Holomorphic differentials and Laguerre deformation of surfaces (Q343644)

A smooth immersed surface \(M\) in \({\mathbb R}^3\) with no parabolic points is \textit{Laguerre minimal (L-minimal)} if it is an extremal of the Weingarten functional \(\int (H^2/K - 1)dA\). Such a surface is \textit{L-isothermic} if it -- away from umbilic points -- admits a conformal curvature line parametrization with respect to the third fundamental form. Given an immersion \(f\) of a surface \(M\) in \({\mathbb R}^3\) and its unit normal \(n:M\to S^2\) one has the \textit{Legendre immersion} \(F = (f, n):M\to\Lambda\), the space of isotropic lines in the Minkowski space \({\mathbb R}^4_1\). A Legendre immersion \(F:M\to\Lambda\) arises from a surface in \({\mathbb R}^3\) when \(df\cdot n = 0\). A quartic differential \({\mathcal Q}_F\) has been defined by the authors in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, No. 11, 4321--4337 (1996; Zbl 0864.58017)]. Here, the authors study relations between \({\mathcal Q}_F\) and geometry of \(F\). They show (Theorem A) that \({\mathcal Q}_F\) is holomorphic if and only if \(F\) is either L-minimal or is locally the T-transform of an L-minimal isothermic surface and they study (Theorem B) relations between geometric properties (L-isothermity, L-minimality, etc.) of \(F\) and properties of \({\mathcal Q}_F\) and of the L-Gauss map \(\sigma_F:M \to {\mathbb R}^4_1\) which assigns to each point \(p\in M\) the sphere which is tangent to \(M\) at \(f(p)\) and has radius \(H/K\). (All the time here, \(H\) is the mean curvature and \(K\) the Gaussian curvature of \(M\).)