Franc Forstneric - Böcker

The aim of this work is to adapt the complex analytic methods originating in modern Oka theory to the study of non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ for any $n\ge 3$. These methods, which the authors develop essentially from the first principles, enable them to prove that the space of conformal minimal immersions of a given bordered non-orientable surface to $\mathbb{R}^n$ is a real analytic Banach manifold, obtain approximation results of Runge-Mergelyan type for conformal minimal immersions from non-orientable surfaces, and show general position theorems for non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The authors also give the first known example of a properly embedded non-orientable minimal surface in $\mathbb{R}^4$; a Mobius strip.All the new tools mentioned above apply to non-orientable minimal surfaces endowed with a fixed choice of a conformal structure. This enables the authors to obtain significant new applications to the global theory of non-orientable minimal surfaces. In particular, they construct proper non-orientable conformal minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with any given conformal structure, complete non-orientable minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with arbitrary conformal type whose generalized Gauss map is nondegenerate and omits $n$ hyperplanes of $\mathbb{CP}^{n-1}$ in general position, complete non-orientable minimal surfaces bounded by Jordan curves, and complete proper non-orientable minimal surfaces normalized by bordered surfaces in $p$-convex domains of $\mathbb{R}^n$.

This monograph offers the first systematic treatment of the theory of minimal surfaces in Euclidean spaces by complex analytic methods, many of which have been developed in recent decades as part of the theory of Oka manifolds (the h-principle in complex analysis).

This monograph offers the first systematic treatment of the theory of minimal surfaces in Euclidean spaces by complex analytic methods, many of which have been developed in recent decades as part of the theory of Oka manifolds (the h-principle in complex analysis).

The theme of this book is an examination of the homotopy principle for holomorphic mappings from Stein manifolds to the newly introduced class of Oka manifolds, offering the first complete account of Oka-Grauert theory and its modern extensions.

This book, now in a carefully revised second edition, provides an up-to-date account of Oka theory, including the classical Oka-Grauert theory and the wide array of applications to the geometry of Stein manifolds.Oka theory is the field of complex analysis dealing with global problems on Stein manifolds which admit analytic solutions in the absence of topological obstructions. The exposition in the present volume focuses on the notion of an Oka manifold introduced by the author in 2009. It explores connections with elliptic complex geometry initiated by Gromov in 1989, with the Andersén-Lempert theory of holomorphic automorphisms of complex Euclidean spaces and of Stein manifolds with the density property, and with topological methods such as homotopy theory and the Seiberg-Witten theory.Researchers and graduate students interested in the homotopy principle in complex analysis will find this book particularly useful. It is currently the only work that offers a comprehensive introduction to both the Oka theory and the theory of holomorphic automorphisms of complex Euclidean spaces and of other complex manifolds with large automorphism groups.