English

New complex analytic methods in the study of non-orientable minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$

Differential Geometry 2020-04-09 v2 Complex Variables

Abstract

The aim of this work is to adapt the complex analytic methods originating in modern Oka theory to the study of non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in Rn\mathbb{R}^n for any n3n\ge 3. These methods, which we develop essentially from the first principles, enable us to prove that the space of conformal minimal immersions of a given bordered non-orientable surface to Rn\mathbb{R}^n is a real analytic Banach manifold, obtain approximation results of Runge-Mergelyan type for conformal minimal immersions from non-orientable surfaces, and show general position theorems for non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in Rn\mathbb{R}^n. We also give the first known example of a properly embedded non-orientable minimal surface in R4\mathbb{R}^4; a Mobius strip. All our new tools mentioned above apply to non-orientable minimal surfaces endowed with a fixed choice of a conformal structure. This enables us to obtain significant new applications to the global theory of non-orientable minimal surfaces. In particular, we construct proper non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in Rn\mathbb{R}^n with any given conformal structure, complete non-orientable minimal surfaces in Rn\mathbb{R}^n with arbitrary conformal type whose generalized Gauss map is nondegenerate and omits nn hyperplanes of CPn1\mathbb{CP}^{n-1} in general position, complete non-orientable minimal surfaces bounded by Jordan curves, and complete proper non-orientable minimal surfaces normalized by bordered surfaces in pp-convex domains of Rn\mathbb{R}^n.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1603.01691,
  title  = {New complex analytic methods in the study of non-orientable minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$},
  author = {Antonio Alarcon and Franc Forstneric and Francisco J. Lopez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.01691},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

To appear in Memoirs of the AMS

R2 v1 2026-06-22T13:04:22.872Z