Conformal geometry of surfaces in \(S^4\) and quaternions (Q5957132): Difference between revisions

Based mainly on [\textit{F. Pedit} and \textit{U. Pinkall}, Doc. Math. J. DMV, Extra Vol. ICM Berlin 1998, vol. II, 389--400 (1998; Zbl 0910.53042), \textit{D. Ferus, K. Leschke, F. Pedit} and \textit{U. Pinkall}, Invent. Math. 146, 507--593 (2001; Zbl 1038.53046), \textit{D. Ferus}, Summer School on Differential Geometry, Coimbra 1999, 19--38 (1999; Zbl 0958.53011)], the present lecture note extends the basic constructions of complex Riemann surface theory (such as holomorphic line bundles, holomorphic curves in projective space, Kodaira embedding and Riemann-Roch) to the quaternions. After introducing the linear algebra over quaternions and the quaternionic projective line as a model for the conformal 4-sphere, the conformal surfaces \(f:M \to \mathbb{H} P^1 \) are identified with the pull-backs of the tautological bundle and they are treated as quaternionic line subbundles of the trivial bundle \(M\times \mathbb{H}^2 \). The mean curvature sphere (or conformal Gauss map) of such a surface is a complex structure on \(M\times \mathbb{H}^2 \), which leads to the notion of Willmore energy, the critical points of which are called Willmore surfaces. The new notions of the quaternionic theory given here are identified with the notions in classical submanifold theory. As applications, the super-conformal immersions are classified as twistor projections from \(\mathbb{C} P^3\) in the sense of Penrose, Bäcklund transformations for Willmore surfaces in \(\mathbb{H} P^1\) are constructed, a duality between Willmore surfaces in \(S^3\) and certain minimal surfaces in hyperbolic 3-space is emphasized and a new proof of the classification of Willmore 2-spheres in the 4-sphere is given. A similarity between the theory of constant mean curvature spheres in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and that of Willmore surfaces in \(\mathbb{H} P^1\) is explained at the end.