Tori in $$S^3$$ S 3 Minimizing Locally the Conformal Volume

Abstract

We prove that the conformal immersions of complex two tori into $$S^3$$ which locally minimize their conformal volume in their conformal class all satisfy some elliptic PDE. We prove that they are either minimal tori, CMC flat tori, elliptic conformally constrained minimal tori or critical point of the area under some fixed conformally congruent area. On the way to establishing this result we prove that tori which are critical points of the area for perturbations within a given conformal class and which are degenerate points of the conformal class mapping—i.e., isothermic—are either minimal surfaces or flat CMC tori. These results are all proved in the general framework of weak immersions.