J. Geom.

c 2012 Springer Basel AG

DOI 10.1007/s00022-012-0107-5
Journal of Geometry
On the vectorspace of the M-congruences
Nikolaus K. Stephanidis
Dedicated to Walter Benz on the occasion of his 80th birthday
Abstract. Let M be a minimal surface of the three dimensional Euclidean
space. The set V of the rectilinear congruences, each of whom has M as
middle envelope, is an innite dimensional real vectorspace. We introduce
an inner product in V . The length of S M is a Dirichlet integral.
Mathematics Subject Classication. 53A25.
Keywords. Rectilinear congruences, minimal surfaces.
1. Introduction
Let S be an oriented rectilinear congruence (short: congruence) of the three
dimensional Euclidean space E
3
. Let

OP = P(u, ) be the middle surface of
S. We may take P(u, ) as a surface of reference of the congruence S. We
will make the following assumptions: (a) e
3
(u, ) is a unit vector giving the
direction of the lines of S. (b) { e
1
(u, ), e
2
(u, ), e
3
(u, )} is an orthonormal
frame of S:
e
i
, e
j
=
ij
, ( e
1
, e
2
, e
3
) = 1.
(c) The function P(u, ) is dened on a simply connected domain D in the
(u, )-plane and of the differentiability class C
3
. (d) The spherical representa-
tion of S is one-to-one. (e) There is a one-to-one mapping between the points
of the middle surface

OP = P(u, ) and the points of the middle envelope M
of S. We can put
dP =
3

i=1

i
e
i
, (1.1)
d e
j
=
3

i=1

ji
e
i
j = 1, 2, 3, (1.2)
N. K. Stephanidis J. Geom.
where
i
,
ji
, i, j = 1, 2, 3 are linear differential forms (Pfafan forms). We
have the relations

ij
+
ji
= 0 i, j = 1, 2, 3

31

32
= 0 (u, ) D.
For the spherical image e
3
= e
3
(u, ) of the congruence S yields
d e
3
=
31
e
1
+
32
e
2
.
The product
31

32
is the element of area of the unit sphere. We put
d
31
= q(u, )
31

32
,
d
32
= q(u, )
32

31
.
Then we have

12
= q
31
q
32
.
The integrability conditions of the system (1.1), (1.2) are
d
_
3

i=1

i
e
i
_
= 0,
d

j=1

ji
e
i

= 0 j = 1, 2, 3.
By assumption the surface of reference is the middle surface

OP = P(u, ).
Therefore we have

31

2
+
1

32
= 0 (u, ) D.
There are three functions l(u, ), m(u, ), n(u, ) such that

1
= m
31
n
32
,

2
= l
31
+m
32
.
The fundamental quadratic forms of the congruence S are
I = d e
3
2
=
31
2
+
32
2
,
II = l
31
2
+ 2m
31

32
+n
32
2
.
The curvature and the mean curvature h of S are
=

1

2

31

32
,
h =

1

31
+
2

32
2(
31

32
)

For more details we refer the reader to [1].
On the vectorspace of the M-congruences
2. The middle envelope
Let

OM = M(u, ), (u, ) D be a surface of the differentiability class C
3
and { e
1
(u, ), e
2
(u, ), e
3
(u, )} an orthonormal moving frame of M, where e
3
is the unit normal vector to the surface M. We shall nd a congruence S such
that M will be the middle envelope of S. It is sufcient to nd the middle
surface

OP = P(u, ) of S, because the lines of S must be parallel to the
normals of M. The surface P is of the form

OP =

OM +a(u, ) e
1
+b(u, ) e
2
,
where the functions a(u, ) and b(u, ) are unknown. It can be shown that the
only condition for a and b is
d(b
31
a
32
) = (r
1
+r
2
)
31

32
, (2.1)
where r
1
, r
2
are the principal radii of curvature of the surface M (see [1],
p. 433). To every solution {a(u, ), b(u, )} of the differential equation (2.1)
corresponds a congruence whose middle envelope is the given surface

OM =
M(u, ).
3. M-congruences
A congruence S is called M-congruence if the middle envelope of S is a minimal
surface. In this case we have
d(b
31
a
32
) = 0 (3.1)
and therefore there is a function (u, ) such that
b
31
a
32
= d. (3.2)
Let
1
,
2
denote the Pfafan derivatives corresponding to
32
= 0,
31
= 0
respectively. Then we have
d = (
1
)
31
+ (
2
)
32
. (3.3)
Combining (3.2) with (3.3) we obtain
a =
2
, b =
1
. (3.4)
If (u, ) C
3
is an arbitrary function then the surface

OP =

OM (
2
) e
1
+ (
1
) e
2
(3.5)
is the middle surface of a M-congruence S. The middle envelope of S is the
given minimal surface

OM = M(u, ).
The mean curvature h of the M-congruence is
h =
1
2

I
2
(u, ), (3.6)
where
I
2
denotes the second Beltrami-operator:

I
2
=
1

1
+
2

2
q
1
q
2
. (3.7)
N. K. Stephanidis J. Geom.
A congruence is a normal congruence if and only if h = 0 (u, ) D. The
M-congruence S is a normal congruence if and only if

I
2
(u, ) = 0. (3.8)
A special solution of (3.8) is (u, ) = c = const. In this case we have

OP =

OM and the corresponding M-congruence is the normal congruence of the

minimal surface M.
4. The vectorspace of the M-congruences
Let

OM = M(u, ) be a minimal surface. We consider the set V of the
M-congruences whose middle envelope is the given surface M. If (u, ) C
3
is an arbitrary function, then to the triple
{M(u, );
2
(u, ),
1
(u, )}
corresponds a congruence S

V . Analogously, if (u, ) C
3
then to the
triple
{M(u, );
2
(u, ),
1
(u, )}
corresponds a congruence S

V . We consider the congruence S

+
. It is
easily seen that S
+
V . We call S
+
the sum of S

and S

:
S
+
= S

+S

.
Furthermore, if R and S

V , then the congruence S

belongs to V . We
call S

the product of and S

. It is easy to check that V is an innite dimen-

sional real vectorspace. The zero element of V is the normal congruence of the
minimal surface. The set of the normal M-congruences is a subspace of V .
5. Inner product
Let S

, S

, V . The corresponding middle surfaces

OP

,

OP

of S

, S

are

OP

=

OM
2
e
1
+
1
e
2
,

OP

=

OM
2
e
1
+
1
e
2
and therefore we have

MP

,

MP

=
1

1
+
2

2
= (, ),
where (, ) is the Beltrami operator
(, ) =
_
d d e
3

31

32
,
d d e
3

31

32
_

It is easy to check that

S

, S

:=
__
D

MP

,

MP

31

32
(5.1)
On the vectorspace of the M-congruences
is a positive definite inner product. We call S

, S

the inner product of the

M-congruences S

and S

.
S

, S

= 0 yields if and only if

1
=
2
= 0 = const.
and therefore S

is the normal congruence of the minimal surface M and also

the zero element of V .
We dene now the length or norm of S

V :
|S

| :=
_
S

, S

. (5.2)
|S

|
2
is the Dirichlet integral
|S

|
2
=
__
D
_
(
1
)
2
+ (
2
)
2
_

31

32
. (5.3)
If the metric of the unit sphere has the form
(d e
3
)
2
= e(u, )du
2
+g(u, )d
2
, e > 0, g > 0
we put

31
=

e du,
32
=

g d.
Then we have the formulas

1
=
1

u
,
2
=
1

,
S

, S

=
__
D
1

eg
(g
u

u
+e

) du d, (5.4)
|S

|
2
=
__
D
1

eg
(g
2
u
+e
2

) du d. (5.5)
We suppose now that the lines of curvature of the given minimal surface M
are the parametric curves u =const, =const. The spherical image of the lines
of curvature is an isometric net. Therefore we have e(u, ) = g(u, ) and
S

, S

=
__
D
(
u

u
+

) du d, (5.6)
|S

|
2
=
__
D
(
2
u
+
2

) du d. (5.7)
The mean curvature h

of S

is
h =
1
2e
(
uu
+

). (5.8)
N. K. Stephanidis J. Geom.
Let (u, ) + i(u, ) be an arbitrary regular function of the complex vari-
able u +i. We consider the M-congruences S

and S

. We use the Cauchy-

Riemann equations

u
=

=
u
(5.9)
And we nd
S

, S

= 0, |S

| = |S

|, h

= h

= 0.
We have thus proved the proposition:
To every regular complex function (u, ) + i(u, ) correspond two normal
M-congruences S

and S

with the properties: (a) The inner product of S

, S

is zero. (b) The lengths of S

and S

are equal.
Remark. If (u, ) is a given potential function we can, by use of (5.9), nd
the function (u, ). In this way we have two M-congruences S

and S

with
the properties (a) and (b) of the above proposition.
Example. Let (O;

i,

j,

k) be a Cartesian coordinate system:

i
2
=

j
2
=

k
2
= 1, (

i,

j,

k) = 1.
We consider the minimal surface of Euneper
x = u +u
2

u
3
3
, y = u
2
+

3
3
, z = u
2

2
, u
2
+
2
< .
(5.10)
Darboux has constructed the surface (5.10) in the following way: We take two
parabolas
F
1
: x =
4u
3
, y = 0, z =
1
3
+
2u
2
3
< u <
F
2
: x = 0, y =
4
3
, z =
1
3

2
2
3
< < .
The set of the lines joining the points of F
1
and F
2
is a normal congruence S

.
The middle surface of the congruence is the hyperbolic paraboloid
z =
3
4
(x
2
y
2
)
and the middle envelope is the Euneper surface (5.10). It is easy to show that
=
2u
3

We calculate the length of S

for the domain

D : u
2
+
2
1.
By use of (5.7) we nd
|S

|
2
=
4
9
__
D
(u
2
+
2
) du d,
|S

| =

2
3

On the vectorspace of the M-congruences
References
[1] Stephanidis, N.K.: Existenzfragen f ur Strahlensysteme. Arch. Math. 14, 430440
(1963)
[2] Stephanidis, N.K.: Minimalachen und Strahlensysteme. Arch. Math. 41, 544554
(1983)
Nikolaus K. Stephanidis
Department of Mathematics
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Greece
e-mail: nstephan@math.auth.gr
Received: October 25, 2011.