Minimal surfaces in \(S^3\) foliated by circles (Q611871)

The intersection of the unit two-sphere \(\{ (x,y,z): x^2+y^2+z^2 = 1\}\) with a plane through the origin is a unit circle which is a geodesic in the sphere, i.e., a great circle or equator. Conversely, if one looks for a geodesic in the sphere, then the only possibilities are these great circles. The three-sphere \(\{ (x,y,z,w): x^2+y^2+z^2+w^2 = 1\}\) has an equator surface which can be found the same way. This great sphere is also totally geodesic, in the sense that geodesics in it are also geodesics in the bigger space. But there is also another surface in the three-sphere with a claim to be an equator. It is the Clifford torus, and in fact, it is not only minimal, like the great sphere, but has also zero Gauss curvature, while the great sphere has Gauss curvature one. As might be expected, the Clifford torus resides in a particularly simple manner in the three-sphere. It is foliated by circles in two distinct ways with each of the circles (in each family) congruent and orthogonal to all the others, and the surface itself separates the three-sphere into two congruent pieces. In stereographic projection (with the correct rotation), the Clifford torus appears as the surface swept out by the rotation about the \(z\)-axis of the unit circle \(\{ (0,y,z): (y-\sqrt{2})^2+z^2 = 1\}\). Lawson showed in 1969 that the sphere and the Clifford torus are unique among minimal surfaces of constant Gauss curvature in the three-sphere. Lawson also observed that there are other minimal tori foliated by circles and of non-constant Gauss curvature. These also admit a relatively simple explicit parametrization using trigonometric functions. He showed that the minimal surfaces he found were unique in the limited class of ``ruled'' minimal tori, i.e., foliated by great circles, and that the Clifford torus is the only such torus with constant Gauss curvature. The authors of this paper look for surfaces having another foliation property shared by Lawson's tori. Namely, they ask for minimal surfaces foliated by circles which meet the principal curvature lines at a constant angle. The angle for Lawson's tori is \(\pi/4\), and the authors show there is exactly one other possibility, namely, the angle \(0\) so that the foliating circles are themselves principal. Relatively explicit parameterizations are given with coefficients which are solutions of linear ordinary differential equations. They also use their new families of minimal surfaces to construct certain three dimensional manifolds in four-dimensional Euclidean space. These manifolds are termed semi-symmetric and are foliated by minimal surfaces.