1. Jun 6, 2008 #1

   mhill

   

   if we have or can have geodesic curves minimizing the integral [tex] \sqrt (g_{ab}\dot x_a \dot x_b ) [/tex] is there a theory of 'minimizing surfaces or Geodesic surfaces' that minimize the Area or a surface ?,

    

   mhill, Jun 6, 2008
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3. Jun 18, 2008 #2

   gel

   

   I don't know about the general theory, but in Euclidean space this is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plateau%27s_problem" [Broken].
   For space-time surfaces, in Minkowski space, it is similar to the simplest (non-quantized) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambu-Goto_action" [Broken] except I assume you would be maximizing the "area".

    

   Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2017

   gel, Jun 18, 2008
4. Jun 19, 2008 #3

   robphy

   

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   http://math.rice.edu/~polking/Math410/ [Broken] lists some examples.

    

   Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2017

   robphy, Jun 19, 2008

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