Coplanar constant mean curvature surfaces

We consider constant mean curvature surfaces of finite topology, properly embedded in three-space in the sense of Alexandrov. Such surfaces with three ends and genus zero were constructed and completely classified by the authors in arXiv:math.DG/0102183. Here we extend the arguments to the case of an arbitrary number of ends, under the assumption that the asymptotic axes of the ends lie in a common plane: we construct and classify the entire family of these genus-zero coplanar constant mean curvature surfaces.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures; minor revisions including one new figure; to appear in Comm. Anal. Geo

Constant mean curvature surfaces with three ends

We announce the classification of complete, almost embedded surfaces of constant mean curvature, with three ends and genus zero: they are classified by triples of points on the sphere whose distances are the asymptotic necksizes of the three ends.Comment: LaTex, 4 pages, 1 postscript figur

Triunduloids: Embedded constant mean curvature surfaces with three ends and genus zero

In 1841, Delaunay constructed the embedded surfaces of revolution with constant mean curvature (CMC); these unduloids have genus zero and are now known to be the only embedded CMC surfaces with two ends and finite genus. Here, we construct the complete family of embedded CMC surfaces with three ends and genus zero; they are classified using their asymptotic necksizes. We work in a class slightly more general than embedded surfaces, namely immersed surfaces which bound an immersed three-manifold, as introduced by Alexandrov.Comment: LaTeX, 22 pages, 2 figures (8 ps files); full version of our announcement math.DG/9903101; final version (minor revisions) to appear in Crelle's J. reine angew. Mat

Coplanar k-unduloids are nondegenerate

We prove each embedded, constant mean curvature (CMC) surface in Euclidean space with genus zero and finitely many coplanar ends is nondegenerate: there is no nontrivial square-integrable solution to the Jacobi equation, the linearization of the CMC condition. This implies that the moduli space of such coplanar surfaces is a real-analytic manifold and that a neighborhood of these in the full CMC moduli space is itself a manifold. Nondegeneracy further implies (infinitesimal and local) rigidity in the sense that the asymptotes map is an analytic immersion on these spaces, and also that the coplanar classifying map is an analytic diffeomorphism.Comment: 19 pages, no figures; improvements to expositio

Polycontinuous geometries for inverse lipid phases with more than two aqueous network domains

Inverse bicontinuous cubic phases with two aqueous network domains separated by a smooth bilayer are firmly established as equilibrium phases in lipid/water systems. The purpose of this article is to highlight the generalisations of these bicontinuous geometries to polycontinuous geometries, which could be realised as lipid mesophases with three or more network-like aqueous domains separated by a branched bilayer. An analysis of structural homogeneity in terms of bilayer width variations reveals that ordered polycontinuous geometries are likely candidates for lipid mesophase structures, with similar chain packing characteristics to the inverse micellar phases (that once were believed not to exist due to high packing frustration). The average molecular shape required by global geometry to form these multi-network phases is quantified by the surfactant shape parameter, v/(al); we find that it adopts values close to those of the known lipid phases. We specifically analyse the 3etc(187 193) structure of hexagonal symmetry P63 /mcm with three aqueous domains, the 3dia(24 220) structure of cubic symmetry I 3d composed of three distorted diamond networks, the cubic chiral 4srs(24 208) with cubic symmetry P4232 and the achiral 4srs(5 133) structure of symmetry P42/nbc, each consisting of four intergrown undistorted copies of the srs net (the same net as in the QGII gyroid phase). Structural homogeneity is analysed by a medial surface approach assuming that the head-group interfaces are constant mean curvature surfaces. To facilitate future experimental identification, we provide simulated SAXS scattering patterns that, for the 4srs(24 208) and 3dia(24 220) structures, bear remarkable similarity to those of bicontinuous QGII-gyroid and QDII-diamond phases, with comparable lattice parameters and only a single peak that cannot be indexed to the well-established structures. While polycontinuous lipid phases have, to date, not been reported, the likelihood of their formation is further indicated by the reported observation of a solid tricontinuous mesoporous silicate structure, termed IBN-9, which formed in the presence of surfactants [Han et al., Nat. Chem., 2009, 1, 123]

On the moduli spaces of embedded constant mean curvature surfaces with three or four ends

We are interested in explicitly parametrizing the moduli spaces Mg,k of embedded surfaces in R3 with finite genus g and a finite number of ends k having constant mean curvature. By rescaling we may assume this constant is 1, the mean curvature of the unit sphere. Two surfaces in R3 are indentified as points in Mg,k if there is isometry of R3 carrying one surface to the other. Moreover, we shall include in Mg,k a somewhat larger class of constant mean curvature (cmc) surfaces, the Alexandrov embedded surfaces, which are immersed surfaces bounding immersions of handlebodies into R3. The structure of these moduli spaces is known: they are finite dimensional real analytic varieties [KMP], but only a few of them are understood completely: the only embedded compact cmc surface is a round sphere [A], so Mg,0 is either a point (g = 0) or empty (g> 0); Mg,1 is empty, since there are no 1-ended examples [M]; and 2-ended examples are necessarily the Delaunay unduloids [KKS], which are simply-periodic surfaces of revolution whose minimal radius or necksize ρ ∈ (0, 1] parametrizes M0,2