Totally umbilic surfaces in hyperbolic 3-manifolds of finite volume

Abstract

We construct for every connected surface $S$ of finite negative Euler characteristic and every $H\in [0,1)$, a hyperbolic 3-manifold $N(S,H)$ of finite volume and a proper, two-sided, totally umbilic embedding $f:S\to N(S,H)$ with mean curvature $H$. Conversely, we prove that a complete, totally umbilic surface with mean curvature $H\in [0,1)$ embedded in a hyperbolic 3-manifold of finite volume must be proper and have finite negative Euler characteristic.

16 pages, 5 figures