An invariant theory of marginally trapped surfaces in the four-dimensional Minkowski space

Abstract

A marginally trapped surface in the four-dimensional Minkowski space is a spacelike surface whose mean curvature vector is lightlike at each point. We associate a geometrically determined moving frame field to such a surface and using the derivative formulas for this frame field we obtain seven invariant functions. Our main theorem states that these seven invariants determine the surface up to a motion in Minkowski space. We introduce meridian surfaces as one-parameter systems of meridians of a rotational hypersurface in the four-dimensional Minkowski space. We find all marginally trapped meridian surfaces.