The Cauchy problem for the Liouville equation and Bryant surfaces

We give a construction that connects the Cauchy problem for the 2-dimensional elliptic Liouville equation with a certain initial value problem for mean curvature one surfaces in hyperbolic 3-space H³, and solve both of them. We construct the unique mean curvature one surface in H³ that passes through a given curve with a given unit normal along it, and provide diverse applications. In particular, topics such as period problems, symmetries, finite total curvature, planar geodesics, rigidity, etc. are treated for these surfaces.