Regularity of Minimal Surfaces PDF Download

Author: Ulrich Dierkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642117007
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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Book Description
Regularity of Minimal Surfaces begins with a survey of minimal surfaces with free boundaries. Following this, the basic results concerning the boundary behaviour of minimal surfaces and H-surfaces with fixed or free boundaries are studied. In particular, the asymptotic expansions at interior and boundary branch points are derived, leading to general Gauss-Bonnet formulas. Furthermore, gradient estimates and asymptotic expansions for minimal surfaces with only piecewise smooth boundaries are obtained. One of the main features of free boundary value problems for minimal surfaces is that, for principal reasons, it is impossible to derive a priori estimates. Therefore regularity proofs for non-minimizers have to be based on indirect reasoning using monotonicity formulas. This is followed by a long chapter discussing geometric properties of minimal and H-surfaces such as enclosure theorems and isoperimetric inequalities, leading to the discussion of obstacle problems and of Plateau ́s problem for H-surfaces in a Riemannian manifold. A natural generalization of the isoperimetric problem is the so-called thread problem, dealing with minimal surfaces whose boundary consists of a fixed arc of given length. Existence and regularity of solutions are discussed. The final chapter on branch points presents a new approach to the theorem that area minimizing solutions of Plateau ́s problem have no interior branch points.

Author: Ulrich Dierkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662027917
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
Minimal surfaces I is an introduction to the field of minimal surfaces and apresentation of the classical theory as well as of parts of the modern development centered around boundary value problems. Part II deals with the boundary behaviour of minimal surfaces. Part I is particularly apt for students who want to enter this interesting area of analysis and differential geometry which during the last 25 years of mathematical research has been very active and productive. Surveys of various subareas will lead the student to the current frontiers of knowledge and can alsobe useful to the researcher. The lecturer can easily base courses of one or two semesters on differential geometry on Vol. 1, as many topics are worked out in great detail. Numerous computer-generated illustrations of old and new minimal surfaces are included to support intuition and imagination. Part 2 leads the reader up to the regularity theory fornonlinear elliptic boundary value problems illustrated by a particular and fascinating topic. There is no comparably comprehensive treatment of the problem of boundary regularity of minimal surfaces available in book form. This long-awaited book is a timely and welcome addition to the mathematical literature.

Author: Ulrich Dierkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642116981
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 699

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Book Description
Minimal Surfaces is the first volume of a three volume treatise on minimal surfaces (Grundlehren Nr. 339-341). Each volume can be read and studied independently of the others. The central theme is boundary value problems for minimal surfaces. The treatise is a substantially revised and extended version of the monograph Minimal Surfaces I, II (Grundlehren Nr. 295 & 296). The first volume begins with an exposition of basic ideas of the theory of surfaces in three-dimensional Euclidean space, followed by an introduction of minimal surfaces as stationary points of area, or equivalently, as surfaces of zero mean curvature. The final definition of a minimal surface is that of a nonconstant harmonic mapping X: \Omega\to\R^3 which is conformally parametrized on \Omega\subset\R^2 and may have branch points. Thereafter the classical theory of minimal surfaces is surveyed, comprising many examples, a treatment of Björling ́s initial value problem, reflection principles, a formula of the second variation of area, the theorems of Bernstein, Heinz, Osserman, and Fujimoto. The second part of this volume begins with a survey of Plateau ́s problem and of some of its modifications. One of the main features is a new, completely elementary proof of the fact that area A and Dirichlet integral D have the same infimum in the class C(G) of admissible surfaces spanning a prescribed contour G. This leads to a new, simplified solution of the simultaneous problem of minimizing A and D in C(G), as well as to new proofs of the mapping theorems of Riemann and Korn-Lichtenstein, and to a new solution of the simultaneous Douglas problem for A and D where G consists of several closed components. Then basic facts of stable minimal surfaces are derived; this is done in the context of stable H-surfaces (i.e. of stable surfaces of prescribed mean curvature H), especially of cmc-surfaces (H = const), and leads to curvature estimates for stable, immersed cmc-surfaces and to Nitsche ́s uniqueness theorem and Tomi ́s finiteness result. In addition, a theory of unstable solutions of Plateau ́s problems is developed which is based on Courant ́s mountain pass lemma. Furthermore, Dirichlet ́s problem for nonparametric H-surfaces is solved, using the solution of Plateau ́s problem for H-surfaces and the pertinent estimates.

Author: Ulrich Dierkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642117066
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description
Many properties of minimal surfaces are of a global nature, and this is already true for the results treated in the first two volumes of the treatise. Part I of the present book can be viewed as an extension of these results. For instance, the first two chapters deal with existence, regularity and uniqueness theorems for minimal surfaces with partially free boundaries. Here one of the main features is the possibility of "edge-crawling" along free parts of the boundary. The third chapter deals with a priori estimates for minimal surfaces in higher dimensions and for minimizers of singular integrals related to the area functional. In particular, far reaching Bernstein theorems are derived. The second part of the book contains what one might justly call a "global theory of minimal surfaces" as envisioned by Smale. First, the Douglas problem is treated anew by using Teichmüller theory. Secondly, various index theorems for minimal theorems are derived, and their consequences for the space of solutions to Plateau ́s problem are discussed. Finally, a topological approach to minimal surfaces via Fredholm vector fields in the spirit of Smale is presented.

Author: Man Chun Li
Publisher: Stanford University
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
In this thesis, we describe a min-max construction of embedded minimal surfaces satisfying the free boundary condition in any compact 3-manifolds with boundary. We also prove the instability of minimal surfaces of certain conformal type in 4- manifolds with positive isotropic curvature. Given a compact 3-manifold M with boundary [d̳]M, consider the problem of find- ing an embedded minimal surface [Sigma] which meets [d̳]M orthogonally along [d̳][Sigma]. These surfaces are critical points to the area functional with respect to variations preserving [delta]M. We will use a min-max construction to construct such a free boundary solution and prove the regularity of such solution up to the free boundary. An interesting point is that no convexity assumption on [d̳]M is required. We also discuss some geometric properties, genus bounds for example, for these free boundary solutions. Just as positive sectional curvature tends to make geodesics unstable, positive isotropic curvature tends to make minimal surfaces unstable. In the second part of this thesis, we prove a similar instability result in dimension 4. Given a compact 4- manifold M with positive isotropic curvature, we show that any complete immersed minimal surface [Sigma] in M which is uniformly conformally equivalent to the complex plane is unstable. The same conclusion holds in higher dimensions as well if we assume that the manifold has uniformly positive complex sectional curvature. The proof uses the H ̈ormander's weighted L^2 method and the stability inequality to derive a contradiction.

Author: Ulrich Dierkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662087766
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Minimal Surfaces I is an introduction to the field of minimal surfaces and a presentation of the classical theory as well as of parts of the modern development centered around boundary value problems. Part II deals with the boundary behaviour of minimal surfaces. Part I is particularly apt for students who want to enter this interesting area of analysis and differential geometry which during the last 25 years of mathematical research has been very active and productive. Surveys of various subareas will lead the student to the current frontiers of knowledge and can also be useful to the researcher. The lecturer can easily base courses of one or two semesters on differential geometry on Vol. 1, as many topics are worked out in great detail. Numerous computer-generated illustrations of old and new minimal surfaces are included to support intuition and imagination. Part 2 leads the reader up to the regularity theory for nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems illustrated by a particular and fascinating topic. There is no comparably comprehensive treatment of the problem of boundary regularity of minimal surfaces available in book form. This long-awaited book is a timely and welcome addition to the mathematical literature.

Author: Tobias Holck Colding
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
ISBN: 1470476401
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Minimal surfaces date back to Euler and Lagrange and the beginning of the calculus of variations. Many of the techniques developed have played key roles in geometry and partial differential equations. Examples include monotonicity and tangent cone analysis originating in the regularity theory for minimal surfaces, estimates for nonlinear equations based on the maximum principle arising in Bernstein's classical work, and even Lebesgue's definition of the integral that he developed in his thesis on the Plateau problem for minimal surfaces. This book starts with the classical theory of minimal surfaces and ends up with current research topics. Of the various ways of approaching minimal surfaces (from complex analysis, PDE, or geometric measure theory), the authors have chosen to focus on the PDE aspects of the theory. The book also contains some of the applications of minimal surfaces to other fields including low dimensional topology, general relativity, and materials science. The only prerequisites needed for this book are a basic knowledge of Riemannian geometry and some familiarity with the maximum principle.

Author: James Eells
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814502928
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Harmonic maps between Riemannian manifolds are solutions of systems of nonlinear partial differential equations which appear in different contexts of differential geometry. They include holomorphic maps, minimal surfaces, σ-models in physics. Recently, they have become powerful tools in the study of global properties of Riemannian and Kählerian manifolds.A standard reference for this subject is a pair of Reports, published in 1978 and 1988 by James Eells and Luc Lemaire.This book presents these two reports in a single volume with a brief supplement reporting on some recent developments in the theory. It is both an introduction to the subject and a unique source of references, providing an organized exposition of results spread throughout more than 800 papers.

Author: Stefan Hildebrandt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540460241
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
This volume contains 18 invited papers by members and guests of the former Sonderforschungsbereich in Bonn (SFB 72) who, over the years, collaborated on the research group "Solution of PDE's and Calculus of Variations". The emphasis is on existence and regularity results, on special equations of mathematical physics and on scattering theory.

Author: Robert Osserman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662034840
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Few people outside of mathematics are aware of the varieties of mathemat ical experience - the degree to which different mathematical subjects have different and distinctive flavors, often attractive to some mathematicians and repellant to others. The particular flavor of the subject of minimal surfaces seems to lie in a combination of the concreteness of the objects being studied, their origin and relation to the physical world, and the way they lie at the intersection of so many different parts of mathematics. In the past fifteen years a new component has been added: the availability of computer graphics to provide illustrations that are both mathematically instructive and esthetically pleas ing. During the course of the twentieth century, two major thrusts have played a seminal role in the evolution of minimal surface theory. The first is the work on the Plateau Problem, whose initial phase culminated in the solution for which Jesse Douglas was awarded one of the first two Fields Medals in 1936. (The other Fields Medal that year went to Lars V. Ahlfors for his contributions to complex analysis, including his important new insights in Nevanlinna Theory.) The second was the innovative approach to partial differential equations by Serge Bernstein, which led to the celebrated Bernstein's Theorem, stating that the only solution to the minimal surface equation over the whole plane is the trivial solution: a linear function.