Embedded minimal surfaces in \(\mathbb R^n\) (Q284767)

There are two main results in the article under review. First the authors show that for each \(n\geq 5\), every conformal minimal immersion \(u:M\to\mathbb{R}^n\) of an open Riemann surface \(M\) can be approximated uniformly on compact subsets of \(M\) by conformal minimal embeddings. This also holds if \(M\) is a compact bordered Riemann surface with \(\partial M\neq\emptyset\) and \(u\in C^r(M)\) for some \(r\in\mathbb{N}\). Second the authors show that every open Riemann surface \(M\) carries a proper conformal minimal embedding into \(\mathbb{R}^5\). Furthermore, if \(K\) is a compact holomorphically convex set in \(M\) and \(n\geq 5\), then every conformal minimal embedding from a neighborhood of \(K\) into \(\mathbb{R}^n\) can be approximated, uniformly on \(K\), by proper conformal minimal embeddings \(M\to\mathbb{R}^n\). The authors ask whether this result holds for \(n=4\). The article under review also proves the Mergelyan approximation theorem for conformal minimal immersions to \(\mathbb{R}^n\) for \(n\geq 3\).