Assume that f is a real ρ-harmonic function of the unit disk $\mathbb{D}$ onto the interval $(-1,1)$, where $\rho(u,v)=R(u)$ is a metric defined in the infinite strip $(-1,1)\times \mathbb{R}$. Then we prove that $|\nabla f(z)|(1-|z|^2)\le \frac{4}{\pi}(1-f(z)^2)$ for all $z\in\mathbb{D}$, provided that ρ has a non-negative Gaussian curvature. This extends several results in the field and answers to a conjecture proposed by the first author in 2014. Such an inequality is not true for negatively curved metrics.

In this paper, we obtain one sharp estimate for the length $L(\partial\Sigma)$ of the boundary $\partial\Sigma$ of a capillary minimal surface Σ2 in M3, where M is a compact three-manifolds with strictly convex boundary, assuming Σ has index one. The estimate is in term of the genus of Σ, the number of connected components of $\partial\Sigma$ and the constant contact angle θ. Making an extra assumption on the geometry of M along $\partial M$, we characterize the global geometry of M, which is saturated only by the Euclidean three-balls. For capillary stable CMC surfaces, we also obtain similar results.

For each $k\geq 3$, we construct a $1$-parameter family of complete properly Alexandrov-embedded minimal surfaces in the Riemannian product space $\mathbb {H}^2\times \mathbb {R}$ with genus $1$ and k embedded ends asymptotic to vertical planes. We also obtain complete minimal surfaces with genus $1$ and $2k$ ends in the quotient of $\mathbb {H}^2\times \mathbb {R}$ by an arbitrary vertical translation. They all have dihedral symmetry with respect to k vertical planes, as well as finite total curvature $-4k\pi $. Finally, we provide examples of complete properly Alexandrov-embedded minimal surfaces with finite total curvature with genus $1$ in quotients of $\mathbb {H}^2\times \mathbb {R}$ by the action of a hyperbolic or parabolic translation.

In this work, we consider oriented compact manifolds which possess convex mean curvature boundary, positive scalar curvature and admit a map to $\mathbb {D}^{2}\times T^{n}$ with non-zero degree, where $\mathbb {D}^{2}$ is a disc and $T^{n}$ is an $n$-dimensional torus. We prove the validity of an inequality involving a mean of the area and the length of the boundary of immersed discs whose boundaries are homotopically non-trivial curves. We also prove a rigidity result for the equality case when the boundary is strongly totally geodesic. This can be viewed as a partial generalization of a result due to Lucas Ambrózio in (2015, J. Geom. Anal., 25, 1001–1017) to higher dimensions.

We study equilibrium surfaces for an energy which is a linear combination of the area and a second term which measures the bending and twisting of the boundary. Specifically, the twisting energy is given by the twisting of the Darboux frame. This energy is a modification of the Euler–Plateau functional considered by Giomi and Mahadevan (2012, Proc. R. Soc. A 468, 1851–1864), and a natural special case of the Kirchhoff–Plateau energy considered by Biria and Fried (2014, Proc. R. Soc. A 470, 20140368; 2015, Int. J. Eng. Sci. 94, 86–102).

In the ambient space of a semidirect product $\mathbb{R}^{2}\rtimes _{A}\mathbb{R}$, we consider a connected domain ${\rm\Omega}\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{2}\rtimes _{A}\{0\}$. Given a function $u:{\rm\Omega}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, its ${\it\pi}$-graph is $\text{graph}(u)=\{(x,y,u(x,y))\mid (x,y,0)\in {\rm\Omega}\}$. In this paper we study the partial differential equation that $u$ must satisfy so that $\text{graph}(u)$ has prescribed mean curvature $H$. Using techniques from quasilinear elliptic equations we prove that if a ${\it\pi}$-graph has a nonnegative mean curvature function, then it satisfies some uniform height estimates that depend on ${\rm\Omega}$ and on the supremum the function attains on the boundary of ${\rm\Omega}$. When $\text{trace}(A)>0$, we prove that the oscillation of a minimal graph, assuming the same constant value $n$ along the boundary, tends to zero when $n\rightarrow +\infty$ and goes to $+\infty$ if $n\rightarrow -\infty$. Furthermore, we use these estimates, allied with techniques from Killing graphs, to prove the existence of minimal ${\it\pi}$-graphs assuming the value zero along a piecewise smooth curve ${\it\gamma}$ with endpoints $p_{1},\,p_{2}$ and having as boundary ${\it\gamma}\cup (\{p_{1}\}\times [0,\,+\infty ))\cup (\{p_{2}\}\times [0,\,+\infty ))$.

We consider the Finsler space $\left( {{\overline{M}}^{3}},\,\overline{F} \right)$ obtained by perturbing the Euclidean metric of ${{\mathbb{R}}^{3}}$ by a rotation. It is the open region of ${{\mathbb{R}}^{3}}$ bounded by a cylinder with a Randers metric. Using the Busemann–Hausdorff volume form, we obtain the differential equation that characterizes the helicoidal minimal surfaces in ${{\overline{M}}^{3}}$. We prove that the helicoid is a minimal surface in ${{\overline{M}}^{3}}$ only if the axis of the helicoid is the axis of the cylinder. Moreover, we prove that, in the Randers space $\left( {{\overline{M}}^{3}},\,\overline{F} \right)$, the only minimal surfaces in the Bonnet family with fixed axis $O{{\overline{x}}^{3}}$ are the catenoids and the helicoids.

In this paper we prove the existence of complete minimal surfaces in some metric semidirect products. These surfaces are similar to the doubly and singly periodic Scherk minimal surfaces in ${ \mathbb{R} }^{3} $. In particular, we obtain these surfaces in the Heisenberg space with its canonical metric, and in ${\mathrm{Sol} }_{3} $ with a one-parameter family of nonisometric metrics.

We study minimal surfaces in sub-Riemannian manifolds with sub-Riemannian structures of co-rank one. These surfaces can be defined as the critical points of the so-called horizontal area functional associated with the canonical horizontal area form. We derive the intrinsic equation in the general case and then consider in greater detail 2-dimensional surfaces in contact manifolds of dimension 3. We show that in this case minimal surfaces are projections of a special class of 2-dimensional surfaces in the horizontal spherical bundle over the base manifold. The singularities of minimal surfaces turn out to be the singularities of this projection, and we give a complete local classification of them. We illustrate our results by examples in the Heisenberg group and the group of roto-translations. 


In this paper we will study solution pairs $(u,D)$ of the minimal surface equation defined over an unbounded domain $D$ in $R^2$, with $u=0$ on $\partial D$. It is well known that there are severe limitations on the geometry of $D$; for example $D$ cannot be contained in any proper wedge (angle less than $\pi$). Under the assumption of sublinear growth in a suitably strong sense, we show that if $u$ has order of growth $\alpha$ in the sense of complex variables, then the ‘asymptototic angle’ of $D$ must be at least $\pi/\alpha$. In particular, there are at most two such solution pairs defined over disjoint domains. If $\alpha<1$ then $u$ cannot change sign and there is no other disjoint solution pair. This result is sharp as can be seen by a suitable piece of Enneper’s surface which has order $\alpha=\tfrac{2}{3}$ and asymptotic angle $\tfrac{3}{2}\pi$.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 35J60; 53A10

Applications of minimal surface methods are made to obtain information about univalent harmonic mappings. In the case where the mapping arises as the Poisson integral of a step function, lower bounds for the number of zeros of the dilatation are obtained in terms of the geometry of the image.

We construct embedded periodic minimal surfaces with planar ends. We use the Weierstrass representation and solve the period problem using the implicit function theorem at a singular point.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 53A10

In this article we characterize the univalent harmonic mappings from the exterior of the unit disk, $\Delta $, onto a simply connected domain $\Omega $ containing infinity and which are solutions of the system of elliptic partial differential equations $\overline{{{f}_{{\bar{z}}}}\left( Z \right)}=a\left( z \right){{f}_{z}}\left( z \right)$ where the second dilatation function $a\left( z \right)$ is a finite Blaschke product. At the end of this article, we apply our results to nonparametric minimal surfaces having the property that the image of its Gauss map is the upper half-sphere covered once or twice.

In this paper we prove that an isometric stable minimal immersion of a complete oriented surface into a hyperkähler 4-manifold is holomorphic with respect to an orthogonal complex structure, if it satisfies a Bernstein-type assumption on the Gauss-lift. This result generalizes a theorem of Micallef for minimal surfaces in the euclidean 4-space. An example found by Atiyah and Hitchin shows that the assumption on the Gauss-lift is necessary.