On two-dimensional immersions that are stable for parametric functionals of constant mean curvature type (Q2580931)

The set \(\mathcal C (B, \mathbb R^3)\) is defined as the set of all immersions \(X\) from the open unit disc \(B \subset \mathbb R^2\) into \(\mathbb R^3\) which are analytic on \(B\) and continuous on the closure \(\bar B,\) satisfying additional regularity conditions that \(W:= | X_u (u, v) \wedge X_v (u, v)| > 0\) and \(\iint_B (| X_u| ^2 + | X_v| ^2)\, du\, dv < \infty .\) The topic of this paper is the investigation of the immersions \(X \in \mathcal C (B, \mathbb R^3)\) which are stable for the parametric functional \[ \mathcal H [X]: = \iint_B \biggl\{ F (X_u \wedge X_v) + \frac{2\gamma_0}{3} X \cdot (X_u \wedge X_v) \biggr\} \, du \,dv \] for a positive real number \(\gamma_0.\) Here \(\wedge\) and \(\cdot\) denote the cross and the dot products of vectors in \(\mathbb R^3\) viewed as row matrices, and the integrand \(F\) satisfies the homogeneity condition \(F (\lambda Z) = \lambda F(Z),\) for all \(\lambda > 0.\) For example, when \(F(Z) = | Z| ,\) the critical points of the corresponding functional are surfaces of constant mean curvature (CMC) \(\gamma_0 > 0.\) Note that the normalized cross product \(X_u \wedge X_v\) gives the unit normal \(N\) to the surface. Let \(\mathbf F _{ZZ} (Z): = (F_{z^i z^j}(Z))_{i, j = 1, 2, 3} \) and define by \(\mathbf G (Z): = \{\frac{1}{\sqrt{\det \mathbf F_{ZZ}(Z)}} \, \mathbf F_{ZZ}(Z) + Z^t Z \}^{-1}, \; Z \in S^2\), the weight matrix. Then, weighted conformal parameters \((u, v) \in B\) are introduced such that \(X_u \circ \mathbf G(N) \circ X_u^t = W = X_v \circ \mathbf G(N) \circ X_v^t,\) and \(X_u \circ \mathbf G(N) \circ X_v^t = 0 \) in \(B.\) The author first computes the second variation \(\delta^2 \mathcal H [X; \varphi]\) for a minimizer \(X \in \mathcal C (B, \mathbb R^3)\) using weighted conformal parameters and investigates those immersions \(X\) for which this variation is \(\geq 0 \,\) (stable immersions). He derives necessary geometric properties of surfaces of CMC-type and establishes a differential system with quadratic growth in the gradient, for \(X,\) as well as for \(N.\) At the end, a certain estimate of the principal curvatures \(k_1, k_2\) (more precisely an upper bound for \(k_1^2 + k_2^2\)) is given.