Extrinsic isoperimetry and compactification of minimal surfaces in Euclidean and hyperbolic spaces (Q1955776)

Let \(M\) be a complete immersed minimal surface in \({\mathbb R}^n\) with finite total curvature \(\int_M K_M \, d\sigma < \infty\), where \(K_M\) is the Gaussian curvature of \(M\). The Chern-Osserman formula is \[ \begin{aligned} -\chi(M) &= \frac{1}{4\pi}\int_M \| \mathrm{A}\|^2\, d\sigma - \sup_r \frac{\operatorname{vol}(M \cap B_r)}{\operatorname{vol}(B_r)} \tag{1}\\ &\leq \frac{1}{4\pi} \int_M \|\mathrm{A}\|^2\, d\sigma - k(M), \end{aligned} \] where \(\chi(M)\) is the Euler characteristic of \(M\), \(k\) is the number of ends of \(M\), \(\mathrm A\) is the second fundamental form of \(M\) in \({\mathbb R}^n\) and \(B_r\) is the \(r\)-ball in \({\mathbb R}^n\). Note that for an immersed minimal surface \(M\) in \({\mathbb R}^n\), \(\int_M \| \mathrm{A}\|^2\, d\sigma <\infty\) is equivalent to the finiteness of the total scalar curvature. From this point of view, Qing and Yi proved in [\textit{C. Qing}, Geom. Dedicata 75, No. 3, 263--273 (1999; Zbl 0976.53063); \textit{C. Qing} and \textit{C. Yi}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 128, No. 8, 2445--2450 (2000; Zbl 0955.53036)] that if \(M\) is a complete immersed minimal surface in the hyperbolic space \({\mathbb H}^n\) such that \(\int_M \| \mathrm{A}\|^2\, d\sigma < \infty\), then the Chern-Osserman inequality holds: \[ \begin{aligned} -\chi(M) \leq \frac{1}{4\pi}\int_M \| {\mathrm A}\|^2\, d\sigma - \sup_r \frac{\operatorname{vol}(M \cap B^{-1}_r)}{\operatorname{vol}(B^{-1}_r)}. \tag{2} \end{aligned} \] However, the proofs given by Qing and Yi are different from those for the Euclidean case, and rely heavily on the properties of the hyperbolic functions. In this paper, the authors present a unified proof of the Chern-Osserman inequality in terms of the volume growth for complete minimal surfaces with finite total scalar curvature immersed in Euclidean or hyperbolic spaces. This unification is based on the authors' estimates for the Euler characteristic of the extrinsic balls and on the isoperimetric inequality for the extrinsic balls given in [the second author, J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 60, No. 2, 607--616 (1999; Zbl 0977.53069)].