New compatibility conditions for the fundamental theorem of surface theory (Q2381991)

Given a field \((a_{\alpha\beta})\) of positive definite symmetric matrices of order two and a field \((b_{\alpha\beta})\) of symmetric matrices of order two such that \((a_{\alpha\beta})\) and \((b_{\alpha\beta})\) together fulfil the Codazzi-Mainardi equations in a simply connected open subset \(\omega\) of \(\mathbb R^2\), then the fundamental theorem of classical surface theory states that, up to isometries of \(\mathbb R^3\), there exists a uniquely determined immersion \(\theta: \omega \rightarrow \mathbb R^3\) such that the fields \((a_{\alpha\beta})\) and \((b_{\alpha\beta})\) are the first and second fundamental form of the surface \(\theta(\omega)\). In the present note the authors replace the Codazzi-Mainardi equations by a new compatibility condition which has the form \(\partial_1 A_2-\partial_2 A_1+A_1A_2-A_2A_1=0\) in \(\omega\), where \(A_1, A_2\) are fields of antisymmetric matrices of order three that are functions of the fields \((a_{\alpha\beta})\) and \((b_{\alpha\beta})\). The existence and uniqueness theorem is similar to the classical one.