Abstract
We show that the singularities of spacelike maximal surfaces in Lorentz–Minkowski 3-space generically consist of cuspidal edges, swallowtails and cuspidal cross caps. The same result holds for spacelike mean curvature one surfaces in de Sitter 3-space. To prove these, we shall give a simple criterion for a given singular point on a surface to be a cuspidal cross cap.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnol’d V.I., Gusein-Zade S.M. and Varchenko A.N. (1985). Singularities of differentiable maps, vol. 1. Monographs in Mathematics 82. Birkhäuser, Basel
Bryant R. (1987). Surfaces of mean curvature one in hyperbolic space. Astérisque 154–155: 321–347
Cleave J.P. (1980). The form of the tangent developable at points of zero torsion on space curves. Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 88: 403–407
Fernández I., López F.J. and Souam R. (2005). The space of complete embedded maximal surfaces with isolated singularities in the 3-dimensional Lorentz–Minkowski space \({\mathbb{L}}^3\). Math. Ann. 332: 605–643
Fujimori S. (2006). Spacelike CMC 1 surfaces with elliptic ends in de Sitter 3-Space. Hokkaido Math. J. 35: 289–320
Fujimori, S., Rossman, W., Umehara, M., Yamada, K., Yang, S.-D.: Spacelike mean curvature one surfaces in de Sitter 3-space. Preprint, arXiv:0706.0973
Golubitsky M. and Guillemin V. (1973). Stable mappings and their singularities. Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 14. Springer, Heidelberg
Ishikawa G. and Machida Y. (2006). Singularities of improper affine spheres and surfaces of constant Gaussian curvature. Int. J. Math. 17: 269–293
Izumiya, S., Saji, K., Takahashi, M.: Horospherical flat surfaces in hyperbolic 3-space. Preprint, http://eprints.math.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/archive/00001688/
Izumiya S., Saji K. and Takeuchi N. (2007). Circular surfaces. Adv. Geometry 7: 295–313
Kobayashi O. (1984). Maximal surfaces with conelike singularities. J. Math. Soc. Jpn. 36: 609–617
Kokubu M., Rossman W., Saji K., Umehara M. and Yamada K. (2005). Singularities of flat fronts in hyperbolic 3-space. Pac. J. Math. 221: 303–351
Saji, K., Umehara, M., Yamada, K.: The geometry of fronts, to appear in Ann. Math., math.DG/0503236
Umehara M. and Yamada K. (1993). Complete surfaces of constant mean curvature 1 in the hyperbolic 3-space. Ann. Math. 137(2): 611–638
Umehara M. and Yamada K. (2006). Maximal surfaces with singularities in Minkowski space. Hokkaido Math. J. 35: 13–40
Whitney H. (1944). The singularities of a smooth n-manifold in (2n − 1)-space. Ann. Math. 45: 247–293
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Dedicated to Yusuke Sakane on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
Kentaro Saji was supported by JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists. Masaaki Umehara and Kotaro Yamada were supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 15340024(B)) and (No. 14340024(B)), respectively.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fujimori, S., Saji, K., Umehara, M. et al. Singularities of maximal surfaces. Math. Z. 259, 827–848 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00209-007-0250-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00209-007-0250-0