Henri Anciaux

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Université Libre de Bruxelles

We address the study of some curvature equations for distinguished submanifolds in para-K\"ahler geometry. We first observe that a para-complex submanifold of a para-K\"ahler manifold is minimal. Next we describe the extrinsic geometry of Lagrangian submanifolds in the para-complex Euclidean space D^n and discuss a number of examples, such as graph...

It is well known that the space of oriented lines of Euclidean space has a natural symplectic structure. Moreover, given an immersed, oriented hypersurface S the set of oriented lines that cross S orthogonally is a Lagrangian submanifold. Conversely, if \bar{S} an n-dimensional family of oriented lines is Lagrangian, there exists, locally, a 1-para...

The study of real hypersurfaces in pseudo-Riemannian complex space forms and para-complex space forms, which are the pseudo-Riemannian generalizations of the complex space forms, is addressed. It is proved that there are no umbilic hypersurfaces, nor real hypersurfaces with parallel shape operator in such spaces. Denoting by $J$ be the complex or p...

We give a local characterization of codimension two submanifolds which are marginally trapped in Robertson-Walker spaces, in terms of an algebraic equation to be satisfied by the height function. We prove the existence of a large number of local solutions. We refine the description in the case of curves with null acceleration in three-dimensional s...

We describe natural Kahler or para-Kahler structures of the spaces of geodesics of pseudo-Riemannian space forms and relate the local geometry of hypersurfaces of space forms to that of their normal congruences, or Gauss maps, which are Lagrangian submanifolds. The space of geodesics L-+/-(S-p,1(n+1)) of a pseudo-Riemannian space form S-p,1(n+1) of...

We give explicit representation formulas for marginally trapped submanifolds of co-dimension two in pseudo-Riemannian spaces with arbitrary signature and constant sectional curvature. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Franki Dillen, 1963-2013.

We study surfaces with one constant principal curvature in Riemannian and Lorentzian three-dimensional space forms. Away from umbilic points they are characterized as one-parameter foliations by curves of constant curvature, each of these curves being centered at a point of a regular curve and contained in its normal plane. In some cases, a kind of...

It is a classical fact that the cotangent bundle $T^* \M$ of a differentiable manifold $\M$ enjoys a canonical symplectic form $\Omega^*$. If $(\M,\j,g,\omega)$ is a pseudo-K\"ahler or para-K\"ahler $2n$-dimensional manifold, we prove that the tangent bundle $T\M$ also enjoys a natural pseudo-K\"ahler or para-K\"ahler structure $(\J,\G,\Omega)$, wh...

We give local, explicit representation formulas for n-dimensional spacelike submanifolds which are marginally trapped in the Minkowski space, the de Sitter and anti de Sitter spaces and the Lorentzian products of the sphere and the hyperbolic space by the real line.

Let L be a Lagrangian submanifold of a pseudo- or para-K\"ahler manifold which is H-minimal, i.e. a critical point of the volume functional restricted to Hamiltonian variations. We derive the second variation of the volume of L with respect to Hamiltonian variations. We apply this formula to several cases. In particular we observe that a minimal La...

We describe natural K\"ahler or para-K\"ahler structures of the spaces of geodesics of pseudo-Riemannian space forms and relate the local geometry of hypersurfaces of space forms to that of their normal congruences, or Gauss maps, which are Lagrangian submanifolds. The space of geodesics L(S^{n+1}_{p,1}) of a pseudo-Riemannian space form S^{n+1}_{p...

Consider the complex linear space C^n endowed with the canonical pseudo-Hermitian form of signature (2p,2(n-p)). This yields both a pseudo-Riemannian and a symplectic structure on C^n. We prove that those submanifolds which are both Lagrangian and minimal with respect to these structures minimize the volume in their Lagrangian homology class. We al...

Since the foundational work of Lagrange on the differential equation to be satisfied by a minimal surface of the Euclidean space, the theory of minimal submanifolds have undergone considerable developments, involving techniques from related areas, such as the analysis of partial differential equations and complex analysis. On the other hand, the re...

We study those Lagrangian surfaces in complex Euclidean space which are foliated by circles or by straight lines. The former, which we call cyclic, come in three types, each one being described by means of, respectively, a planar curve, a Legendrian curve in the 3-sphere or a Legendrian curve in the anti-de Sitter 3-space. We describe ruled Lagrang...

We describe several families of Lagrangian submanifolds in the complex Euclidean space which are H-minimal, i.e. critical points of the volume functional restricted to Hamiltonian variations. We make use of various constructions involving planar, spherical and hyperbolic curves, as well as Legendrian submanifolds of the odd-dimensional unit sphere....

The width of a closed convex subset of Euclidean space is the distance between two parallel supporting planes. The Blaschke-Lebesgue problem consists of minimizing the volume in the class of convex sets of fixed constant width and is still open in dimension n > 2. In this paper we describe a necessary condition that the minimizer of the Blaschke-Le...

We prove that the only self-similar surfaces of Euclidean 3-space which are foliated by circles are the self-similar surfaces of revolution discovered by S. Angenent and that the only ruled, self-similar surfaces are the cylinders over planar self-similar curves.

We prove that among all constant width bodies of revolution, the minimum of the ratio of the volume to the cubed width is attained by the constant width body obtained by rotation of the Reuleaux triangle about an axis of symmetry.

In this paper we are interested in defining affine structures on discrete quadrangular surfaces of the affine three-space. We introduce, in a constructive way, two classes of such surfaces, called respectively indefinite and definite surfaces. The underlying meshes for indefinite surfaces are asymptotic nets satisfying a non-degeneracy condition, w...

Given an oriented Riemannian surface $(\Sigma, g)$, its tangent bundle $T\Sigma$ enjoys a natural pseudo-Kaehler structure, that is the combination of a complex strucutre $J$, a pseudo-metric $G$ with neutral signature and a symplectic structure $\Omega$. We give a local classification of those surfaces of $T\Sigma$ which are both Lagrangian with r...

Inspired by the Weierstrass representation of smooth affine minimal surfaces with indefinite metric, we propose a constructive process producing a large class of discrete surfaces that we call discrete affine minimal surfaces. We show that they are critical points of an affine area functional defined on the space of quadrangular discrete surfaces....

Inspired by the Weierstrass representation of smooth affine minimal surfaces with indefinite metric, we propose a constructive process producing a large class of discrete surfaces that we call discrete affine minimal surfaces. We show that they are critical points of an affine area functional defined on the space of quadrangular discrete surfaces....

We study those Lagrangian surfaces in complex Euclidean space which are foliated by circles or by straight lines. The former, which we call cyclic, come in three types, each one being described by means of, respectively, a planar curve, a Legendrian curve of the 3-sphere or a Legendrian curve of the anti de Sitter 3-space. We also describe ruled La...

We study Lagrangian submanifolds foliated by (n − 1)–spheres in ℝ2n for n ≥ 3. We give a general parametrization for such submanifolds, and refine that description when the submanifold is special Lagrangian, self–similar, Hamiltonian stationary or has mean curvature vector of constant length. In all these cases, the submanifold is centered, i.e. in...

We give new examples of self-shrinking and self-expanding Lagrangian solutions to the Mean Curvature Flow (MCF). These are Lagrangian submanifolds in \mathbbCn\mathbb{C}^n, which are foliated by (n−1)-spheres (or more generally by minimal (n−1)-Legendrian submanifolds of \mathbbS2n-1\mathbb{S}^{2n-1}), and for which the study of the self-similar...

We give a characterization of those Legendrian submanifolds of S2n+1 which are foliated by (n - 1)-dimensional spheres. We show that the only minimal submanifolds in this class are the totally geodesic n-spheres and a one-parameter family of SO(n)-equivariant submanifolds which are described in terms of some spherical curves. We deduce the existenc...

We study Lagrangian submanifolds foliated by (n-1)-spheres in R^2n for n>2. We give a parametrization valid for such submanifolds, and refine that description when the submanifold is special Lagrangian, self-similar or Hamiltonian stationary. In all these cases, the submanifold is centered, i.e. invariant under the action of SO(n). It suffices then...

We construct a family of Lagrangian submanifolds in the complex sphere with a SO(n)-invariance property. Among them we find those which are special Lagrangian with respect with the Calabi-Yau structure defined by the Stenzel metric.

We make a large use of a Weierstrass representation formula to describe a variety of Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian surfaces. Among the examples we give are the already known tori and cones, but also simply periodic cylinders, singularities of non-conical type and branch points of any order.

We study some minimization problems for Hamiltonian stationaryLagrangian surfaces in R4. We show that the flat Lagrangian torusS 1 S 1 minimizes the Willmore functional among Hamiltonianstationary tori of its isotopy class, which gives a new proof of thefact that it is area minimizing in the same class. Considering theLagrangian flat cylinder as a...

We compute loops integrals on Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian tori in which are symplectic invariants, then we show an isoperimetric inequality involving these invariants and the area. Finally, we show that the flat torus has least area among Hamiltonian stationary Lagrangian tori of its isotopy class.