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 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 $\{x_3=0\}.$
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.
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.
We give a classification of non-removable isolated singularities for real analytic solutions of the prescribed mean curvature equation in Minkowski $3$-space.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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 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 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 corr…
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.
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.
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…
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.
Submanifolds in Lorentz-Minkowski space are investigated from various mathematical viewpoints and are of interest also in relativity theory. We define the hyperbolic surface and the de Sitter surface of a curve in the spacelike hypersurface M in the Minkowski 4-space. These surfaces are respectively located in the hyperbolic 3-space and in the de Sitter 3-space. We use techniques of the theory of singularities in order to describe the generic shape of these surfaces and of their singular value sets. We also investigate geometric meanings of those singularities. The results in this paper contri…
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 …
For a regular curve on a spacelike surface in Lorentz-Minkowski $3$-space, we have a moving frame along the curve which is called a Lorentzian Darboux frame. We introduce five special vector fields along the curve associated to the Lorentzian Darboux frame and investigate their singularities.
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.
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 an isoperimetric-type inequality for maximal, spacelike submanifold in the Minkowski space. The argument is based on the recent work of Brendle.
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 …
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…
We show that the number of entire maximal graphs with finitely many singular points that are conformally equivalent is a universal constant that depends only on the number of singularities, namely 2^$ for graphs with n+1 singularities. We also give an explicit description of the family of entire maximal graphs with a finite number of singularities all of them lying on a plane orthogonal to the limit normal vector at infinity.
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 the Minkowski space-time, a world hyper-sheet is a timelike hypersurface consisting of a one-parameter family of spacelike submanifolds. Recently, Bousso and Randall introduced the notion of caustics of world hyper-sheets in order to define the notion of holographic domains in space-time. Here, we give a mathematical framework for describing the caustics of world hyper-sheets in the Minkowski space-time. As a consequence, we investigate the singularities of the caustics of world hyper-sheets and whose geometrical meanings. Although the Minkowski space-time has zero gravity, this framework g…
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.
In the 3-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space we prove that the sign of the Gaussian curvature of any timelike minimal surface is determined by the degeneracy and the orientations of the two null curves that generate the surface. Moreover, we also investigate the behavior of the Gaussian curvature near singular points of a timelike minimal surface which admits some kind of singular points.
We deal with solitons of the mean curvature flow. The definition of \textit{translating solitons on a light-like direction} in Minkowski 3-space is introduced. Firstly, we classify those which are graphical, \textit{translation surfaces}, obtaining space-like and time-like, entire and not entire, complete and incomplete examples. Among them, all our time-like examples are incomplete. The second family consists of those which are invariant by a 1-dimensional subgroup of parabolic motions, i.e, with light-like axis. The classification result implies that all examples of this second family have s…
We use integrable systems techniques to study the singularities of timelike non-minimal constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space. The singularities arise at the boundary of the Birkhoff big cell of the loop group involved. We examine the behaviour of the surfaces at the big cell boundary, generalize the definition of CMC surfaces to include those with finite, generic singularities, and show how to construct surfaces with prescribed singularities by solving a singular geometric Cauchy problem. The solution shows that the generic singularities of the generalized su…
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…
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.
A surface in the Lorentz-Minkowski $3$-space is generally a mixed type surface, namely, it has the lightlike locus. We study local differential geometric properties of such a locus on a mixed type surface. We define a frame field along a lightlike locus, and using it, we define two lightlike ruled surfaces along a lightlike locus which can be regarded as lightlike approximations of the surface along the lightlike locus. We study a relationship of singularities of these lightlike surfaces and differential geometric properties of the lightlike locus. We also consider the intersection curve of tw…
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.
It is classically known that the only zero mean curvature entire graphs in the Euclidean 3-space are planes, by Bernstein's theorem. A surface in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space $\boldsymbol{R}^3_1$ is called of mixed type if it changes causal type from space-like to time-like. In $\boldsymbol{R}^3_1$, Osamu Kobayashi found two zero mean curvature entire graphs of mixed type that are not planes. As far as the authors know, these two examples were the only known examples of entire zero mean curvature graphs of mixed type without singularities. In this paper, we construct several families of real anal…
We construct and study a family of double-periodic almost entire solutions of the maximal surface equation. The solutions are parameterized by a submanifold of $3\times 3$-matrices (the so-called generating matrices). We show that the constructed solutions are either space-like or of mixed type with the light-cone type isolated singularities.
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…
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.
In this paper we define and analyze singularities of discrete linear Weingarten surfaces with Weierstrass-type representations in $3$-dimensional Riemannian and Lorentzian spaceforms. In particular, we discuss singularities of discrete surfaces with non-zero constant Gaussian curvature, and parallel surfaces of discrete minimal and maximal surfaces, and discrete constant mean curvature $1$ surfaces in de Sitter $3$-space, including comparisons with different previously known definitions of such singularities.
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 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…
By a result of W.~P. Thurston, the moduli space of flat metrics on the sphere with $n$ cone singularities of prescribed positive curvatures is a complex hyperbolic orbifold of dimension $n-3$. The Hermitian form comes from the area of the metric. Using geometry of Euclidean polyhedra, we observe that this space has a natural decomposition into real hyperbolic convex polyhedra of dimensions $n-3$ and $\leq \frac{1}{2}(n-1)$. By a result of W.~Veech, the moduli space of flat metrics on a compact surface with cone singularities of prescribed negative curvatures has a foliation whose leaves have a…
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…
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.
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…
We give a different formulation for describing maximal surfaces in Lorentz-Minkowski space, $\mathbb{L}^3$, using the identification of $\mathbb L^3$ with $\mathbb C\times \mathbb R$. Further we give a different proof for the singular Björling problem for the case of closed real analytic null curve. As an application, we show the existence of maximal surface which contains a given curve and has a special singularity.
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 prove the existence of a unique maximal surface in each anti-de Sitter (AdS) convex Globally Hyperbolic Maximal (GHM) manifold with particles (that is, with conical singularities along time-like lines) for cone angles less than $π$. We interpret this result in terms of Teichmüller theory, and prove the existence of a unique minimal Lagrangian diffeomorphism isotopic to the identity between two hyperbolic surfaces with cone singularities when the cone angles are the same for both surfaces and are less than $π$.