We develop a global twistor correspondence for pseudo-Riemannian conformal structures of signature (++--) with self-dual Weyl curvature. Near the conformal class of the standard indefinite product metric on S^2 x S^2, there is an infinite-dimensional moduli space of such conformal structures, and each of these has the surprising global property that its null geodesics are all periodic. Each such conformal structure arises from a family of holomorphic disks in CP_3 with boundary on some totally real embedding of RP^3 into CP_3. An interesting sub-class of these conformal structures are represented by scalar-flat indefinite Kähler metrics, and our methods give particularly sharp results in this more restrictive setting.
In this paper we survey some recent contributions by the authors to the theory of null holomorphic curves in the complex Euclidean space $\mathbb C^3$, as well as their applications to null holomorphic curves in the special linear group $SL_2(\mathbb C)$, minimal surfaces in the Euclidean space $\mathbb R^3$, and constant mean curvature one surfaces (Bryant surfaces) in the hyperbolic 3-space $\mathbb H^3$. The paper is an expanded version of the lecture given by the second named author at the Abel Symposium in Trondheim, Norway, in July 2013.
In the round 6-sphere, null-torsion holomorphic curves are fundamental examples of minimal surfaces. This class of minimal surfaces is quite rich: By a theorem of Bryant, extended by Rowland, every closed Riemann surface may be conformally embedded in the round 6-sphere as a null-torsion holomorphic curve. In this work, we study the second variation of area for compact null-torsion holomorphic curves $Σ$ of genus $g$ and area $4πd$, focusing on the spectrum of the Jacobi operator. We show that if $g \leq 6$, then the multiplicity of the lowest eigenvalue $λ_1 = -2$ is exactly equal to $4d$. Mo…
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…
In this paper, we show that for every conformal minimal immersion $u:M\to \mathbb{R}^3$ from an open Riemann surface $M$ to $\mathbb{R}^3$ there exists a smooth isotopy $u_t:M\to\mathbb{R}^3$ $(t\in [0,1])$ of conformal minimal immersions, with $u_0=u$, such that $u_1$ is the real part of a holomorphic null curve $M\to \mathbb{C}^3$ (i.e. $u_1$ has vanishing flux). Furthermore, if $u$ is nonflat then $u_1$ can be chosen to have any prescribed flux and to be complete.
Let $M$ be an open Riemann surface. It was proved by Alarcón and Forstnerič (arXiv:1408.5315) that every conformal minimal immersion $M\to\mathbb R^3$ is isotopic to the real part of a holomorphic null curve $M\to\mathbb C^3$. In this paper, we prove the following much stronger result in this direction: for any $n\geq 3$, the inclusion $ι$ of the space of real parts of nonflat null holomorphic immersions $M\to\mathbb C^n$ into the space of nonflat conformal minimal immersions $M\to \mathbb R^n$ satisfies the parametric h-principle with approximation; in particular, it is a weak homotopy equiva…
In this paper we prove that every bordered Riemann surface M admits a complete proper null holomorphic embedding into a ball of the complex Euclidean $3$-space $\mathbb{C}^3$. The real part of such an embedding is a complete conformal minimal immersion $M\to \mathbb{R}^3$ with bounded image. For any such $M$ we also construct proper null holomorphic embeddings $M\to \mathbb{C}^3$ with a bounded coordinate function; these give rise to properly embedded null curves $M\to SL_2(\mathbb{C})$ and to properly immersed Bryant surfaces $M\to \mathbb{H}^3$ in the hyperbolic $3$-space. In particular, we …
First, we prove that indefinite Sasakian manifolds do not admit any screen conformal $r$-null submanifolds, tangent to the structure vector field. We, therefore, define a special class of null submanifolds, called; {\it contact screen conformal} $r$-null submanifold of indefinite Sasakian manifolds. Several characterization results, on the above class of null submanifolds, are proved. In particular, we prove that such null submanifolds exist in indefinite Sasakian space forms of constant holomorphic sectional curvatures of $-3$.
We study the geometric properties of a $2m$-dimensional complex manifold $\mathcal{M}$ admitting a holomorphic reduction of the frame bundle to the structure group $P \subset \mathrm{Spin}(2m,\mathbb{C})$, the stabiliser of the line spanned by a pure spinor at a point. Geometrically, $\mathcal{M}$ is endowed with a holomorphic metric $g$, a holomorphic volume form, a spin structure compatible with $g$, and a holomorphic pure spinor field $ξ$ up to scale. The defining property of $ξ$ is that it determines an almost null structure, ie an $m$-plane distribution $\mathcal{N}_ξ$ along which $g$ is …
We give a detailed account of the geometric correspondence between a smooth complex projective quadric hypersurface $\mathcal{Q}^n$ of dimension $n \geq 3$, and its twistor space $\mathbb{PT}$, defined to be the space of all linear subspaces of maximal dimension of $\mathcal{Q}^n$. Viewing complex Euclidean space $\mathbb{CE}^n$ as a dense open subset of $\mathcal{Q}^n$, we show how local foliations tangent to certain integrable holomorphic totally null distributions of maximal rank on $\mathbb{CE}^n$ can be constructed in terms of complex submanifolds of $\mathbb{PT}$. The construction is ill…
We study the geometric properties of a $(2m+1)$-dimensional complex manifold $\mathcal{M}$ admitting a holomorphic reduction of the frame bundle to the structure group $P \subset \mathrm{Spin}(2m+1,\mathbb{C})$, the stabiliser of the line spanned by a pure spinor at a point. Geometrically, $\mathcal{M}$ is endowed with a holomorphic metric $g$, a holomorphic volume form, a spin structure compatible with $g$, and a holomorphic pure spinor field $ξ$ up to scale. The defining property of $ξ$ is that it determines an almost null structure, i.e.\ an $m$-plane distribution $\mathcal{N}_ξ$ along whic…
Let $\mathcal{R}$ be an open Riemann surface. In this paper we prove that every continuous function $M \to \mathbb{R}^n$, $n\ge 3$, defined on a divergent Jordan arc $M \subset \mathcal{R}$ can be approximated in the Carleman sense by conformal minimal immersions; thus providing a new generalization of Carleman's theorem. In fact, we prove that this result remains true for null curves and many other classes of directed holomorphic immersions for which the directing variety satisfies a certain flexibility property. Furthermore, the constructed immersions may be chosen to be complete or proper u…
We study the geometric properties of holomorphic distributions of totally null $m$-planes on a $(2m+ε)$-dimensional complex Riemannian manifold $(\mathcal{M}, \bm{g})$, where $ε\in {0,1}$ and $m \geq 2$. In particular, given such a distribution $\mathcal{N}$, say, we obtain algebraic conditions on the Weyl tensor and the Cotton-York tensor which guarrantee the integrability of $\mathcal{N}$, and in odd dimensions, of its orthogonal complement. These results generalise the Petrov classification of the (anti-)self-dual part of the complex Weyl tensor, and the complex Goldberg-Sachs theorem from …
Let $M$ be an open Riemann surface and $n\ge 3$ be an integer. We prove that on any closed discrete subset of $M$ one can prescribe the values of a conformal minimal immersion $M\to\mathbb{R}^n$. Our result also ensures jet-interpolation of given finite order, and hence, in particular, one may in addition prescribe the values of the generalized Gauss map. Furthermore, the interpolating immersions can be chosen to be complete, proper into $\mathbb{R}^n$ if the prescription of values is proper, and one-to-one if $n\ge 5$ and the prescription of values is one-to-one. We may also prescribe the flu…
We study surfaces in TN that are area-stationary with respect to a neutral Kaehler metric constructed on TN from a riemannian metric g on N. We show that holomorphic curves in TN are area-stationary, while lagrangian surfaces that are area-stationary are also holomorphic and hence totally null. However, in general, area stationary surfaces are not holomorphic. We prove this by constructing counter-examples. In the case where g is rotationally symmetric, we find all area stationary surfaces that arise as graphs of sections of the bundle TN$\to$N and that are rotationally symmetric. When (N,g) i…
In this paper we establish partial structure results on the geometry of compact Hermitian manifolds of semipositive Griffiths curvature. We show that after appropriate arbitrary small deformation of the initial metric, the null spaces of the Chern-Ricci two-form generate a holomorphic, integrable distribution. This distribution induces an isometric, holomorphic, almost free action of a complex Lie group on the universal cover of the manifold. Our proof combines the strong maximum principle for the Hermitian Curvature Flow (HCF), new results on the interplay of the HCF and the torsion-twisted c…
We study the totally null surfaces of the neutral Kaehler metric on certain 4-manifolds. The tangent spaces of totally null surfaces are either self-dual ($α$-planes) or anti-self-dual ($β$-planes) and so we consider $α$-surfaces and $β$-surfaces. The metric of the examples we study, which include the spaces of oriented geodesics of 3-manifolds of constant curvature, are anti-self-dual, and so it is well-known that the $α$-planes are integrable and $α$-surfaces exist. These are holomorphic Lagrangian surfaces, which for the geodesic spaces correspond to totally umbilic foliations of the underl…
The main two families of real hypersurfaces in complex space forms are Hopf and ruled. However, very little is known about real hypersurfaces in the indefinite complex projective space $\cpn$. In a previous work, Kimura and the second author introduced Hopf real hypersurfaces in $\cpn$. In this paper, ruled real hypersurfaces in the indefinite complex projective space are introduced, as those whose maximal holomorphic distribution is integrable, and such that the leaves are totally geodesic holomorphic hyperplanes. A detailed description of the shape operator is computed, obtaining two main di…
We study complex 4-manifolds with holomorphic self-dual conformal structures, and we obtain an interpretation of the Weyl tensor of such a manifold as the projective curvature of a field of cones on the ambitwistor space. In particular, its vanishing is implied by the existence of some compact, simply-connected, null-geodesics. We also relate the Cotton-York tensor of an umbilic hypersurface to the Weyl tensor of the ambient. As a consequence, a conformal 3-manifold or a self-dual 4-manifold admitting a rational curve as a null-geodesic is conformally flat. We show that the projective structur…
