Hopf differentials and curvature line flows on time-like CMC surfaces

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between the Hopf differentials and the curvature line flows on time-like constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces in Lorentzian 3-space forms. In particular, when the Hopf differential is non-degenerate, the index of a curvature line flow at an umbilic point depends precisely on the remainder of its order modulo four.