Riemann surfaces in Stein manifolds with the density property (Q486773)

A complex manifold \(X\) is said to have the density property if the Lie algebra generated by the completely integrable holomorphic vector fields is dense (in the compact-open topology) in \(H^0(T_X)\). The class of Stein manifolds having this property is known to behave very well in terms of holomorphic approximation: the automorphism group of such a manifold is \(m\)-transitive for any integer \(m\), such a manifold is elliptic in the sense of \textit{M. Gromov} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 2, No. 4, 851--897 (1989; Zbl 0686.32012)] and therefore an Oka manifold according to \textit{F. Forstnerič} [C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 347, No. 17--18, 1017--1020 (2009; Zbl 1175.32005)]. In this article, the authors show that this principle can be carried over to the curves contained in \(X\) (Theorem 5.1): if \(\dim(X)\geq 2\) (resp. \(\dim(X)\geq 3\)), any open Riemann surface can be properly immersed (resp. embedded) into X. As a by-product, they obtain a new proof of the following fact (already observed in [\textit{A. Alarcón} and \textit{J. A. Gálvez}, Result. Math. 60, No. 1--4, 487--505 (2011; Zbl 1256.30045)]): any open Riemann surface admits a proper harmonic morphism into \(\mathbb{R}^2\). Another consequence of the main result of the article is the fact that Stein manifolds with the density property are characterised among the complex manifolds by their semigroups of endomorphisms (Theorem 5.5). The proofs of the results contained in the article are completed using approximation and gluing; they are thus quite technical but rather easy to follow (due to some pictures illustrating the situation).