Surfaces with light-like points in Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space with applications

Abstract

With several concrete examples of zero mean curvature surfaces in $\boldsymbol{R}^3_1$ containing a light-like line recently having been found, here we construct all real analytic germs of zero mean curvature surfaces by applying the Cauchy-Kovalevski theorem for partial differential equations. A point where the first fundamental form of a surface degenerates is said to be light-like. We also show a theorem on a property of light-like points of a surface in $\boldsymbol{R}^3_1$ whose mean curvature vector is smoothly extendable. This explains why such surfaces will contain a light-like line when they do not change causal types. Moreover, several applications of these two results are given.