The Cauchy problem for the Liouville equation and Bryant surfaces (Q2484430)

In 1987, R. Bryant derived a holomorphic representation formula for surfaces with constant mean curvature one in the standard \(3\)-dimensional hyperbolic space \(H^3\), which is analogous to the classical Weierstrass representation formula for minimal surfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). After Bryant's work, people started to use the term \textit{Bryant surfaces} when referring to surfaces with constant mean curvature in \(H^3\). In the paper under review the authors give a construction that connects the Cauchy problem for the \(2\)-dimensional elliptic Liouville equation with a certain initial value problem for Bryant surfaces in \(H^3\), and solve both of them. They construct the unique Bryant surface in \(H^3\) that passes through a given curve with a given unit normal along it, and provide diverse applications. In particular, topics such as period problems, symmetries, finite total curvature, planar geodesic, rigidity, etc. are treated for these surfaces.