Mixed type surfaces with bounded Gaussian curvature in three-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds

Abstract

A mixed type surface is a connected regular surface in a Lorentzian 3-manifold with non-empty spacelike and timelike point sets. The induced metric of a mixed type surface is a signature-changing metric, and their lightlike points may be regarded as singular points of such metrics. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of Gaussian curvature at a non-degenerate lightlike point of a mixed type surface. To characterize the boundedness of Gaussian curvature at a non-degenerate lightlike points, we introduce several fundamental invariants along non-degenerate lightlike points, such as the lightlike singular curvature and the lightlike normal curvature. Moreover, using the results by Pelletier and Steller, we obtain the Gauss–Bonnet type formula for mixed type surfaces with bounded Gaussian curvature.