Deformations of constant mean curvature surfaces preserving symmetries and the Hopf differential

Abstract

We define certain deformations between minimal and non-minimal constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in Euclidean space $E^3$ which preserve the Hopf differential. We prove that, given a CMC $H$ surface $f$, either minimal or not, and a fixed basepoint $z_0$ on this surface, there is a naturally defined family $f_h$, for all real $h$, of CMC $h$ surfaces that are tangent to $f$ at $z_0$, and which have the same Hopf differential. Given the classical Weierstrass data for a minimal surface, we give an explicit formula for the generalized Weierstrass data for the non-minimal surfaces $f_h$, and vice versa. As an application, we use this to give a well-defined dressing action on the class of minimal surfaces. In addition, we show that symmetries of certain types associated with the basepoint are preserved under the deformation, and this gives a canonical choice of basepoint for surfaces with symmetries. We use this to define new examples of non-minimal CMC surfaces naturally associated to known minimal surfaces with symmetries.