Speaker: William Minicozzi (MIT)

Title: An introduction to minimal surfaces and the half space theorem

Abstract:

The classical Plateau problem asks for the surface with the least possible area for a fixed given boundary curve.  This is a higher dimensional generalization of a geodesic curve that minimizes the distance between its endpoints.  The solutions to the Plateau problem are area-minimizers. We also study more general critical points for area and we call any of these a minimal surface.  I will give a brief introduction to the subject and survey a few fundamental results, including monotonicity, the Bernstein theorem, and the half space theorem.

Reception following the talk in room 2-290.