Graphs of constant mean curvature in hyperbolic space (Q5945564)

The author starts with a mean convex domain D defined on either a totally geodesic hyperplane or on a equidistant hyperplane (from a totally geodesic hyperplane), in hyperbolic space \(H^{n+1}.\) Graphs over \(D\) are hypersurfaces \(S\) such that, for each point \(p\) in \(D,\) the geodesic in \(H^{(n+1)}\) normal to \(D\) intersects \(S\) at a unique point \(q\). The oriented distance from \(p\) to \(q\) along this geodesic gives the function \(f=f(p)\) of the graph \(S.\) The author considers graphs \(S\) of functions \(f\) that have constant mean curvature (CMC) \(H\) and that satisfy \(f=0\) on the boundary of \(D\). (This problem is naturally motivated by considering soap film experiments in Euclidean space.) He proves that such graphs exist if \(H\) lies in a certain interval \(I\), and it is demonstrated that the lower bound of I can not be extended, i.e. that the result is sharp. The interval I is determined from the mean curvature of \(D\) and the mean curvature of the boundary of \(D.\) (The author considered the same problem in an earlier paper, in the case when \(D\) lies in a horosphere.) The proof involves first showing that the CMC-\(H\) graph \(S\) must lie on one side of the domain \(D\) (i.e. \(f\) has only one sign), which follows straightforwardly from the maximum principle for CMC surfaces. The more difficult part of the proof is then to give a-priori \(C^{1,\alpha}\)-bounds for solutions of the equation for mean curvature on \(D\). Then the continuity method can be applied, starting with \(f=0,\) to prove the result.