We investigate the minimal surface problem in the three dimensional Heisenberg group, H, equipped with its standard Carnot-Caratheodory metric. Using a particular surface measure, we characterize minimal surfaces in terms of a sub-elliptic partial differential equation and prove an existence result for the Plateau problem in this setting. Further, we provide a link between our minimal surfaces and Riemannian constant mean curvature surfaces in H equipped with different Riemannian metrics approximating the Carnot-Caratheodory metric. We generate a large library of examples of minimal surfaces and use these to show that the solution to the Dirichlet problem need not be unique. Moreover, we show that the minimal surfaces we construct are in fact X-minimal surfaces in the sense of Garofalo and Nhieu.
A translation surface in the Heisenberg group $\mathrm{Nil}_3$ is a surface constructed by multiplying (using the group operation) two curves. We completely classify minimal translation surfaces in the Heisenberg group $\mathrm{Nil}_3$.
We give an immersion formula, the Sym-Bobenko formula, for minimal surfaces in the 3-dimensional Heisenberg space. Such a formula can be used to give a generalized Weierstrass type representation and construct explicit examples of minimal surfaces.
We study minimal cylinders in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group ${\rm Nil}_3$ using the generalized Weierstrass type representation, the so-called loop group method. We characterize all non-vertical minimal cylinders in terms of pairs of two closed plane curves which have the same signed area. Moreover, as a byproduct of the construction, spacelike CMC cylinders can also be obtained.
In this paper we study some geometric properties of surfaces in the Heisenberg group, $\mathcal{H}_{3}.$ We obtain, using the Gauss map for Lie groups, a partial classification of minimal graphs in $\mathcal{H}_{3}.$ We also proof the non existence of umbilical surfaces in $\mathcal{H}_{3}.$
It is shown that parts of planes, helicoids and hyperbolic paraboloids are the only minimal surfaces ruled by geodesics in the three dimensional Riemannian Heisenberg group. It is also shown that they are the only surfaces in the three dimensional Heisenberg group whose mean curvature is zero with respect to both of the standard Riemannian metric and the standard Lorentzian metric.
We prove an almost monotonicity formula for H-minimal Legendrian Surfaces (also called {\it contact stationary legendrian immersions}) in the Heisenberg Group ${\mathbb H}^2$ . From this formula we deduce a Bernstein-Liouville type theorem for H-minimal Legendrian Surfaces. This last result happens to be in particular a central ingredient in the analysis part of the proof of the Willmore conjecture given by the author in arXiv:2007.05467
Timelike surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group with left invariant semi-Riemannian metric are studied. In particular, non-vertical timelike minimal surfaces are characterized by the non-conformal Lorentz harmonic maps into the de Sitter two phere. On the basis of the characterization, the generalized Weierstrass type representation will be established through the loop group decompositions.
We study the Gauss map of minimal surfaces in the Heisenberg group $\mathrm{Nil}_3$ endowed with a left-invariant Riemannian metric. We prove that the Gauss map of a nowhere vertical minimal surface is harmonic into the hyperbolic plane $\mathbb{H}^2$. Conversely, any nowhere antiholomorphic harmonic map into $\mathbb{H}^2$ is the Gauss map of a nowhere vertical minimal surface. Finally, we study the image of the Gauss map of complete nowhere vertical minimal surfaces.
We study symmetric minimal surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group $\mathrm{Nil}_3$ using the generalized Weierstrass type representation, the so-called loop group method. In particular, we will discuss how to construct minimal surfaces in $\mathrm{Nil}_3$ with non-trivial topology. Moreover, we will classify equivariant minimal surfaces given by one-parameter subgroups of the isometry group $\mathrm{Iso}_{\circ}(\mathrm{Nil}_3)$ of $\mathrm{Nil}_3$.
We construct a one-parameter family of properly embedded minimal annuli in the Heisenberg group Nil_3 endowed with a left-invariant Riemannian metric. These annuli are not rotationally invariant. This family gives a vertical half-space theorem and proves that each complete minimal graph in Nil_3 is entire. Also, the sister surface of an entire minimal graph in Nil_3 is an entire constant mean curvature 1/2 graph in H^2 x R, and conversely. This gives a classification of all entire constant mean curvature 1/2 graphs in H^2 x R. Finally we construct properly embedded constant mean curvature 1/2 …
We construct most symmetric Saddle towers in Heisenberg space i.e. periodic minimal surfaces that can be seen as the desingularization of vertical planes intersecting equiangularly. The key point is the construction of a suitable barrier to ensure the convergence of a family of bounded minimal disks. Such a barrier is actually a periodic deformation of a minimal plane with prescribed asymptotic behavior. A consequence of the barrier construction is that the number of disjoint minimal graphs suppoerted on domains is not bounded in Heisenberg space.
We define holomorphic quadratic differentials for spacelike surfaces with constant mean curvature in the Lorentzian homogeneous spaces $\mathbb{L}(κ,τ)$ with isometry group of dimension 4, which are dual to the Abresch-Rosenberg differentials in the Riemannian counterparts $\mathbb{E}(κ,τ)$, and obtain some consequences. On the one hand, we give a very short proof of the Bernstein problem in Heisenberg space, and provide a geometric description of the family of entire graphs sharing the same differential in terms of a 2-parameter conformal deformation. On the other hand, we prove that entire m…
We study properly embedded and immersed p(pseudohermitian)-minimal surfaces in the 3-dimensional Heisenberg group. From the recent work of Cheng, Hwang, Malchiodi, and Yang, we learn that such surfaces must be ruled surfaces. There are two types of such surfaces: band type and annulus type according to their topology. We give an explicit expression for these surfaces. Among band types there is a class of properly embedded p-minimal surfaces of so called helicoid type. We classify all the helicoid type p-minimal surfaces. This class of p-minimal surfaces includes all the entire p-minimal graphs…
It is proved that the Heisenberg group $\operatorname*{Nil}\nolimits_{3}$ with a balanced metric, the sum of the left and right invariant metrics, splits as a Riemannian product $\mathbb{T\times Z}$, where $\mathbb{T}$ is a totally geodesic surface and $\mathbb{Z}$ the center of $\operatorname*{Nil}% \nolimits_{3}.$ It is then proved the existence of complete properly embedded minimal surfaces in $\operatorname*{Nil}\nolimits_{3}$ by solving the asymptotic Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation on $\mathbb{T}$. It is also proved the existence of complete properly embedded minimal s…
We characterize constant mean curvature surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group by a family of flat connections on the trivial bundle $\D \times \GL$ over a simply connected domain $\mathbb{D}$ in the complex plane. In particular for minimal surfaces, we give an immersion formula, the so-called Sym-formula, and a generalized Weierstrass type representation via the loop group method.
We prove that Lipschitz intrinsic graphs in the Heisenberg groups $H^n$, with $n>1$, which are vanishing viscosity solutions of the minimal surface equation are smooth.
We classify the entire minimal vertical graphs in the 3 dimensional Heisenberg group Nil endowed with a Riemannian left-invariant metric. This classification, which provides a solution to the Bernstein problem in Nil, is given in terms of the Abresch-Rosenberg holomorphic differential for minimal surfaces in Nil.
In this paper we investigate H-minimal graphs of lower regularity. We show that noncharactersitic C^1 H-minimal graphs whose components of the unit horizontal Gauss map are in W^{1,1} are ruled surfaces with C^2 seed curves. In a different direction, we investigate ways in which patches of C^1 H-minimal graphs can be glued together to form continuous piecewise C^1 H-minimal surfaces. We apply these description of H-minimal graphs to the question of the existence of smooth solutions to the Dirichlet problem with smooth data. We find a necessary condition for the existence of smooth solutions an…
Minimal surfaces in the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group can be constructed by means of a Riemannian approximation scheme, as limit of Riemannian minimal surfaces. We study the regularity of Lipschitz, non-characteristic minimal surfaces which arise as such limits. Our main results are a-priori estimates on the solutions of the approximating Riemannian PDE and the ensuing $C^{\infty}$ regularity of the sub-Riemannian minimal surface along its Legendrian foliation.
In this paper, we study the Gauss map of surfaces in 3-dimensional Heisenberg group using the Gans model of the hyperbolic plane. We establish a relationship between the tension field of the Gauss map and mean curvature of a surface in $\mathcal{H}_{3}$.
We generalise a result of Garofalo and Pauls: a horizontally minimal smooth surface embedded in the Heisenberg group is locally a (straight) ruled surface, i.e. it consists of straight lines tangent to a horizontal vector field along a smooth curve. We show additionally that any horizontally minimal surface is locally contactomorphic to the complex plane.
In this paper, we define and, then, we characterize constant angle spacelike and timelike surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group, equipped with a 1-parameter family of Lorentzian metrics. In particular, we give an explicit local parametrization of these surfaces and we produce some examples.
We study the local equivalence problems of curves and surfaces in three dimensional Heisenberg group via Cartans method of moving frames and Lie groups, and find a complete set of invariants for curves and surfaces. For surfaces, in terms of these invariants and their suitable derivatives, we also give a Gaussian curvature fromula of the metric induced from the adapted metric on Heisenberg group, and hence form a new formula for the Euler number of a closed surface.
In this article we generalize the notion of constant angle surfaces in S^2 x R and H^2 x R to general Bianchi-Cartan-Vranceanu spaces, i.e. essentially to three-dimensional homogeneous spaces with a four-dimensional isometry group. We show that these surfaces have constant Gaussian curvature and we give a complete local classification in the Heisenberg group.
We prove that a strictly stable minimal $C^2_h$ intrinsic graph G is locally area-minimizing, i.e. given any $C^1_h$ graph $S$ with the same boundary, $\text{Area}(G)<\text{Area}(S)$ unless $G=S$. As a consequence we show the existence and the uniqueness of $C^\infty$ minimal graphs with prescribed small boundary datum.
This paper aims to define and study a notion of orientability in the Heisenberg sense ($\mathbb{H}$-orientability) for the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}^n$. In particular, we define such notion for $\mathbb{H}$-regular $1$-codimensional surfaces. Analysing the behaviour of a Möbius Strip in $\mathbb{H}^1$, we find a $1$-codimensional $\mathbb{H}$-regular, but not Euclidean-orientable, subsurface. Lastly we show that, for regular enough surfaces, $\mathbb{H}$-orientability implies Euclidean-orientability. As a consequence, we conclude that non-$\mathbb{H}$-orientable $\mathbb{H}$-regular surface…
We study the generalization of the Willmore functional for surfaces in the three-Heisenberg group. Its construction is based on the spectral theory of the Dirac operator coming to the Weierstrass representation of surfaces (see math.DG/0503707). By using surfaces of revolution we demonstrate that it resembles the Willmore functional for surfaces in the Euclidean space in many geometrical respects. We also observe the relation of these functionals to the isoperimetric problem.
In this paper, on the first, we prove $Δr=2H$ where $Δ$ is the Laplacian operator, $r=\left( r_{1},r_{2},r_{3}\right) $ the position vector field and $H$ is the mean curvature vector field of a surface $\mathcal{S}$ in the 3-dimensional Heisenberg group $H_{3}.$ In the second, we classify the ruled surfaces by straight geodesic lines, which are of finite type in $H_{3}.$ The straight geodesic lines belong to $\ker ω,$ where $ω$ is the Darboux form.
In this paper we study areas (called p-areas) and volumes for parametric surfaces in the 3D-Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}_1$, which is considered as a flat model of pseudo-hermitian manifolds. We derive the formulas of p-areas and volumes for parametric surfaces in $\mathbb{H}_1$ and show that the classical result of Pappus-Guldin theorems for surface areas and volumes hold if the surfaces satisfy some geometric properties. Some examples are also provided, including the surfaces with constant p-mean curvatures.
Let S be a C^2 H-minimal noncharacteristic hypersurface in the first Heisenberg group. We show that if S contains a graphical strip, then it is not a stable minimal surface. Moreover, we show that if S is a C^2 H-minimal noncharacteristic entire graph which is not itself a vertical plane, then S contains a graphical strip. Thus, as a corollary, we obtain an analogue of the Bernstein theorem: the only stable C^2 H-minimal noncharacteristic entire graphs are the vertical planes.
We use a Riemannnian approximation scheme to define a notion of $\textit{sub-Riemannian Gaussian curvature}$ for a Euclidean $C^{2}$-smooth surface in the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}$ away from characteristic points, and a notion of $\textit{sub-Riemannian signed geodesic curvature}$ for Euclidean $C^{2}$-smooth curves on surfaces. These results are then used to prove a Heisenberg version of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. An application to Steiner's formula for the Carnot-Carathéodory distance in $\mathbb{H}$ is provided.
In this paper, we compute sub-Riemannian limits of Gaussian curvature associated to two kinds of Schouten-Van Kampen affine connections and the adapted connection for a Euclidean $C^2$-smooth surface in the Heisenberg group away from characteristic points and signed geodesic curvature associated to two kinds of Schouten-Van Kampen affine connections and the adapted connection for Euclidean $C^2$-smooth curves on surfaces. We get Gauss-Bonnet theorems associated to two kinds of Schouten-Van Kampen affine connections in the Heisenberg group.
We show the analogy of Cauchy's surface area formula for the Heisenberg groups $\mathbb{H}_n$ for $n\geq 1$, which states that the p-area of any compact hypersurface $Σ$ in $\mathbb{H}_n$ with its p-normal vector defined almost everywhere on $Σ$ is the average of its projected p-areas onto the orthogonal complements of all p-normal vectors of the Pansu spheres (up to a constant). The formula provides a geometric interpretation of the p-areas defined by Cheng-Hwang-Malchiodi-Yang [9] in $\mathbb{H}_1$ and Cheng-Hwang-Yang [7] in $\mathbb{H}_n$ for $n\geq 2$. We also characterize the projected a…
The aim of this paper is to investigate the mean curvature flow soliton solutions on the Heisenberg group $\mathcal{H}$ when the initial data is a ruled surface by straight lines. We give a family of those solutions which are generated by $\mathfrak{Iso}_{0}(\mathcal{H})$ (the isometries of $\mathcal{H}$ for which the origin is a fix point). We conclude that the function which describe the motion of these surfaces under MCF, is always a linear affine function. As an application we proof that the Grim Reaper solution evolves from a ruled surface in $\mathcal{H}$. We also provide other examples.
We prove that any $C^2$ complete, orientable, connected, stable area-stationary surface in the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}^1$ is either a Euclidean plane or congruent to the hyperbolic paraboloid $t=xy$.
Involutivity is a well known necessary condition for integrability of smooth tangent distributions. We show that this condition is still necessary for integrability with Sobolev surfaces. We specialize our study to the left invariant horizontal distribution of the first Heisenberg group $\H^1$. Here we answer a question raised in a paper by Z.M.Balogh, R.Hoefer-Isenegger, J.T.Tyson.
We prove a version of Gauss-Bonnet theorem in sub-Riemannian Heisenberg space $H^1$. The sub-Riemannian distance makes $H^1$ a metric space and consenquently with a spherical Hausdorff measure. Using this measure, we define a Gaussian curvature at points of a surface S where the sub-Riemannian distribution is transverse to the tangent space of S. If all points of S have this property, we prove a Gauss-Bonnet formula and for compact surfaces (which are topologically a torus) we obtain $\int_S K = 0$.
We show the fundamental theorems of curves and surfaces in the 3-dimensional Heisenberg group and find a complete set of invariants for curves and surfaces respectively. The proofs are based on Cartan's method of moving frames and Lie group theory. As an application of the main theorems, a Crofton-type formula is proved in terms of p-area which naturally arises from the variation of volume. The application makes a connection between CR geometry and integral geometry.
We study existence and structure of $P-$area minimizing surfaces in the Heisenberg group under Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. We show that there exists an underlying vector field $N$ that characterized existence and structure of $P$-area minimizing surfaces. This vector field exists even if there is no $P$-area minimizing surface satisfying the prescribed boundary conditions. We prove that if $\partial Ω$ satisfies a so called Barrier condition, it is sufficient to guarantee existence of such surfaces. Our approach is completely different from previous methods in the literature and…
In this paper, we determine the maximally stable, rotationally invariant domains on the catenoids $\cC_a$ (minimal surfaces invariant by rotations) in the Heisenberg group with a left-invariant metric. We show that these catenoids have Morse index at least 3 and we bound the index from above in terms of the parameter $a$. We also show that the index of $\cC_a$ tends to infinity with $a$. Finally, we study the rotationally symmetric stable domains on the higher dimensional catenoids.
We give new examples of entire area-minimizing t-graphs in the subriemannian Heisenberg group H^1. Most of the examples are locally lipschitz in Euclidean sense. Some regular examples have prescribed singular set consisting of either a horizontal line or a finite number of horizontal halflines extending from a given point. Amongst them, a large family of area-minimizing cones is obtained.
It is a folk conjecture that for alpha > 1/2 there is no alpha-Hoelder surface in the subRiemannian Heisenberg group. Namely, it is expected that there is no embedding from an open subset of R^2 into the Heisenberg group that is Hoelder continuous of order strictly greater than 1/2. The Heisenberg group here is equipped with its Carnot-Caratheodory distance. We show that, in the case that such a surface exists, it cannot be of essential bounded variation and it intersects some vertical line in at least a topological Cantor set.
