Connections Workshop: New Frontiers in Curvature & Special Geometric Structures and Analysis: Relating the index and the topology of (free boundary) minimal surfaces
Presenter
August 23, 2024
Keywords:
- Riemannian geometry
- curvature
- geometric flow
- special holonomy
- Minimal surface
- general relativity
- K¨ahler geometry
MSC:
- 32-XX - Several complex variables and analytic spaces
- 53-XX - Differential geometry
- 58-XX - Global analysis analysis on manifolds
- 83-XX - Relativity and gravitational theory
Abstract
In this talk, I will discuss existing results and open problems about estimating the Morse index of a (free boundary) minimal surface from below by a function of its topology.
I will mostly focus on results proving that the Morse index of a free boundary minimal surface in a three-dimensional Riemannian manifold grows linearly with the product of its area and its topology. This is joint work with Santiago Cordero-Misteli, and it is inspired by Antoine Song's result in the closed case.