2.II.24H

Differential Geometry
Part II, 2007

(i) What is a minimal surface? Explain why minimal surfaces always have non-positive Gaussian curvature.

(ii) A smooth map f:S1S2f: S_{1} \rightarrow S_{2} between two surfaces in 3-space is said to be conformal if

dfp(v1),dfp(v2)=λ(p)v1,v2\left\langle d f_{p}\left(v_{1}\right), d f_{p}\left(v_{2}\right)\right\rangle=\lambda(p)\left\langle v_{1}, v_{2}\right\rangle

for all pS1p \in S_{1} and all v1,v2TpS1v_{1}, v_{2} \in T_{p} S_{1}, where λ(p)0\lambda(p) \neq 0 is a number which depends only on pp.

Let SS be a surface without umbilical points. Prove that SS is a minimal surface if and only if the Gauss map N:SS2N: S \rightarrow S^{2} is conformal.

(iii) Show that isothermal coordinates exist around a non-planar point in a minimal surface.