Ruled surfaces with pointwise 1-type Gauss map (Q1576278)

It is known that the Gauss map \(G\) of a submanifold \(M\) in a pseudo-Euclidean \(m\)-space \(\mathbb E^m_s\) with index \(s\) satisfies \(\Delta G=\lambda G\) for some constant \(\lambda\) if \(M\) has 1-type Gauss map, where \(\Delta\) is the Laplacian of \(M\) [cf. \textit{B.-Y. Chen} and \textit{P. Piccinni}, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 35, 161-186 (1987; Zbl 0672.53044)]. The submanifold \(M\) is said to have pointwise 1-type Gauss map if \(G\) satisfies \(\Delta G=fG\) for some function \(f\) on \(M\). In this paper the authors classify ruled surfaces in a Minkowski 3-space \(\mathbb E^3_1\) with pointwise 1-type Gauss map which satisfy one of the following conditions: (1) \(M\) is time-like; (2) \(M\) is space-like; (3) \(M\) is a null scroll; (4) \(M\) is a ruled surface with either space-like or time-like base curve.