A quasiconformal Hopf soap bubble theorem

Nonlinear elliptic equations (35J60) Minimal surfaces in differential geometry, surfaces with prescribed mean curvature (53A10) Differential geometry of immersions (minimal, prescribed curvature, tight, etc.) (53C42)

Abstract: We show that any compact surface of genus zero in Euclidean 3-space that satisfies a quasiconformal inequality between its principal curvatures is a round sphere. This solves an old open problem by H. Hopf, and gives a spherical version of Simon's quasiconformal Bernstein theorem. The result generalizes, among others, Hopf's theorem for constant mean curvature spheres, the classification of round spheres as the only compact elliptic Weingarten surfaces of genus zero, and the uniqueness theorem for ovaloids by Han, Nadirashvili and Yuan. The proof relies on the Bers-Nirenberg representation of solutions to linear elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients.

Review text

Heinz Hopf proved that a CMC sphere immersed in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) is a round sphere. This result has been generalized in many directions, for example [the first two authors, J. Differ. Geom. 116, No. 3, 459--480 (2020 Zbl 1468.53050)] proved that an elliptic Weingarten surface is a round sphere. Also, a sphere verifying \(H=f(H^2-K)\) (where \(f\) is a smooth function, \(H\) is the mean curvature and \(K\) is the Gaussian curvature) is a round sphere, see [\textit{R. Bryant}, ``Complex analysis and a class of Weingarten surfaces, Preprint, \url{arXiv:1105.5589}]. The present paper shows that a sphere verifying a \textit{quasiconformal} inequality \[ (H-c)^2\leq \mu(H^2-K) \] where \(\mu,c\) are constants, \(\mu<1\), is a round sphere. The authors also consider a immersed sphere \(\Sigma\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) of principal curvatures \(\kappa_1\geq\kappa_2\) and an ovaloid \(S_0\) of principal curvatures \(\kappa_1^0\geq\kappa_2^0\). They show that if the two surfaces are quasiconformal, i.e., for some \(\Lambda\leq -1\) \[(\kappa_1-\kappa_1^0)^2+(\kappa_2-\kappa_2^0)^2\leq 2\Lambda (\kappa_1-\kappa_1^0)(\kappa_2-\kappa_2^0)\] then \(\Sigma\) is a translation of \(S_0\). This generalizes a result of \textit{Q. Ha} et al. [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 56, No. 4, 425--432 (2003 Zbl 1236.35025)]. To quote the abstract, ``the proof relies on the Bers-Nirenberg representation of solutions to linear elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients.

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