Interpolation and optimal hitting for complete minimal surfaces with finite total curvature (Q1755633)

The authors prove that, given a compact Riemann surface \(\Sigma\) and disjoint finite sets \(\emptyset\not=E\subset\Sigma\) and \(\Lambda\subset\Sigma\), every map \(\Lambda\to\mathbb R^3\) extends to a complete conformal minimal immersion \(\Sigma\setminus E\to\mathbb R^3\) with finite total curvature. This result opens the door to the study of optimal hitting problems in the framework of complete minimal surfaces in \(\mathbb R^3\) with finite total curvature. To this respect they provide, for each integer \(r\geq 1\), a set \(A\subset\mathbb R^3\) consisting of \(12r+3\) points in an affine plane such that if \(A\) is contained in a complete nonflat orientable immersed minimal surface \(X:M\to\mathbb R^3\), then the absolute value of the total curvature of \(X\) is greater than \(4\pi r\). In order to prove this result they obtain an upper bound for the number of intersections of a complete immersed minimal surface of finite total curvature in \(\mathbb R^3\) with a straight line not contained in it, in terms of the total curvature and the Euler characteristic of the surface.