve in generic position in Minkowski 3-space bounds at least one …
In this paper we deal with the uniqueness of the Lorentzian helicoid and Enneper's surface among properly embedded maximal surfaces with lightlike boundary of mirror symmetry in the Lorentz-Minkowski space L3.
In this paper, we investigate surfaces in singular semi-Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{0,2,1}$ endowed with a degenerate metric. We define $d$-minimal surfaces, and give a representation formula of Weierstrass type. Moreover, we prove that $d$-minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^{0,2,1}$ and spacelike flat zero mean curvature (ZMC) surfaces in four-dimensional Minkowski space $\mathbb{R}^{4}_{1}$ are in one-to-one correspondence.
In Lorentz-Minkowski space, we prove that the conjugate surface of a maximal graph over a convex domain is also a graph. We provide three proofs of this result that show a suitable correspondence between maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski space and minimal surfaces in Euclidean space.
For entire spacelike stationary 2-dimensional graphs in Minkowski spaces, we establish Bernstein type theorems under specific boundedness assumptions either on the W-function or on the total (Gaussian) curvature. These conclusions imply the classical Bernstein theorem for minimal surfaces in 3-dimensional Euclidean space and Calabi's theorem for spacelike maximal surfaces in 3-dimensional Minkowski space.
Fold singular points play important roles in the theory of maximal surfaces. For example, if a maximal surface admits fold singular points, it can be extended to a timelike minimal surface analytically. Moreover, there is a duality between conelike singular points and folds. In this paper, we investigate fold singular points on spacelike surfaces with non-zero constant mean curvature (spacelike CMC surfaces). We prove that spacelike CMC surfaces do not admit fold singular points. Moreover, we show that the singular point set of any conjugate CMC surface of a spacelike Delaunay surface with con…
In this paper we construct an example of a weakly complete maximal surface in the Lorentz-Minkowski space L^3, which is bounded by a hyperboloid. Moreover, all the singularities of our example are of lightlike type.
Space-like maximal surfaces and time-like minimal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski3-space are both characterized as zero mean curvature surfaces. We are interested in the case where the zero mean curvature surface changes type from space-like to time-like at a given non-degenerate null curve. We consider this phenomenon and its interesting connection to 2-dimensional fluid mechanics in this expository article.
We show that every regular domain $\mathcal D$ in Minkowski space $\mathbb R^{n,1}$ which is not a wedge admits an entire hypersurface whose domain of dependence is $\mathcal D$ and whose scalar curvature is a prescribed constant (or function, under suitable hypotheses) in $(-\infty,0)$. Under rather general assumptions, these hypersurfaces are unique and provide foliations of $\mathcal D$. As an application, we show that every maximal globally hyperbolic Cauchy compact flat spacetime admits a foliation by hypersurfaces of constant scalar curvature, generalizing to any dimension previous resul…
We show that the singularities of spacelike maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space generically consist of cuspidal edges, swallowtails and cuspidal cross caps. The same result holds for spacelike mean curvature one surfaces in de Sitter 3-space. To prove these, we shall give a simple criterion for a given singular point on a surface to be a cuspidal cross cap.
Calabi's Bernstein-type theorem asserts that a zero mean curvature entire graph in Lorentz-Minkowski space $\boldsymbol L^3$ which admits only space-like points is a space-like plane. Using the fluid mechanical duality between minimal surfaces in Euclidean 3-space $\boldsymbol E^3$ and maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski space $\boldsymbol L^3$, we give an improvement of this Bernstein-type theorem. More precisely, we show that a zero mean curvature entire graph in $\boldsymbol L^3$ which does not admit time-like points (namely, a graph consists of only space-like and light-like points) is a…
We investigate the duality between minimal surfaces in Euclidean space and maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski space in the family of rotational surfaces. We study if the dual surfaces of two congruent rotational minimal (or maximal) surfaces are congruent. We show that in the duality process by means of a one-parameter group of rotations, it appears the family of Bonnet minimal (maximal) surfaces and the Goursat transformations.
We generalize the Fenchel theorem for strong spacelike closed curves of index $1$ in the 3-dimensional Minkowski space, showing that the total curvature must be less than or equal to $2π$. Here strong spacelike means that the tangent vector and the curvature vector span a spacelike 2-plane at each point of the curve $γ$ under consideration. The assumption of index 1 is equivalent to saying that $γ$ winds around some timelike axis with winding number 1. We prove this reversed Fenchel-type inequality by constructing a ruled spacelike surface with the given curve as boundary and applying the Gaus…
We study singularities of spacelike, constant (non-zero) mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space $L^3$. We show how to solve the singular Björling problem for such surfaces, which is stated as follows: given a real analytic null-curve $f_0(x)$, and a real analytic null vector field $v(x)$ parallel to the tangent field of $f_0$, find a conformally parameterized (generalized) CMC $H$ surface in $L^3$ which contains this curve as a singular set and such that the partial derivatives $f_x$ and $f_y$ are given by $\frac{\dd f_0}{\dd x}$ and $v$ along the curve. Within the clas…
In this work, we consider spacelike surfaces in Minkowski space $\hbox{\bf E}%_{1}^{3}$ that satisfy a linear Weingarten condition of type $κ_{1}=mκ_{2}+n$, where $m$ and $n$ are constant and $κ_{1}$ and $κ_{2}$ denote the principal curvatures at each point of the surface. We study the family of surfaces foliated by a uniparametric family of circles in parallel planes. We prove that the surface must be rotational or the surface is part of the family of Riemann examples of maximal surfaces ($m=-1$, $n=0$). Finally, we consider the class of rotational surfaces for the case $n=0$, obtaining a fir…
The 2-parameter family of certain homogeneous Lorentzian 3-manifolds which includes Minkowski 3-space and anti-de Sitter 3-space is considered. Each homogeneous Lorentzian 3-manifold in the 2-parameter family has a solvable Lie group structure with left invariant metric. A generalized integral representation formula which is the unification of representation formulas for maximal spacelike surfaces in those homogeneous Lorentzian 3-manifolds is obtained. The normal Gauß map of maximal spacelike surfaces in those homogeneous Lorentzian 3-manifolds and its harmonicity are discussed.
If the Lorentzian norm on a maximal surface in the 3-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space $R_1^3$ is positive and proper, then the surface is relative parabolic. As a consequence, entire maximal graphs with a closed set of isolated singularities are relative parabolic. Furthermore, maximal and minimal graphs over closed starlike domains in $R_1^3$ and $R^3,$ respectively, are relative parabolic.
As in the case of minimal surfaces in the Euclidean 3-space, the reflection principle for maximal surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space asserts that if a maximal surface has a spacelike line segment $L$, the surface is invariant under the $180^\circ$-rotation with respect to $L$. However, such a reflection property does not hold for lightlike line segments on the boundaries of maximal surfaces in general. In this paper, we show some kind of reflection principle for lightlike line segments on the boundaries of maximal surfaces when lightlike line segments are connecting shrinking singularit…
We show that a Born-Infeld soliton can be realised either as a spacelike minimal graph or timelike minimal graph over a timelike plane or a combination of both away from singular points. We also obtain some exact solutions of the Born-Infeld equation from already known solutions to the maximal surface equation. Further we present a method to construct a one-parameter family of complex solitons from a given one parameter family of maximal surfaces. Finally, using Ramanujan's Identities and the Weierstrass-Enneper representation of maximal surfaces, we derive further non-trivial identities.
Minimal surfaces with planar curvature lines in the Euclidean space have been studied since the late 19th century. On the other hand, the classification of maximal surfaces with planar curvature lines in the Lorentz-Minkowski space has only recently been given. In this paper, we use an alternative method not only to refine the classification of maximal surfaces with planar curvature lines, but also to show that there exists a deformation consisting exactly of all such surfaces. Furthermore, we investigate the types of singularities that occur on maximal surfaces with planar curvature lines. Fi…
We prove that there does not exist global-in-time axisymmetric solutions to the time-like minimal submanifold system in Minkowski space. We further analyze the limiting geometry as the maximal time of existence is approached.
We prove that a maximal surface in Lorentz-Minkowski space $\Bbb L^3$ can be extended analytically along its boundary if the boundary lies in a plane meeting the surface at a constant angle.
It is well-known that space-like maximal surfaces and time-like minimal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space R^3_1 have singularities in general. They are both characterized as zero mean curvature surfaces. We are interested in the case where the singular set consists of a light-like line, since this case has not been analyzed before. As a continuation of a previous work by the authors, we give the first example of a family of such surfaces which change type across the light-like line. As a corollary, we also obtain a family of zero mean curvature hypersurfaces in R^{n+1}_1 that change type a…
We show that to every maximal surface with conelike singularities in Lorentz-Minkowski space $\mathbb{L}^3$ that can be locally represented as the graph of a smooth function, there exists a corresponding timelike minimal surface in $\mathbb{L}^3$. There exists a linear transformation between such a maximal surface and its corresponding timelike minimal surface and it maps the singularities of one to the singularities of the other. Moreover, this transformation establishes a one-one correspondence between such maximal surfaces and timelike minimal surfaces and also preserves the one-one propert…
We prove that if $ϕ\colon \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^{1+2}$ is a smooth proper timelike immersion with vanishing mean curvature, then necessarily $ϕ$ is an embedding, and every compact subset of $ϕ(\mathbb{R}^2)$ is a smooth graph. It follows that if one evolves any smooth self-intersecting spacelike curve (or any planar spacelike curve whose unit tangent vector spans a closed semi-circle) so as to trace a timelike surface of vanishing mean curvature in $\mathbb{R}^{1+2}$, then the evolving surface will either fail to remain timelike, or it will fail to remain smooth. We show that, even allow…
