Intersection of minimal surfaces of bounded curvature (Q5932244)

This paper deals with the question: do two complete immersed minimal surfaces necessarily have to intersect each other, except for the case of two parallel planes in Euclidean 3-space? The answer is `yes' under the assumption that both surfaces are properly immersed into Euclidean space, by the half-space theorem by D. Hoffman and W. Meeks. The present paper gives the answer `yes' under the assumption of bounded curvature. This holds in Euclidean 3-space as well as in any compact 3-manifold of strictly positive Ricci curvature. In general the answer is `no' as follows from an example by \textit{N. Nadirashvili} in [Invent. Math. 126, 457-465 (1996; Zbl 0881.53053)].