Properties of minimal surfaces over depth 2 Carnot manifolds (Q2054228)

This not so extended article surveys a large amount of analytical results concerning a quite general topic: the minimal surfaces that are the graphs of the classes of contact mappings (of depth 2) Carnot manifolds into nilpotent graded groups (of the same depth) and Carnot-Carathéodory spaces. Of course, new results are also presented. The name depth-2 nilpotent graded (Lie) group is given to a connected simply-connected Lie group \(G\) whose Lie algebra \(V\) is graded, i.e., \[ V = V_1 \oplus V_2,\quad [V_1 , V_1] \subset V_2 ,\quad [V_1 , V_2] = [V_2 , V_2] = \{0\}. \] If \([V_1, V_1 ] = V_2\) instead of \([V_1 , V_1]\subset V_2\) then \(G\) is called a Carnot group. A Riemannian smooth manifold M ``is called a depth-2 Carnot manifold whenever the tangent bundle \(TM\) of \(M\) has a subbundle \(H\subsetneq T M\) such that for each \(p\in M\) there are a neighborhood \(U\subset M\) and a tuple \(X_1, \ldots, X_N\) of \(C^1\)-smooth basis fields for which at every \(v\in U\) the subspace \(HM(v) = \mathrm{span}\{X_1(v),\ldots , X_{\dim H (v)}\}\subset T_vM\) is of dimension \(\dim H\) independently of \(v\), and, moreover, \(T M = \mathrm{span}\{H, [H, H]\}\). If the latter condition does not hold then \(M\) is called a Carnot-Carathéodory space.'' Using normal coordinates, a local homogeneous group \(\mathcal{G}^uM\) is associated to the vector fields \(\{X_i\}\). It follows that if \(M\) is a Carnot manifold then the nilpotent graded group \(\mathcal{G}^uM\) of \(M\) is a Carnot group. Then the author establishes the contact mapping assumptions: \(\varphi\in C^2(\Omega,\tilde{M})\) where (1) \(\Omega\subset M\) is an open set; (2) \(M\) is a depth-2 Carnot manifold of topological dimension \(N\) and Hausdorff dimension \(\nu\) with smooth basis fields \(X_1 , \ldots, X_N\); (3) \(\tilde{M}\) is a depth-2 Carnot-Carathéodory space of topological dimension \(\tilde{N}\) and Hausdorff dimension \(\tilde{\nu}\) with smooth basis fields \(\tilde{X}_1,\ldots, \tilde{X}_{\tilde{N}}\), where the fields with indices from 1 to \(\dim \tilde{H}\) belong to the horizontal subbundle \(\tilde{H}\tilde{M}\); (4) \(M,\tilde{M}\subset U\) ... ; (6) \(X_1\varphi , \ldots, X_{\dim H}\varphi\in\tilde{H}\tilde{M}\) (contact mapping condition). Given \(\varphi:\Omega\rightarrow \tilde{M}\), the graph mapping \(\varphi_\Gamma:\Omega\rightarrow U\) is defined as \[ \varphi_\Gamma(x)=\mathrm{exp}\biggl(\sum_{j=1}^{\tilde{N}}\varphi_j(x)\tilde{X}_j\biggr)(x) . \] With this follows the notion of polynomially sub-Riemannian differentiable or polynomially hc-differ\-en\-ti\-a\-ble at \(x\). In Theorems 17 and 18 it is asserted that the graph mapping, under the above assumptions, is polynomially sub-Riemannian differentiable everywhere. An analytical expression is also given of \(\hat{D}\varphi_\Gamma\) which approximates \(\varphi_\Gamma\) up to a certain order of an appropriate Hausdorff-distance function. Compared to [the author, Sib. Math. J. 61, No. 5, 803--817 (2020; Zbl 1450.53045); translation from Sib. Mat. Zh. 61, No. 5, 1009--1026 (2020)], some requirements on the domain and the range are relaxed. Yet a block form for the differential of \(\hat{D}\varphi_\Gamma\) and an area formula are still established. In Theorem 21: if the above conditions hold, then the \(\mathcal{H}_\Gamma^\nu\)-measure of the graph surface equals: \[ \int_\Omega\Pi_{j=1}^2\sqrt{\det(E_j+(\hat{D}\varphi(x))^*_j(\hat{D}\varphi(x))_j)}\,d\mathcal{H}^\nu(x) =\int_{\varphi_\Gamma(\Omega)}d\mathcal{H}^\nu_\Gamma(y) . \] In Section 2, the well-posedness conditions for the problem of variations of the area, the problem of minimal surfaces, are discussed and a result, Theorem 25, is stated when the range is a nilpotent graded group. Let us cite from the article's introduction: ``without constraints on the variation of the area functional are more global [conditions] than in the group case because the commutators of the horizontal fields are expressed in terms of both degree 2 fields and horizontal fields. [...] these conditions are necessary and sufficient for the mappings from nilpotent graded groups, whereas [they] are only necessary in case the range is a Carnot-Carathéodory space''. By ``minimal surface'' it is meant ``a surface of minimal area (under the assumption that the corresponding boundary value problem admits a solution)''. Further on, a definition is introduced: a domain \(\Omega\subset M\) is called horizontally reachable whenever we can connect each interior point of \(\Omega\) to a boundary point by a curve composed of finitely many integral curves of horizontal vector fields. Then the author proves Theorem 30: If \(\Omega\) is horizontally reachable and all sufficient conditions of Theorem 25 hold then the problem of minimal surfaces is well posed and the study of the differentiability of the area functional with respect to the norm in \(\|\,\cdot\,\|_{H,m}\), in Definition 27 is correct. With the definition \[ \mathcal{J}_p(x)= \frac{\Pi_{j=1}^2\sqrt{\det(E_j+(\hat{D}\varphi(x))^*_j(\hat{D}\varphi(x))_j)}}{\det(E_p+(\hat{D}\varphi(x))^*_p(\hat{D}\varphi(x))_p)} , \] we arise at Theorem 32: Suppose that the well-posedness conditions are met (see Theorem 30) and the area functional ([...]) is differentiable with respect to the norm \(\|\,\cdot\,\|_{H,4\max\{\dim H,2(N -\dim H)\}}\). In order for the area functional to attain its minimum at the graph surface determined by a contact mapping \(\varphi\) and a horizontal homomorphism \(\hat{D}\varphi\), among the values determined by the horizontal homomorphisms of the form \(\hat{D}\psi_{\epsilon,\xi}\), it is necessary that \[ \int_\Omega\sum_{p=1}^2\mathcal{D}_p(\varphi,\xi)(x)\mathcal{J}_p(x)\, d\mathcal{H}^\nu(x) = 0, \] where \(\mathcal{ D}_p(\varphi,\xi,x)=\)[...]. Let us remark that the horizontal homomorphisms of the form \(\hat{D}\psi_{\epsilon,\xi}\) are transversal variations of \(\hat{D}\psi\) in the direction of a matrix \(\xi\) of size \(\dim\tilde{H}\times\dim H\). Interestingly enough, the author observes ``If we restrict the class of variations of the arguments of the area functional to the horizontal homomorphisms \(\hat{D}\psi_{\epsilon,\xi}\), which are the sub-Riemannian differentials of some contact mappings \(\psi_{\epsilon,\xi}\); then, when we consider a Carnot-Carathéodory space \(\tilde{M}\) as the range, the sub-Riemannian differential is a mapping from \(\mathcal{G}^u M\) to \(\mathcal{G}^{\psi_{\epsilon,\xi}(u)}\tilde{M}\) for all \(u\in\Omega\)''.