We propose to imagine that every Riemannian metric on a surface is discrete at the small scale, made of curves called walls. The length of a curve is its number of wall crossings, and the area of the surface is the number of crossings of the walls themselves. We show how to approximate a Riemannian (or self-reverse Finsler) metric by a wallsystem.
This work is motivated by Gromov's filling area conjecture (FAC) that the hemisphere minimizes area among orientable Riemannian surfaces that fill a circle isometrically. We introduce a discrete FAC: every square-celled surface that fills isometrically a $2n$-cycle graph has at least $n(n-1)/2$ squares. We prove that our discrete FAC is equivalent to the FAC for surfaces with self-reverse metric.
If the surface is a disk, the discrete FAC follows from Steinitz's algorithm for transforming curves into pseudolines. This gives a new proof of the FAC for disks with self-reverse metric. We also imitate Ivanov's proof of the same fact, using discrete differential forms. And we prove that the FAC holds for Möbius bands with self-reverse metric. For this we use a combinatorial curve shortening flow developed by de Graaf--Schrijver and Hass--Scott. With the same method we prove the systolic inequality for Klein bottles with self-reverse metric, conjectured by Sabourau--Yassine.
Self-reverse metrics can be discretized using walls because every normed plane satisfies Crofton's formula: the length of every segment equals the symplectic measure of the set of lines that it crosses. Directed 2-dimensional metrics have no Crofton formula, but can be discretized as well. Their discretization is a triangulation where the length of each edge is 1 in one way and 0 in the other, and the area of the surface is the number of triangles. This structure is a simplicial set, dual to a plabic graph. The role of the walls is played by Postnikov's strands.
We study circle packings with the combinatorics of a triangulated disk in the plane and parametrize deformations of circle packings in terms of vertex rotation and cross ratios. We show that there is a Weierstrass representation formula relating infinitesimal deformations of circle packings to discrete minimal surfaces of Koebe type. Furthermore, every minimal surface of Koebe type can be extended naturally to a discrete minimal surface of general type. In this way, discrete minimal surfaces via Steiner's formula are unified.
We suggest a new definition for discrete minimal surfaces in terms of sphere packings with orthogonally intersecting circles. These discrete minimal surfaces can be constructed from Schramm's circle patterns. We present a variational principle which allows us to construct discrete analogues of some classical minimal surfaces. The data used for the construction are purely combinatorial--the combinatorics of the curvature line pattern. A Weierstrass-type representation and an associated family are derived. We show the convergence to continuous minimal surfaces.
We prove an upper bound on the systolic ratio of an orientable isometric filling of the circle equipped with a Riemannian metric. The bound depends only on the genus of isometric filling. We also apply the bound to the class of orientable isometric filling with a certain lower bound on the systole. We deduce that the Filling Area Conjecture holds true for this class when the genus is sufficiently large.
We prove that every Riemannian metric on the 2-disc such that all its geodesics are minimal, is a minimal filling of its boundary (within the class of fillings homeomorphic to the disc). This improves an earlier result of the author by removing the assumption that the boundary is convex. More generally, we prove this result for Finsler metrics with area defined as the two-dimensional Holmes-Thompson volume. This implies a generalization of Pu's isosystolic inequality to Finsler metrics, both for Holmes-Thompson and Busemann definitions of Finsler area.
We deal with minimal surfaces in the unit sphere $S^3$, which are one-parameter families of circles. Minimal surfaces in $\R^3$ foliated by circles were first investigated by Riemann, and a hundred years later Lawson constructed examples of such surfaces in $S^3$. We prove that in $S^3$ there are only two types of minimal surfaces foliated by circles, crossing the principal lines at a constant angle. The first type surfaces are foliated by great circles, which are bisectrices of the principal lines, and we show that these minimal surfaces are the well-known examples of Lawson. The second type …
This paper generalizes D. Burago and S. Ivanov's work on filling volume minimality and boundary rigidity of almost real hyperbolic metrics. We show that regions with metrics close to a negatively curved symmetric metric are strict minimal fillings and hence boundary rigid. This includes perturbations of complex, quaternionic and Cayley hyperbolic metrics.
We investigate the maximal solid tubes around short simple geodesics in hyperbolic three-manifolds and how complex length of curves relate to closed, incompressible, least area minimal surfaces. As applications, we prove, there are some closed hyperbolic three-manifolds fibering over the circle which are not foliated by closed incompressible minimal surfaces diffeomorphic to the fiber. We also show, the existence of quasi-Fuchsian manifolds containing arbitrarily many embedded closed incompressible minimal surfaces. Our strategy is to prove main theorems under natural geometric conditions on t…
We investigate Gauss maps associated to great circle fibrations of $S^3$. We show that the associated Gauss map to such a fibration is harmonic (respectively minimal) if and only if the unit vector field generating the great circle foliation is harmonic (respectively minimal). These results can be viewed as analogues of the classical theorem of Ruh and Vilms about the harmonicity of the Gauss map of a minimal submanifold in the euclidean space. Moreover, we prove that a harmonic or minimal unit vector field in $S^3$ with great circle integral curves is a Hopf vector field.
We prove the filling area conjecture in the hyperelliptic case. In particular, we establish the conjecture for all genus 1 fillings of the circle, extending P. Pu's result in genus 0. We translate the problem into a question about closed ovalless real surfaces. The conjecture then results from a combination of two ingredients. On the one hand, we exploit integral geometric comparison with orbifold metrics of constant positive curvature on real surfaces of even positive genus. Here the singular points are Weierstrass points. On the other hand, we exploit an analysis of the combinatorics on unio…
Let $Φ\colon \sbat \times M \to M$ be a smooth action of the unit circle $ \sbat$ on a manifold $M$. In this work, we compute the minimal model of $M$ in terms of the orbit space $B$ and the fixed point set $F\subset B$, as a dg-module over the Sullivan's minimal model of $B$.
For a compact 3-manifold $M$ which is a circle bundle over a compact Riemann surface $Σ$ with even Euler number $e(M)$, and with a Riemannian metric compatible with the bundle projection, there exists a compact minimal surface $S$ in $M$. $S$ is embedded and is a section of the restriction of the bundle to the complement of a finite number of points in $Σ$.
In this article, we prove that if $(M,g)$ is a genus $G$ orientable surface with a single boundary component $S^1$, and if $(D,g_0)$ is a disc such that interior points are connected by unique geodesics and $$d_{(D,g_0)}(x,y) \geq d_{(M,g)}(x,y)$$ for all $x,y \in \partial M = \partial D$, then $$(1 + \frac{2 G}π) \textrm{Area}(M,g) \geq \textrm{Area}(D,g_0).$$
For each integer $k \geq 2$, we apply gluing methods to construct sequences of minimal surfaces embedded in the round $3$-sphere. We produce two types of sequences, all desingularizing collections of intersecting Clifford tori. Sequences of the first type converge to a collection of $k$ Clifford tori intersecting with maximal symmetry along these two circles. Near each of the circles, after rescaling, the sequences converge smoothly on compact subsets to a Karcher-Scherk tower of order $k$. Sequences of the second type desingularize a collection of the same $k$ Clifford tori supplemented by an…
Minimal time for heat observability on almost-Riemannian surfaces
CERMICS, CNRS, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, Institut Polytechnique de Paris（法国国立路桥学校，巴黎理工学院）；Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等研究院）；Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Inria, Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions, LJLL（索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学）
We study symplectic deformation types of minimal symplectic fillings of links of quotient surface singularities. In particular, there are only finitely many symplectic deformation types for each quotient surface singularity.
In this paper we study surfaces in Euclidean 3-space foliated by pieces of circles and that satisfy a Weingarten condition of type $a H+b K=c$, where $a,b$ and $c$ are constant and $H$ and $K$ denote the mean curvature and the Gauss curvature respectively. We prove that a such surface must be a surface of revolution, a Riemann minimal surface or a generalized cone.
We construct Colding-Minicozzi limit minimal laminations in open domains in $\rth$ with the singular set of $C^1$-convergence being any properly embedded $C^{1,1}$-curve. By Meeks' $C^{1,1}$-regularity theorem, the singular set of convergence of a Colding-Minicozzi limit minimal lamination ${\cal L}$ is a locally finite collection $S({\cal L})$ of $C^{1,1}$-curves that are orthogonal to the leaves of the lamination. Thus, our existence theorem gives a complete answer as to which curves appear as the singular set of a Colding-Minicozzi limit minimal lamination. In the case the curve is the unit…
In this paper we study surfaces foliated by a uniparametric family of circles in the homogeneous space Sol$_3$. We prove that there do not exist such surfaces with zero mean curvature or with zero Gaussian curvature. We extend this study considering surfaces foliated by geodesics, equidistant lines or horocycles in totally geodesic planes and we classify all such surfaces under the assumption of minimality or flatness.
We construct free boundary minimal surfaces (FBMS) embedded in the unit ball in the Euclidean three-space which are compact, lie arbitrarily close to the boundary unit sphere, are of genus zero, and their boundary has an arbitrarily large number of connected boundary components. The construction is by PDE gluing methods and the surfaces are desingularizations of unions of many catenoidal annuli and two flat discs. The union of the boundaries of the catenoidal annuli and discs is the union of a large finite number of parallel circles contained in the unit sphere, with each parallel circle conta…
In earlier work of NK new closed embedded smooth minimal surfaces in the round three-sphere $\mathbb{S}^3(1)$ were constructed, each resembling two parallel copies of the equatorial two-sphere $\mathbb{S}^2_{eq}$ joined by small catenoidal bridges, with the catenoidal bridges concentrating along two parallel circles, or the equatorial circle and the poles. In this sequel we generalize those constructions so that the catenoidal bridges can concentrate along an arbitrary number of parallel circles, with the further option to include bridges at the poles. The current constructions follow the Line…
In this paper we investigate free boundary minimal surfaces in the unit ball in Euclidean 3-space, and by using holomorphic techniques we prove that intersection curves of free boundary minimal surfaces with the unit sphere are all circles.
We investigate minimal surfaces passing a given curve in $R^{3}$. Using the Frenet frame of a given curve and isothermal parameter, we derive the necessary and sufficient condition for minimal surface. Also we derive the parametric representation of two minimal surface families passing a circle and a helix as examples.
We construct closed embedded minimal surfaces in the round three-sphere, resembling two parallel copies of the equatorial two-sphere, joined by small catenoidal bridges symmetrically arranged either along two parallel circles of the equator, or along the equatorial circle and the poles. To carry out these constructions we refine and reorganize the doubling methodology in ways which we expect to apply also to further constructions. In particular we introduce what we call linearized doubling, which is an intermediate step where singular solutions to the linearized equation are constructed subjec…
Using the complex parabolic rotations of holomorphic null curves in ${\mathbb{C}}^{4}$, we transform minimal surfaces in Euclidean space ${\mathbb{R}}^{3} \subset {\mathbb{R}}^{4}$ to a family of degenerate minimal surfaces in Euclidean space ${\mathbb{R}}^{4}$. Applying our deformation to holomorphic null curves in ${\mathbb{C}}^{3} \subset {\mathbb{C}}^{4}$ induced by helicoids in ${\mathbb{R}}^{3}$, we discover new minimal surfaces in ${\mathbb{R}}^{4}$ foliated by conic sections with eccentricity grater than $1$: hyperbolas or straight lines. Applying our deformation to holomorphic null cu…
This paper is a continuation of our paper about boundary rigidity and filling minimality of metrics close to flat ones. We show that compact regions close to a hyperbolic one are boundary distance rigid and strict minimal fillings. We also provide a more invariant view on the approach used in the above mentioned paper.
