$Universität des Saarlandes$

Fachrichtung
Mathematik

Minimal surfaces and the calculus of variations

The latest news.
1. First meeting with some preliminary discussion: Tuesday, October 16th, 12.15, SR5, E2 4.

Lecture.
1. On Tuesdays, 12-14, SR5, E2 4
2. Credit Points: 4,5
3. Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Michael Bildhauer, Building E2 4, Room 102, Phone: 302-2384.

Contents.
The study and understanding of minimal surfaces, for instance soap films, relies on a series of different techniques from pure and applied mathematics. In particular we have to discuss the following fields:
1. Partial differential equations
2. Calculus of variations (as one main block)
3. Differential geometry
4. Complex analysis
With this tools we finally discuss the famous Plateau Problem

The lecture will be self-contained, i.e. no particular knowledge on the above mentioned fields is required. Nevertheless, the students are expected to be familiar with the calculus of several variables (in particular Analysis 2) and with linear algebra.