Geometric Analysis and Topology Seminar

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Enumerative problems for minimal surfaces with prescribed genus

Speaker: Adrian Chun-Pong Chu, Cornell University

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 512

Date: Friday, April 3, 2026, 11 a.m.

Synopsis:

We will present the enumerative min-max theory, which relates the number of genus g minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds to topological properties of the set of all embedded surfaces of genus ≤g. As a consequence, we can show that in every 3-sphere of positive Ricci curvature, there exist ≥5 minimal tori (confirming a conjecture by B. White (1989) in the Ricci-positive case), ≥4 minimal surfaces of genus 2, and ≥1 minimal surface of genus g for all g. This is based on a joint work with Yangyang Li and Zhihan Wang.