23 pages, no figures. Contribution submitted to the Proceedings of the IV International Meeting on Lorentzian Geometry (GELOGRA, Granada 2011). Several corrections and additions, new examples and remarks. References added. A typo (wrong sign in definition of Weingarten operators) corrected
A spacelike surface S immersed in a 4-dimensional Lorentzian manifold will be said to be umbilical along a direction N normal to S if the second fundamental form along N is proportional to the first fundamental form of S. In particular, S is pseudo-umbilical if it is umbilical along the mean curvature vector field H, and (totally) umbilical if it is umbilical along all possible normal directions. The possibility that the surface be umbilical along the unique normal direction orthogonal to H --- "ortho-umbilical" surface--- is also considered.
I prove that the necessary and sufficient condition for S to be umbilical along a normal direction is that two independent Weingarten operators (and, a fortiori, all of them) commute, or equivalently that the shape tensor be diagonalizable on S. The umbilical direction is then uniquely determined. This can be seen to be equivalent to a condition relating the normal curvature and the appropriate part of the Riemann tensor of the spacetime. In particular, for conformally flat spacetimes (including Lorentz space forms) the necessary and sufficient condition is that the normal curvature vanishes. Some further consequences are analyzed, and the extension of the main results to arbitrary signatures and higher dimensions is briefly discussed.
We prove that a totally umbilical biharmonic surface in any $3$-dimensional Riemannian manifold has constant mean curvature. We use this to show that a totally umbilical surface in Thurston's 3-dimensional geometries is proper biharmonic if and only if it is a part of $S^2(1/\sqrt{2})$ in $S^3$. We also give complete classifications of constant mean curvature proper biharmonic surfaces in 3-dimensional geometries and in 3-dimensional Bianchi-Cartan-Vranceanu spaces, and a complete classifications of proper biharmonic Hopf cylinders in 3-dimensional Bianchi-Cartan-Vranceanu spaces.
We obtain an exhaustive classification of totally umbilical surfaces in unimodular and non-unimodular simply-connected 3-dimensional Lie groups endowed with arbitrary left-invariant Riemannian metrics. This completes the classification of totally umbilical surfaces in homogeneous Riemannian 3-manifolds.
We give a complete classification of umbilical surfaces of arbitrary codimension of a product $Q^{n_1}_{k_1}\times Q^{n_2}_{k_2}$ of space forms whose curvatures satisfy $k_1 + k_2 \not= 0$.
Following ideas of Choe and Fernandez-do Carmo, we give sufficient conditions for a disk type surface, with piecewise smooth boundary, to be totally umbilical for a given Coddazi pair. As a consequence, we obtain rigidity results for surfaces in space forms and in homogeneous product spaces that generalizes some known results.
We study non-degenerate, totally umbilical surfaces of a special class of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, namely Walker three-manifolds. We show that such surfaces are either one of a totally geodesic family described by Calvaruso and Van der Veken or the ambient manifold must be locally conformally flat (here the surface can also be totally geodesic). The proof makes use of a key technique deployed by Manzano and Soaum in their recent classification of totally umbilical surfaces in homogeneous Riemannian three-manifolds.
In this article we classify the totally umbilical surfaces which are immersed into a wide class of Riemannian manifolds having a structure of warped product, more precisely, we show that a totally umbilical surface immersed into the warped product $\mathbb{M}(κ)_f\times I$ (here, $\mathbb{M}(κ)$ denotes the 2-dimensional space form, having constant curvature $κ$, $I$ an interval and $f$ the warping function) is invariant by an one-parameter group of isometries of the ambient space. We also find the first integral of the ordinary differential equation that the profile curve satisfies (we mean, …
A spacelike surface in four-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski spacetime through the lightcone has a meaningful lightlike normal vector field $η$. Several sufficient assumptions on such a surface with non-degenerate $η$-second fundamental form are established to prove that it must be a totally umbilical round sphere. With this aim, a new formula which relates the Gauss curvatures of the induced metric and of the $η$-second fundamental form is developed. Then, totally umbilical round spheres are characterized as the only compact spacelike surfaces through the lightcone such that its $η$-second funda…
A short proof of the Caratheodory conjecture about index of an isolated umbilic on the convex 2-dimensional sphere is suggested. The argument is based on the study of geodesic lines near cone-type singularity of a metric induced by holomorphic quadratic differentials.
We prove a classification theorem for conformal maps with respect to the control distance generated by a system of diagonal vector fields. It turns out that all such maps can be obtained as compositions of suitable dilations, inversions and isometries. We also classify all umbilical surfaces of the underlying metric.
We define a complex connection on a real hypersurface of $\C^{n+1}$ which is naturally inherited from the ambient space. Using a system of Codazzi-type equations, we classify connected real hypersurfaces in $\C^{n+1}$, $n\ge 2$, which are Levi umbilical and have non zero constant Levi curvature. It turns out that such surfaces are contained either in a sphere or in the boundary of a complex tube domain with spherical section.
We determine local topological types of binary differential equations of asymptotic curves at parabolic and flat umbilical points for generic $2$-parameter families of surfaces in $\mathbb P^3$ by comparing our projective classification of Monge forms and classification of general BDE obtained by Tari and Oliver. In particular, generic bifurcations of the parabolic curve are classified. The flecnodal curve is also examined by direct computations, and we present new bifurcation diagrams in typical examples.
We prove that a Riemannian product of type M x R (where R denotes the Euclidean line) admits totally umbilical hypersurfaces if and only if M has locally the structure of a warped product and we give a complete description of the totally umbilical hypersurfaces in this case. Moreover, we give a necessary and sufficient condition under which a Riemannian three-manifold carrying a unit Killing field admits totally geodesic surfaces and we study local and global properties of three-manifolds satisfying this condition.
A classification of 2-dimensional surfaces imbedded in spacetime is presented, according to the algebraic properties of their shape tensor. The classification has five levels, and provides among other things a refinement of the concepts of trapped, umbilical and extremal surfaces, which split into several different classes. The classification raises new important questions and opens many possible new lines of research. These, together with some applications and examples, are briefly considered.
We give a complete classification of umbilical submanifolds of arbitrary dimension and codimension of $\Sf^n\times \R$, extending the classification of umbilical surfaces in $\Sf^2\times \R$ by Rabah-Souam and Toubiana as well as the local description of umbilical hypersurfaces in $\Sf^n\times \R$ by Van der Veken and Vrancken. We prove that, besides small spheres in a slice, up to isometries of the ambient space they come in a two-parameter family of rotational submanifolds whose substantial codimension is either one or two and whose profile is a curve in a totally geodesic $\Sf^1\times \R$ o…
In [dLMu05], DeLellis and Müller proved a quantitative version of Codazzi's theorem, namely for a smooth embedded surface $\ Σ\subseteq \mathbb{R}^3\ $ with area normalized to $\ {\cal H}^2(Σ) = 4 π $, it was shown that $\ \parallel A_Σ- id \parallel_{L^2(Σ)} \leq C \parallel A^0_Σ\parallel_{L^2(Σ)}\ $, and building on this, closeness of $\ Σ $ to a round sphere in $\ W^{2,2}\ $ was established, when $\ \parallel A^0_Σ\parallel_{L^2(Σ)}\ $ is small. This was supplemented in [dLMu06] by giving a conformal parametrization $\ S^2 \stackrel{\approx}{\longrightarrow} Σ $ with small conformal factor…
We study the principal configurations around an isolated $η$-umbilical point on a generic spacelike surface $S$ immersed in a null hypersurface $M$ of Minkowski space $\mathbb{R}_1^4$ relative to a well-defined null vector field $η$ orthogonal to the surface $S$. In the particular case of $M$ being a null rotation hypersurface of $\mathbb{R}_1^4$ we also recover the local Darbouxian principal configurations around that kind of $η$-umbilical points.
We give a full classification of higher order parallel surfaces in three-dimensional homogeneous spaces with four-dimensional isometry group, i.e. in the so-called Bianchi-Cartan-Vranceanu family. This gives a positive answer to a conjecture formulated in 2002. As a partial result, we prove that totally umbilical surfaces only exist if the space is a Riemannian product of a surface of constant Gaussian curvature and the real line, and we give a local parametrization of all totally umbilical surfaces.
In \cite{Luo}, the present author proved that if $L$ is a contact stationary Legendrian surface in $\mathbb{S}^5$ with the canonical Sasakian structure and the square length of its second fundamental form belongs to $[0,2]$. Then we have that $L$ is either totally umbilical or is a flat minimal Legendrian torus. In this addendum we further prove that if $L$ is a totally umbilical contact stationary Legendrian surface in $\mathbb{S}^5$ , then $L$ is totally geodesic.
On any spacelike surface in a lightcone of four dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space a distinguished smooth function is considered. It is shown how both extrinsic and intrinsic geometry of such a surface is codified by this function. The existence of a local maximum is assumed to decide when the spacelike surface must be totally umbilical, deriving a Liebmann type result. Two remarkable families of examples of spacelike surfaces in a lightcone are explicitly constructed. Finally, several results which involve the first eigenvalue of the Laplace operator of a compact spacelike surface in a light…
The classical Minkowski formula is extended to spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in spacetimes which admit "hidden symmetry" from conformal Killing-Yano two-forms. As an application, we obtain an Alexandrov type theorem for spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in a static spherically symmetric spacetime: a codimension-two submanifold with constant normalized null expansion (null mean curvature) must lie in a shear-free (umbilical) null hypersurface. These results are generalized for higher order curvature invariants. In particular, the notion of mixed higher order mean curvature is intr…
A marginally trapped surface in a spacetime is a Riemannian surface whose mean curvature vector is lightlike at every point. In this paper we give an up-to-date overview of the differential geometric study of these surfaces in Minkowski, de Sitter, anti-de Sitter and Robertson-Walker spacetimes. We give the general local descriptions proven by Anciaux and his coworkers as well as the known classifications of marginally trapped surfaces satisfying one of the following additional geometric conditions: having positive relative nullity, having parallel mean curvature vector field, having finite ty…
We determine all helix surfaces with parallel mean curvature vector field, which are not minimal or pseudo-umbilical, in spaces of type $M^n(c)\times\mathbb{R}$, where $M^n(c)$ is a simply-connected $n$-dimensional manifold with constant sectional curvature $c$.
In this paper we discuss the behavior of the curvature lines of a transversal eqüiaffine vector field along a surface in $3$-space at isolated umbilical points.
A normal field on a spacelike surface in $R^4_1$ is called bi-normal if $K^ν$, the determinant of Weingarten map associated with $ν$, is zero. In this paper we give a relationship between the spacelike pseudo-planar surfaces and spacelike pseudo-umbilical surfaces, then study the bi-normal fields on spacelike ruled surfaces and spacelike surfaces of revolution.
Canonical principal parameters are introduced for surfaces in $\mathbb R^3$ without umbilical points. It is proved that in these parameters the surface is determined (up to position in space) by a pair of invariants satisfying a partial differential equation equivalent to the Gauss equation. As such a pair of invariants we may use the principal curvatures or the Gauss and the mean curvature.
We prove that under some assumptions on the mean curvature the set of umbilical points of an immersed surface in a $3$-dimensional space form has positive measure. In case of an immersed sphere our result can be seen as a generalization of the celebrated Hopf theorem.
We state that any constant curvature Riemannian metric with conical singularities of constant sign curvature on a compact (orientable) surface $S$ can be realized as a convex polyhedron in a Riemannian or Lorentzian) space-form. Moreover such a polyhedron is unique, up to global isometries, among convex polyhedra invariant under isometries acting on a totally umbilical surface. This general statement falls apart into 10 different cases. The cases when $S$ is the sphere are classical.
Wintgen ideal surfaces in E^4 form an important family of surfaces, namely surfaces with circular ellipse of curvature. Obviously, Wintgen ideal surfaces satisfy the pointwise equality K+K_N=H^2. In the present study we consider the Wintgen ideal surfaces in n-dimensional Euclidean space E^4. We have shown that Wintgen ideal surfaces in E^n satisfying the semiparallelity condition R(X,Y)h=0 are totally umbilical. Further, we obtain some results in E^4.
We study the Bonnet problem for surfaces in 4-dimensional space forms, where two isometric surfaces have the same mean curvature if there exists a parallel vector bundle isometry between their normal bundles that preserves the mean curvature vector fields. We deal with the moduli space of congruence classes of isometric surfaces with the same mean curvature, and with properties inherited on a surface by its structure. The study of this problem led us to a new conformally invariant property, called isotropic isothermicity, that coincides with the usual concept of isothermicity for surfaces lyin…
We propose a geometric inequality for two-dimensional spacelike surfaces in the Schwarzschild spacetime. This inequality implies the Penrose inequality for collapsing dust shells in general relativity, as proposed by Penrose and Gibbons. We prove that the inequality holds in several important cases.
We discuss the concepts of energy and mass in relativity. On a finitely extended spatial region, they lead to the notion of quasilocal energy/mass for the boundary 2-surface in spacetime. A new definition was found in [27] that satisfies the positivity, rigidity, and asymptotics properties. The definition makes use of the surface Hamiltonian term which arises from Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the gravitation action. The reference surface Hamiltonian is associated with an isometric embedding of the 2-surface into the Minkowski space. We discuss this new definition of mass as well as the referenc…
We study the existence of surfaces with constant or prescribed Gauss curvature in certain Lorentzian spacetimes. We prove in particular that every (non-elementary) 3-dimensional maximal globally hyperbolic spatially compact spacetime with constant non-negative curvature is foliated by compact spacelike surfaces with constant Gauss curvature. In the constant negative curvature case, such a foliation exists outside the convex core. The existence of these foliations, together with a theorem of C. Gerhardt, yield several corollaries. For example, they allow to solve the Minkowski problem in the 3-…
We introduce canonical principal parameters on any strongly regular minimal surface in the three dimensional sphere and prove that any such a surface is determined up to a motion by its normal curvature function satisfying the Sinh-Poisson equation. We obtain a classification theorem for bi-umbilical hypersurfaces of type number two. We prove that any minimal hypersurface of type number two with involutive distribution is generated by a minimal surface in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, or in the three dimensional sphere. Thus we prove that the theory of minimal hypersurfaces of type nu…
Progressive addition lenses contain a surface of spatially-varying curvature, which provides variable optical power for different viewing areas over the lens. We derive complete compatibility equations that provide the exact magnitude of cylinder along lines of curvatures on any arbitrary PAL smooth surface. These equations reveal that, contrary to current knowledge, cylinder, and its derivative, does not only depend on principal curvature and its derivatives along the principal line but also on the geodesic curvature and its derivatives along the line orthogonal to the principal line. We quan…
In this paper we study the flat (n+1)-spacetimes admitting a Cauchy surface diffeomorphic to a compact hyperbolic n-manifold. We show how to construct a canonical future complete one among all such spacetimes sharing the same holonomy. We study the geometry of such a spacetime in terms of its canonical cosmological time. In particular we study the asymptotic behaviour of the level surfaces of the cosmological time. The present work generalizes the case n=2 treated by Mess, taking from a work of Benedetti and Guadagnini the emphasis on the fundamental role played by the canonical cosmological t…
In this paper, we prove gap results for constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces. Firstly, we find a natural inequality for CMC surfaces which imply convexity for distance function. We then show that if $Σ$ is a complete, properly embedded CMC surface in the Euclidean space satisfying this inequality, then $Σ$ is either a sphere or a right circular cylinder. Next, we show that if $Σ$ is a free boundary CMC surface in the Euclidean 3-ball satisfying the same inequality, then either $Σ$ is a totally umbilical disk or an annulus of revolution. These results complete the picture about gap theorems f…
The group of conformal diffeomorphisms and the group of causal automorphisms on two-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetimes are clarified. It is shown that if spacetimes have non-compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of that of two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, and if spacetimes have compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of that of two-dimensional Einstein's static universe.
In the present paper we provide new examples of marginally trapped surfaces and tubes in FLRW spacetimes by using a basic relation between these objects and CMC surfaces in 3-manifolds. We also provide a new method to construct marginally trapped surfaces in closed FLRW spacetimes, which is based on the classical Hopf map. The utility of this method is illustrated by providing marginally trapped surfaces crossing expanding and collapsing regions of a closed FLRW spacetime. The approach introduced in this paper is also extended to twisted spaces.
A time-flat condition on spacelike 2-surfaces in spacetime is considered here. This condition is analogous to constant torsion condition for curves in three dimensional space and has been studied in [2, 4, 5, 12, 13]. In particular, any 2-surface in a static slice of a static spacetime is time-flat. In this article, we address the question in the title and prove several local and global rigidity theorems for such surfaces in the Minkowski spacetime.
In this paper, we review results on the existence (and nonexistence) of constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurfaces in the cosmological setting, and discuss the connection to the spacetime splittng problem. It is a pleasure to dedicate this paper to Robert Bartnik, who has made fundamental contributions to this area.
In this sequel paper we give a shorter, second proof of the monotonicity of the Hawking mass for time flat surfaces under spacelike uniformly area expanding flows in spacetimes that satisfy the dominant energy condition. We also include a third proof which builds on a known formula and describe a class of sufficient conditions of divergence type for the monotonicity of the Hawking mass. These flows of surfaces may have connections to the problem in general relativity of bounding the total mass of a spacetime from below by the quasi-local mass of spacelike 2-surfaces in the spacetime.
We identify a condition on spacelike 2-surfaces in a spacetime that is relevant to understanding the concept of mass in general relativity. We prove a formula for the variation of the spacetime Hawking mass under a uniformly area expanding flow and show that it is nonnegative for these so-called "time flat surfaces." Such flows generalize inverse mean curvature flow, which was used by Huisken and Ilmanen to prove the Riemannian Penrose inequality for one black hole. A flow of time flat surfaces may have connections to the problem in general relativity of bounding the mass of a spacetime from b…
Chruściel, Isenberg, and Pollack constructed a class of vacuum cosmological spacetimes that do not admit Cauchy surfaces with constant mean curvature. We prove that, for sufficiently large values of the gluing parameter, these examples are both future and past null geodesically incomplete. The authors are honored to dedicate this paper to Robert Bartnik on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
In this paper, we are concerned with light-like extremal surfaces in curved spacetimes. It is interesting to find that under a diffeomorphic transformation of variables, the light-like extremal surfaces can be described by a system of nonlinear geodesic equations. Particularly, we investigate the light-like extremal surfaces in Schwarzschild spacetime in detail and some new special solutions are derived systematically with aim to comparing with the known results and illustrating the method.
