Wick rotations of solutions to the minimal surface equation, the zero mean curvature equation and the Born-Infeld equation

Abstract

In this paper we investigate relations between solutions to the minimal surface equation in Euclidean $3$-space $\mathbb{E}^3$, the zero mean curvature equation in Lorentz-Minkowski $3$-space $\mathbb{L}^3$ and the Born-Infeld equation under Wick rotations. We prove that the existence conditions of real solutions and imaginary solutions after Wick rotations are written by symmetries of solutions, and reveal how real and imaginary solutions are transformed under Wick rotations. We also give a transformation theory for zero mean curvature surfaces containing lightlike lines with some symmetries. As an application, we give new correspondences among some solutions to the above equations by using the non-commutativity between Wick rotations and isometries in the ambient space.