Curvature inequalities and rigidity for constant mean curvature and spacetime constant mean curvature surfaces

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Diaz, Alejandro Peñuela
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908894267179008
author Diaz, Alejandro Peñuela
author_facet Diaz, Alejandro Peñuela
contents We establish curvature inequalities and rigidity results for surfaces satisfying constant mean curvature type conditions in both Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry. In the Riemannian setting we study constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in three-dimensional manifolds with scalar curvature bounds. Building on the Christodoulou-Yau inequality $H^2\leq 16π/ |Σ|$ (with $H$ the mean curvature and $|Σ|$ the area), we show that the associated rigidity phenomena persist under a weaker notion of stability controlling only the constant mode of the second variation, combined with an extrinsic curvature sign condition. This yields Euclidean rigidity without imposing intrinsic symmetry or near-roundness assumptions and extends to higher dimensions and to the hyperbolic and spherical settings. In the Lorentzian setting we consider spacetime constant mean curvature (STCMC) surfaces, a natural generalization of CMC surfaces. We introduce a stability theory for STCMC surfaces and prove the sharp inequality $|\vec{H}|^2\leq 16π/ |Σ|$ under the dominant energy condition. We also obtain rigidity for the equality case: under suitable geometric assumptions the surface is intrinsically round and the spacetime region it bounds is flat, with maximal globally hyperbolic development isometric to a causal diamond in Minkowski spacetime. Finally, we show that the canonical asymptotic STCMC foliations known in both the spacelike and null settings have leaves that are stable with respect to this notion of stability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16707
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Curvature inequalities and rigidity for constant mean curvature and spacetime constant mean curvature surfaces
Diaz, Alejandro Peñuela
Differential Geometry
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
53C42
We establish curvature inequalities and rigidity results for surfaces satisfying constant mean curvature type conditions in both Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry. In the Riemannian setting we study constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in three-dimensional manifolds with scalar curvature bounds. Building on the Christodoulou-Yau inequality $H^2\leq 16π/ |Σ|$ (with $H$ the mean curvature and $|Σ|$ the area), we show that the associated rigidity phenomena persist under a weaker notion of stability controlling only the constant mode of the second variation, combined with an extrinsic curvature sign condition. This yields Euclidean rigidity without imposing intrinsic symmetry or near-roundness assumptions and extends to higher dimensions and to the hyperbolic and spherical settings. In the Lorentzian setting we consider spacetime constant mean curvature (STCMC) surfaces, a natural generalization of CMC surfaces. We introduce a stability theory for STCMC surfaces and prove the sharp inequality $|\vec{H}|^2\leq 16π/ |Σ|$ under the dominant energy condition. We also obtain rigidity for the equality case: under suitable geometric assumptions the surface is intrinsically round and the spacetime region it bounds is flat, with maximal globally hyperbolic development isometric to a causal diamond in Minkowski spacetime. Finally, we show that the canonical asymptotic STCMC foliations known in both the spacelike and null settings have leaves that are stable with respect to this notion of stability.
title Curvature inequalities and rigidity for constant mean curvature and spacetime constant mean curvature surfaces
topic Differential Geometry
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
53C42
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16707