H-surface index formula (Q2575848)

An \(H\)-surface in the Euclidean three-space is a classical solution to the system of equations \(\Delta X = 2H(X_u \wedge X_v), | X_u| ^2=| X_v| ^2, X_u \perp X_v\). Here, \(H\) is some constant and the first of these equations is the Euler-Lagrange equation the so-called \({\mathcal E}^H\) energy functional. Assuming that \(| H| <1/2\) and that an \(H\)-surface is contained in the unit ball and is spanned by a polygon with \(N+3\) vertices, the author assigns to every such surface an integer-valued additive index function defined on the compact parts of the surface. This index function is constructed by using the Dold fixed point index theory, equals \(1\) for the whole surface, for an \({\mathcal E}^H\)-minimizing part \(P\) the index coincides with the Euler-Poincare characteristic of the Čech cohomology of \(P\) and, as it is proved in the paper, these cohomology groups are finitely generated and nontrivial at least in degrees \(0,1,\dots,N-1\). This, in particular, implies that such a compact part \(P\) consists of finitely many \({\mathcal E}^H\)-minimizing components.