Paper 4, Section II, H

Differential Geometry
Part II, 2019

(a) Let γ:(a,b)R2\gamma:(a, b) \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{2} be a regular curve without self-intersection given by γ(v)=(f(v),g(v))\gamma(v)=(f(v), g(v)) with f(v)>0f(v)>0 for v(a,b)v \in(a, b) and let SS be the surface of revolution defined globally by the parametrisation

ϕ:(0,2π)×(a,b)R3\phi:(0,2 \pi) \times(a, b) \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{3}

where ϕ(u,v)=(f(v)cosu,f(v)sinu,g(v))\phi(u, v)=(f(v) \cos u, f(v) \sin u, g(v)), i.e. S=ϕ((0,2π)×(a,b))S=\phi((0,2 \pi) \times(a, b)). Compute its mean curvature HH and its Gaussian curvature KK.

(b) Define what it means for a regular surface SR3S \subset \mathbb{R}^{3} to be minimal. Give an example of a minimal surface which is not locally isometric to a cone, cylinder or plane. Justify your answer.

(c) Let SS be a regular surface such that K1K \equiv 1. Is it necessarily the case that given any pSp \in S, there exists an open neighbourhood US\mathcal{U} \subset S of pp such that U\mathcal{U} lies on some sphere in R3\mathbb{R}^{3} ? Justify your answer.