Hyperbolic polyhedral surfaces with regular faces

We study hyperbolic polyhedral surfaces with faces isometric to regular hyperbolic polygons satisfying that the total angles at vertices are at least 2π. The combinatorial information of these surfaces is shown to be identified with that of Euclidean polyhedral surfaces with negative combinatorial curvature everywhere. We prove that there is a gap between areas of non-smooth hyperbolic polyhedral surfaces and the area of smooth hyperbolic surfaces. The numerical result for the gap is obtained for hyperbolic polyhedral surfaces, homeomorphic to the double torus, whose 1-skeletons are cubic graphs.     

On the convergence of metric and geometric properties of polyhedral surfaces

We provide conditions for convergence of polyhedral surfaces and their discrete geometric properties to smooth surfaces embedded in Euclidean 3-space. Under the assumption of convergence of surfaces in Hausdorff distance, we show that convergence of the following properties are equivalent: surface normals, surface area, metric tensors, and Laplace–Beltrami operators. Additionally, we derive convergence of minimizing geodesics, mean curvature vectors, and solutions to the Dirichlet problem. This work was supported by the DFG Research Center Matheon “Mathematics for key technologies” in Berlin.     

Total absolute curvature of polyhedral manifolds with boundary in E n

N. H. Kuiper has generalized the notion of total absolute curvature for compact polyhedra in euclidean space by considering the critical points of all height functions (cf. [12]). On the other hand in the case of compact smooth manifolds with boundary in E ⁿ there is a certain relation between the total absolute curvatures of the total space, the interior and the boundary (cf. [9]). In this note we show an analogous relation in the case of compact polyhedral manifolds with boundary leading to theorems of the Chern/Lashof type (cf. [3], [7]).     

Continuous deformations of polyhedra that do not alter the dihedral angles

We prove that, both in the hyperbolic and spherical 3-spaces, there exist nonconvex compact boundary-free polyhedral surfaces without selfintersections which admit nontrivial continuous deformations preserving all dihedral angles and study properties of such polyhedral surfaces. In particular, we prove that the volume of the domain, bounded by such a polyhedral surface, is necessarily constant during such a deformation while, for some families of polyhedral surfaces, the surface area, the total mean curvature, and the Gauss curvature of some vertices are nonconstant during deformations that preserve the dihedral angles. Moreover, we prove that, in the both spaces, there exist tilings that possess nontrivial deformations preserving the dihedral angles of every tile in the course of deformation.     

On Discrete Constant Mean Curvature Surfaces

Recently, a curvature theory for polyhedral surfaces has been established that associates with each face a mean curvature value computed from areas and mixed areas of that face and its corresponding Gaussian image face. Therefore, a study of constant mean curvature (cmc) surfaces requires studying pairs of polygons with some constant nonvanishing value of the discrete mean curvature for all faces. We focus on meshes where all faces are planar quadrilaterals or planar hexagons. We show an incidence geometric characterization of a pair of parallel quadrilaterals having a discrete mean curvature value of ?1. This characterization yields an integrability condition for a mesh being a Gaussian image mesh of a discrete cmc surface. Thus, we can use these geometric results for the construction of discrete cmc surfaces. In the special case where all faces have a circumcircle, we establish a discrete Weierstrass-type representation for discrete cmc surfaces.     

Tight surfaces in three-dimensional compact Euclidean space forms

In this paper we define and discuss tight surfaces -- smooth or polyhedral -- in three-dimensional compact Euclidean space forms and prove existence and non-existence results. It will be shown that all orientable and most of the non-orientable surfaces can be tightly immersed in any of these space forms.

     

Mean curvature flow singularities for mean convex surfaces

We study the evolution by mean curvature of a smooth n–dimensional surface , compact and with positive mean curvature. We first prove an estimate on the negative part of the scalar curvature of the surface. Then we apply this result to study the formation of singularities by rescaling techniques, showing that there exists a sequence of rescaled flows converging to a smooth limit flow of surfaces with nonnegative scalar curvature. This gives a classification of the possible singular behaviour for mean convex surfaces in the case . Received July 11,1997 / Accepted November 14, 1997     

Sufficient conditions for constant mean curvature surfaces to be round

We study under what condition a constant mean curvature surface can be round: i) If the boundary of a compact immersed disk type constant mean curvature surface in consists of lines of curvature and has less than 4 vertices with angle , then the surface is spherical; ii) A compact immersed disk type capillary surface with less than 4 vertices in a domain of bounded by spheres or planes is spherical; iii) The mean curvature vector of a compact embedded capillary hypersurface of with smooth boundary in an unbounded polyhedral domain with unbalanced boundary should point inward; iv) If the kth order () mean curvature of a compact immersed constant mean curvature hypersurface of without boundary is constant, then the hypersurface is a sphere. Received: 3 October 2000 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

Closed geodesics on piecewise smooth constant curvature surfaces of revolution

The paper develops a study of closed geodesics on piecewise smooth constant curvature surfaces of revolution initiated by I.V. Sypchenko and D. S. Timonina. The case of constant negative curvature is considered. Closed geodesics on a surface formed by a union of two Beltrami surfaces are studied. All closed geodesics without self-intersections are found and tested for stability in a certain finite-dimensional class of perturbations. Conjugate points are found partly.     

Absolute curvature measures,II

The absolute curvature measures for sets of positive reach in R ^d introduced in [7] satisfy the following kinematic relations: Their integrated values on the intersections with (or on the tangential projections onto) uniformly moved p-planes are constant multiples of the corresponding absolute curvature measures of the primary set. In the special case of convex bodies the first result is the so-called Crofton formula. An analogue for signed curvature measures is well known in the differential geometry of smooth manifolds, but the motion of absolute curvatures used there does not lead to this property. For the special case of smooth compact hypermanifolds our absolute curvature measures agree with those introduced by Santaló [4] with other methods.In the appendix, the section formula is applied to motion invariant random sets.     

Surfaces in a pseudo-Euclidean space

A survey of results on regular and nonregular surfaces in a three-dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space. The method of approximating a convex surface by polyhedra and the intrinsic construction of polyhedra of negative curvature are considered in detail. A theorem on the existence in a pseudo-Euclidean space of a convex polyhedron with given polyhedral metric of negative curvature with a finite number of vertices is proved.Translated from Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki, Seriya Problemy Geometrii, Vol. 11, pp. 177–202, 1980.     

On Helicoidal Surfaces in a Conformally Flat 3-Space

In this paper, we discuss the problem of finding explicit parametrizations for the helicoidal surfaces in a conformally flat 3-space \(\mathbb {E}^3_F\) with prescribed extrinsic curvature or mean curvature given by smooth functions. Also, we give examples for helicoidal surfaces with some extrinsic curvature and mean curvature functions in \(\mathbb {E}^3_F\).     

Oriented Mixed Area and Discrete Minimal Surfaces

Recently a curvature theory for polyhedral surfaces has been established, which associates with each face a mean curvature value computed from areas and mixed areas of that face and its corresponding Gauss image face. Therefore a study of minimal surfaces requires studying pairs of polygons with vanishing mixed area. We show that the mixed area of two edgewise parallel polygons equals the mixed area of a derived polygon pair which has only the half number of vertices. Thus we are able to recursively characterize vanishing mixed area for hexagons and other n-gons in an incidence-geometric way. We use these geometric results for the construction of discrete minimal surfaces and a study of equilibrium forces in their edges, especially those with the combinatorics of a hexagonal mesh.     

Curvature integrals under the Ricci flow on surfaces

In this paper, we consider the behavior of the total absolute and the total curvature under the Ricci flow on complete surfaces with bounded curvature. It is shown that they are monotone non-increasing and constant in time, respectively, if they exist and are finite at the initial time. As a related result, we prove that the asymptotic volume ratio is constant under the Ricci flow with non-negative Ricci curvature, at the end of the paper.      

Boundaries of Flat Compact Surfaces in 3-Space

This paper deals with the problem `which knots or links in3-space bound flat (immersed) compact surfaces?' In aforthcoming paper by the author, it is proven that any simple closedspace curve can be deformed until it bounds a flat orientable compact(Seifert) surface. The main results of this paper are that there existknots that do not bound any flat compact surfaces. The lower bound oftotal curvature of a knot bounding an orientable nonnegatively curvedcompact surface can, for varying knot types, be arbitrarily much greaterthan the infimum of curvature needed for the knot to have its knot type.The number of 3-singular points (points of zero curvatureor if not then of zero torsion) on the boundary of a flat immersedcompact surface is greater than or equal to twice the absolute value ofthe Euler characteristic of the surface. A set of necessary and, in aweakened sense, sufficient conditions for a knot or link to be what wecall a generic boundary of a flat immersed compact surface withoutplanar regions is given.     

Hyperbolic mean curvature flow

In this paper we introduce the hyperbolic mean curvature flow and prove that the corresponding system of partial differential equations is strictly hyperbolic, and based on this, we show that this flow admits a unique short-time smooth solution and possesses the nonlinear stability defined on the Euclidean space with dimension larger than 4. We derive nonlinear wave equations satisfied by some geometric quantities related to the hyperbolic mean curvature flow. Moreover, we also discuss the relation between the equations for hyperbolic mean curvature flow and the equations for extremal surfaces in the Minkowski space-time.     

An application of the curve shortening flow on surfaces

As an application of the curve shortening flow, this paper will show an inequality for the maximum curvature of a smooth simple closed curve on surfaces.     

Discrete maximal surfaces with singularities in Minkowski space

We describe discrete maximal surfaces with singularities in 3-dimensional Minkowski space and give a Weierstrass type representation for them. In the smooth case, maximal surfaces (spacelike surfaces with mean curvature identically 0) in Minkowski 3-space generally have certain singularities. We give a criterion that naturally describes the “singular set” for discrete maximal surfaces, including a classification of the various types of singularities that are possible in the discrete case.     

Hyperbolic ends with particles and grafting on singular surfaces

We prove that any 3-dimensional hyperbolic end with particles (cone singularities along infinite curves of angles less than π) admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. Using a form of duality between hyperbolic ends with particles and convex globally hyperbolic maximal (GHM) de Sitter spacetime with particles, it follows that any 3-dimensional convex GHM de Sitter spacetime with particles also admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. We prove that the grafting map from the product of Teichmüller space with the space of measured laminations to the space of complex projective structures is a homeomorphism for surfaces with cone singularities of angles less than π, as well as an analogue when grafting is replaced by “smooth grafting”.     

Evolution of nonparametric surfaces with speed depending on curvature II. The mean curvature case

We consider an evolution which starts as a flow of smooth surfaces in nonparametric form propagating in space with normal speed equal to the mean curvature of the current surface. The boundaries of the surfaces are assumed to remain fixed. G. Huisken has shown that if the boundary of the domain over which this flow is considered satisfies the “mean curvature” condition of H. Jenkins and J. Serrin (that is, the boundary of the domain is convex “in the mean”) then the corresponding initial boundary value problem with Dirichlet boundary data and smooth initial data admits a smooth solution for all time. In this paper we consider the case of arbitrary domains with smooth boundaries not necessarily satisfying the condition of Jenkins-Serrin. In this case, even if the flow starts with smooth initial data and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary data, singularities may develop in finite time at the boundary of the domain and the solution will not satisfy the boundary condition. We prove, however, existence of solutions that are smooth inside the domain for all time and become smooth up to the boundary after elapsing of a sufficiently long period of time. From that moment on such solutions assume the boundary values in the classical sense. We also give sufficient conditions that guarantee the existence of classical solutions for all time t ≧ 0. In addition, we establish estimates of the rate at which solutions tend to zero as t → ∞.