Index bounds for free boundary minimal surfaces of convex bodies

Abstract

In this paper, we give a relationship between the eigenvalues of the Hodge Laplacian and the eigenvalues of the Jacobi operator for a free boundary minimal hypersurface of a Euclidean convex body. We then use this relationship to obtain new index bounds for such minimal hypersurfaces in terms of their topology. In particular, we show that the index of a free boundary minimal surface in a convex domain in $\mathbb{R}^3$ tends to infinity as its genus or the number of boundary components tends to infinity.