Discrete affine minimal surfaces with indefinite metric (Q960869)

The authors introduce a discrete analog of the smooth Weierstrass representation in the indefinite case. They define explicit parameterizations of quadrangular surfaces in discrete asymptotic coordinates that are called discrete affine minimal surfaces. Using these definitions, the authors define the discrete affine metric, discrete affine normal vector field and discrete affine cubic form. They implement the construction process of discrete affine minimal surfaces and describe the variational property of these surfaces. They show that the discrete affine metric and the discrete affine cubic form must satisfy compatibility equations which occur in the smooth case. The construction makes use of asymptotic coordinates and allows defining the discrete analogs of some differential geometric objects. The authors prove that the compatibility equations are necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an affine minimal surface, given metric and cubic form.