Properly embedded minimal planar domains

DOI10.4007/ANNALS.2015.181.2.2MaRDI QIDQ2255290zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Joaquín Pérez, Antonio Ros, William H. III Meeks

Publication date 9 February 2015

Published in Annals of Mathematics. Second Series (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.1690

zbMATH Keywords

curvature estimatesfinite total curvatureindex of stabilityJacobi functionKdV hierarchyKorteweg-de Vries equationlimit tangent plane at infinityminimal surfaceShiffman functionstability

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Minimal surfaces in differential geometry, surfaces with prescribed mean curvature (53A10) Special Riemannian manifolds (Einstein, Sasakian, etc.) (53C25)

Abstract: In 1997, Collin proved that any properly embedded minimal surface in $mathbb{R}^3$ with finite topology and more than one end has finite total Gaussian curvature. Hence, by an earlier result of Lopez and Ros, catenoids are the only non-planar, non-simply connected, properly embedded, minimal planar domains in $mathbb{R}^3$ of finite topology. In 2005, Meeks and Rosenberg proved that the only simply connected, properly embedded minimal surfaces in $mathbb{R}^3$ are planes and helicoids. Around 1860, Riemann defined a one-parameter family of periodic, infinite topology, properly embedded, minimal planar domains $mathcal{R}_t$ in $mathbb{R}^3$, $tin(0,infty)$. These surfaces are called the Riemann minimal examples, and the family ${mathcal{R}_t}_t$ has natural limits being a vertical catenoid as $to0$, and a vertical helicoid as $toinfty$. In this paper we complete the classification of properly embedded, minimal planar domains in $mathbb{R}^3$ by proving that the only connected examples with infinite topology are the Riemann minimal examples. We also prove that the limit ends of Riemann minimal examples are model surfaces for the limit ends of properly embedded minimal surfaces $Msubsetmathbb{R}^3$ of finite genus and infinite topology, in the sense that such an $M$ has two limit ends, each of which has a representative which is naturally asymptotic to a limit end representative of a Riemann minimal example with the same associated flux vector.

Review text

It follows from the minimal surface equation that the plane, the catenoid and the helicoid are examples of properly embedded, minimal planar domains in \({\mathbb R}^3\). And it is well known that those surfaces are of finite topology. A planar domain is a connected surface that embeds in the plane. Around 1860, Riemann discovered examples of properly embedded, minimal planar domains in \({\mathbb R}^3\) with infinite topology. These examples, called the Riemann minimal examples by the authors, appear in a one-parameter family \({\mathcal R}_t, t \in (0, \infty)\), and satisfy the property that, after a rotation, each \({\mathcal R}_t\) intersects every horizontal plane in a circle or in a line. Moreover the \({\mathcal R}_t\) have natural limits being a vertical catenoid as \(t \to 0\) and a vertical helicoid as \(t \to \infty\). In this paper, the authors analyze the Riemann minimal examples and prove that the only connected properly embedded, minimal planar domains in \({\mathbb R}^3\) with infinite topology are the Riemann minimal examples. From this result together with previously well-known facts, the authors complete the classification of properly embedded, minimal planar domains in \({\mathbb R}^3\). Namely, they show that, up to scaling and rigid motion, any connected, properly embedded, minimal planar domain in \({\mathbb R}^3\) is a plane, a helicoid, a catenoid or one of the Riemann minimal examples. In particular, for every such surface, there exists a foliation of \({\mathbb R}^3\) by parallel planes, each of which intersects the surface transversely in a connected curve that is a circle or a line.

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