Numerical finiteness results for minimal surfaces in M"3(c)

Based on generalizations of Shiffman's variational principle, we present a new method for the construction of minimal surfaces on so-called Schwarzian chains in curved spaceforms M"3(c). The main emphasis of our approach is on the computation of all minimal surfaces, in particular unstable ones, spanning a given boundary configuration. For many boundary configurations we derived numerical finiteness results. We used graphics of Shiffman's function to illustrate bifurcation phenomena and the Morse index of minimal surfaces. Moreover, we present some convergence results of the numerical method. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RR 7760(1996,5) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman