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.
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 a…
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.
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.
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.
We verify if Gausssian curvature of surfaces and normal curvature of curves in surfaces introduced by Diniz-Veloso arXiv:1210.7110 and by Balogh-Tyson-Vecchi arXiv:1604.00180 to prove Gauss-Bonnet theorems in Heisenberg space $\mathbb H^1$ are equal. The authors in arXiv:1604.00180 utilize a limit of Gaussian and normal curvatures defined in the Riemannian approximations scheme $(\mathbb R^3,g_L)$ introduced by Gromov to study sub-Riemannian spaces. They show that these limits exist (unlike the limit of Riemannian surface area form or length form), and they obtain Gauss-Bonnet theorem in $\mat…
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.
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 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.
We give an estimate of the Gauss curvature for minimal surfaces in ${\mathbb R}^m$ whose Gauss map omits more than $m(m+1)/2$ hyperplanes in ${\mathbb P}^{m-1}({\mathbb C})$.
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.
In this paper, we study the Lorentzian minimal surfaces in the Minkowski space-time with finite type Gauss map. First, we obtain the classification of this type of surfaces with pointwise 1-type Gauss map. Then, we proved that there are no Lorentzian minimal surface in the Minkowski space-time with null 2-type Gauss map.
We present conditions on the Ricci curvature for complete, oriented, minimal submanifolds of Euclidean space, as well as the standard unit sphere, when the Gauss maps are bounded embeddings.
In this paper, we study the Gauss map of a free boundary minimal surface. The main theorem asserts that if components of the Gauss map are eigenfunctions of the Jacobi-Steklov operator, then the surface must be rotationally symmetric.
We investigate complete minimal hypersurfaces in the Euclidean space $% \ {R}^{4}$, with Gauss-Kronecker curvature identically zero. We prove that, if $f:M^{3}\to {R}^{4}$ is a complete minimal hypersurface with Gauss-Kronecker curvature identically zero, nowhere vanishing second fundamental form and scalar curvature bounded from below, then $f(M^{3})$ splits as a Euclidean product $L^{2}\times {R}$, where $L^{2}$ is a complete minimal surface in $ {R}^{3}$ with Gaussian curvature bounded from below.
We construct complete nonorientable minimal surfaces whose Gauss map omits two points of the projective plane. This result proves that Fujimoto's theorem is sharp in nonorientable case.
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.
In this paper we present a local description for complete minimal hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{S}^5$ with zero Gauss-Kronecker curvature, zero $3$-mean curvature and nowhere zero second fundamental form.
We construct compact arbitrary Euler characteristic orientable and non-orientable minimal surfaces in the Berger spheres. Besides we show an interesting family of surfaces that are minimal in every Berger sphere, characterizing them by this property. Finally we construct, via the Daniel correspondence, new examples of constant mean curvature surfaces in the products S^2 x R, H^2 x R and in the Heisenberg group with many symmetries.
A Lorentz surface in the four-dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space with neutral metric is called quasi-minimal if its mean curvature vector is lightlike at each point. In the present paper we obtain the complete classification of quasi-minimal Lorentz surfaces with pointwise 1-type Gauss map.
In this paper we prove existence of complete minimal surfaces in some metric semidirect products. These surfaces are similar to the doubly and singly periodic Scherk minimal surfaces in $\mathbb R^3$. In particular, we obtain these surfaces in the Heisenberg space with its canonical metric, and in Sol3 with a one-parameter family of non-isometric metrics.
We refine Osserman's argument on the exceptional values of the Gauss map of algebraic minimal surfaces. This gives an effective estimate for the number of exceptional values and the totally ramified value number for a wider class of complete minimal surfaces that includes algebraic minimal surfaces. It also provides a new proof of Fujimoto's theorem for this class, which not only simplifies the proof but also reveals the geometric meaning behind it.
In this article, we study the modified defect relations of the Gauss map of complete minimal surfaces in $\mathbb R^3$ and $ \mathbb R^4$ on annular ends. We obtain results which are similar to the ones obtained by Fujimoto~[J. Differential Geometry \textbf{29} (1989), 245-262] for (the whole) complete minimal surfaces. We thus give some improvements of the previous results for the Gauss maps of complete minimal surfaces restricted on annular ends.
Minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ can be locally approximated by graphs of harmonic functions, i.e., functions that are critical points of the Dirichlet energy, but no analogous theorem is known for $H$-minimal surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}$, which are known to have singularities. In this paper, we introduce a definition of intrinsic Dirichlet energy for surfaces in $\mathbb{H}$ and study the critical points of this energy, which we call contact harmonic graphs. Nearly flat regions of $H$-minimal surfaces can often be approximated by such graphs. We give a cal…
Let $M$ be an $n$-dimensional smooth oriented complete embedded minimal hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with Euclidean volume growth. We show that if the image under the Gauss map of $M$ avoids some neighborhood of a half-equator, then $M$ must be an affine hyperplane.
