On the Gauss map assignment for minimal surfaces and the Osserman curvature estimate

TL;DR

This paper proves that the Gauss map assignment for full conformal minimal immersions is an open and quotient map, and shows that the set of Gauss maps satisfying Osserman's curvature estimate is meagre.

Contribution

It establishes the openness and quotient property of the Gauss map assignment and analyzes the genericity of maps satisfying Osserman's curvature estimate.

Findings

The Gauss map assignment is an open map.

The Gauss map assignment is a quotient map.

Maps satisfying Osserman's curvature estimate form a meagre set.

Abstract

The Gauss map of a conformal minimal immersion of an open Riemann surface $M$ into $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n\ge 3$, is a holomorphic map $M\to{\bf Q}^{n-2}\subset \mathbb{CP}^{n-1}$. Denote by ${\rm CMI}_{\rm full}(M,\mathbb{R}^n)$ and $\mathscr{O}_{\rm full}(M,{\bf Q}^{n-2})$ the spaces of full conformal minimal immersions $M\to\mathbb{R}^n$ and full holomorphic maps $M\to{\bf Q}^{n-2}$, respectively, endowed with the compact-open topology. In this paper we show that the Gauss map assignment $\mathscr{G}:{\rm CMI}_{\rm full}(M,\mathbb{R}^n)\to \mathscr{O}_{\rm full}(M,{\bf Q}^{n-2})$, taking a full conformal minimal immersion to its Gauss map, is an open map. This implies, in view of a result of Forstneric and the authors, that $\mathscr{G}$ is a quotient map. The same results hold for the map $(\mathscr{G},Flux):{\rm CMI}_{\rm full}(M,\mathbb{R}^n)\to \mathscr{O}_{\rm full}(M,{\bf Q}^{n-2})\times H^1(M,\mathbb{R}^n)$, where $Flux:{\rm CMI}_{\rm full}(M,\mathbb{R}^n)\to H^1(M,\mathbb{R}^n)$ is the flux assignment. As application, we establish that the set of maps $G\in \mathscr{O}_{\rm full}(M,{\bf Q}^{n-2})$ such that the family $\mathscr{G}^{-1}(G)$ of all minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with the Gauss map $G$ satisfies the classical Osserman curvature estimate, is meagre in the space of holomorphic maps $M\to {\bf Q}^{n-2}$.