Linear Weingarten Surfaces in ℝ3

 In this paper we study properties of linear Weingarten immersions and graphs related to non-existence problems and behaviour of its curvatures. The main results are obtained giving a harmonic representation of linear Weingarten surfaces and by proving optimal estimates of the height and curvatures that the immersion must satisfy, characterizing the spherical caps as the only ones achieving these bounds. Received January 25, 2001; in revised form April 4, 2002