Scherk-like translators for mean curvature flow (Q6158161)

A surface \(M\) in \(\mathbf{R}^3\) is called a translator if \(t\mapsto M+t(0, 0, -1)\) is a mean curvature flow. In this paper, referring to the classical doubly periodic Scherk minimal surfaces, the authors study graphical translators on parallelograms with finite or infinite base length. For \(\alpha \in (0, \pi )\), \(w\in (0, \infty )\) and \(0<L\leq \infty\), set \[ P(\alpha , w, L)=\{ (x, y)\in\mathbf{R} \times (0, w) \ | \ y/\tan \alpha <x<L+y/\tan \alpha\} . \] If \(L <\infty\), then \(P(\alpha , w, L)\) is a parallelogram with base length \(L\). Theorem 2.2 is a preliminary theorem and related to the boundary value problem on \(P=P(\alpha , w, L)\) such that a solution \(u\) gives a minimal graph on \(P\) satisfying \(u=+\infty\) (respectively, \(-\infty\)) on the nonhorizontal (respectively, horizontal) sides of \(P\). Theorem 2.2 states the following: \begin{itemize} \item the boundary value problem has a solution if and only if \(P\) is a rhombus, so that \(L=w/\sin \alpha\); \item if \(L=w/\sin \alpha\), then the problem has a unique solution \(u_{\alpha , w}\) up to an additive constant satisfying the additional condition that \((\cos (\alpha /2), \sin (\alpha /2), 0)\) is tangent to the graph at the origin; \item by repeated Schwartz reflection, \(u_{\alpha , w}\) gives a doubly periodic minimal surface \(\mathcal{S}_{\alpha , w}\), and as \(\alpha \rightarrow 0\) or \(\pi\), the surface \(\mathcal{S}_{\alpha , w}\) converges smoothly to the planes \(y=nw\) (\(n\in\mathbf{Z}\)) or the helicoid given by \(z=x\cot (\pi y/w)\). \end{itemize} Motivated by Theorem 2.2, the authors study the boundary value problem on \(P=P(\alpha , w, L)\) such that a solution \(u\) gives a graphical translator on \(P\) satisfying the boundary condition given in the previous paragraph. The main theorem (Theorem 2.3) asserts the following: \begin{itemize} \item for \(\alpha \in (0, \pi )\) and \(w\in (0, \infty )\), there exists a unique \(L=L(\alpha , w)\) in \((0, \infty ]\) for which the boundary value problem has a solution; \item \(L(\alpha , w)<\infty\) if and only if \(w<\pi\); \item if \(L=L(\alpha , w)\), then the problem has a unique solution \(u_{\alpha , w}\) up to an additive constant satisfying the additional condition; \item by repeated Schwartz reflection, \(u_{\alpha , w}\) gives a doubly or singly periodic surface \(\mathcal{S}_{\alpha , w}\), which is called a Scherk translator or a Scherkenoid according to \(w<\pi\) or \(w\geq \pi\); \item as \(\alpha \rightarrow 0\), \(\mathcal{S}_{\alpha , w}\) converges smoothly to the planes \(y=nw\) (\(n\in \mathbf{Z}\)); \item as \(\alpha \rightarrow \pi\), a limit surface \(M\) of \(\mathcal{S}_{\alpha , w}\) can be considered, and according to \(w<\pi\) or \(w>\pi\), \(M\) is a helicoid-like translator or a pitchfork of width \(w\), and if \(w=\pi\), then at least one connected component of \(M\) is a pitchfork of width \(\pi\) and the other connected components are grim reaper surfaces if they exist. \end{itemize}