Overdetermined equations and support functions on the hyperbolic and de Sitter planes

Abstract

We study overdetermined equations on the hyperbolic and de Sitter planes by means of the support-function representation of zero mean curvature surfaces in Lorentz--Minkowski three-space. On the hyperbolic plane, solutions of $\Delta u-2u=0$ give rise to branched spacelike maximal surfaces. We prove that, on a bounded simply connected domain, nontrivial constant Dirichlet and Neumann data force the domain to be a geodesic disk, provided that the associated support quadric is nonlightlike; moreover, the solution is a multiple of the hyperbolic cosine of the distance from the center. On the de Sitter plane, the corresponding equation is the Klein--Gordon equation $\Box u+2u=0$, and its solutions generate timelike minimal surfaces wherever the support tensor is nondegenerate. We identify the support quadric and the constant-angle condition determined by constant Cauchy data, prove that local rigidity fails along every analytic noncharacteristic curve, and recover rotational symmetry from constant data on a global Cauchy circle. Thus the same support-function formalism reveals a sharp transition from elliptic rigidity to hyperbolic flexibility when the signature changes.