Conformal Gauss map geometry and application to Willmore surfaces in model spaces (Q2223713)

The author gives a detailed and self-contained study of the conformal Gauss map, with the aim of understanding the Moebius geometry of surfaces and with applications to Willmore surfaces. A Willmore surface is a smooth closed surface embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space which is a local minimum for a functional called the Willmore energy. The Willmore energy is a measure of the deviation of this surface from being a round sphere and it is defined as the integral of the square of the mean curvature minus the Gaussian curvature. Using the notion of conformal Gauss map and based on work of Bryant on Willmore surfaces [\textit{R. L. Bryant}, J. Differ. Geom. 20, 23--53 (1984; Zbl 0555.53002)], the authors recovers several fundamental properties of these surfaces, including a new geometric description of these surfaces by characterizing them as conformally constant mean curvature immersions.