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I want to derive closed-form parametric expressions describing the Schwarz H minimal surface starting from the Weierstrass–Enneper parametrisation, much like Gandy et al. did for the Schwarz D surface and its associates (Schwarz P and gyroid). I have the W–E parametrisation from Sven Lidin (1988), Ring-like minimal surfaces, Journal of Physics 49, 421–427: $$x=\operatorname{Re}\int_w^1(1-t^2)R(t)\,dt$$ $$y=\operatorname{Re}\int_w^1i(1+t^2)R(t)\,dt$$ $$z=\operatorname{Re}\int_w^12tR(t)\,dt$$ $$R(t)=\left(\left(t^4+\frac{2(7s^2-4)}{(s+2)^2}t^2+\left(\frac{s-2}{s+2}\right)^2\right)\left(t^2+\frac{s+1}{s-1}\right)(t^2-1)\right)^{-1/2}$$ $s$ is a free parameter in $(0,1)$ determining the unit cell height and the domain of integration is $\operatorname{Re}w\ge0,\operatorname{Im}w\ge0,\left|w+\frac1{\sqrt3}i\right|\le\frac2{\sqrt3}$. (The equations presented in the paper are not quite correct, but the presented derivation is sound, so I re-did the derivation. The paper also uses $E\in(0,1)$ as the free parameter where $s^2+E^2=1$; my formulation conveniently avoids square roots in the coefficients.)

Schwarz H minimal surface

While I can certainly numerically integrate each coordinate, it's quite slow. The problem I'm encountering here is that the integrals do not appear easily reducible to simpler, faster forms. Of course we can substitute $u=t^2$ to get $$x=\frac12\operatorname{Re}\int_{w^2}^1\frac{1-u}{\sqrt uS(u)}\,du\tag{*}$$ $$y=\frac12\operatorname{Re}\int_{w^2}^1i\frac{1+u}{\sqrt uS(u)}\,du\tag{*}$$ $$z=\operatorname{Re}\int_{w^2}^1\frac1{S(u)}\,du$$ $$S(u)=\sqrt{\left(u^2+\frac{2(7s^2-4)}{(s+2)^2}u+\left(\frac{s-2}{s+2}\right)^2\right)\left(u+\frac{s+1}{s-1}\right)(u-1)}$$ and the new $z$ integral is obviously elliptic*, but the $x$ and $y$ integrals are hyperelliptic and I don't see how to proceed from here. When it came to the Schwarz D/G/P family, where $R(t)=(t^8-14t^4+1)^{-1/2}$ and $S(u)=\sqrt{u^4-14u^2+1}$, Gandy et al. reduced the hyperelliptic integrals to elliptic ones by the transformation $q=u+\frac1u$, but that requires the quartic under the root in $S(u)$ to be palindromic, which is not the case for the Schwarz H surface.

Can the hyperelliptic $x$ and $y$ integrals after the $u=t^2$ substitution (the ones marked with $*$) be solved in any way not involving straight numerical integration, whether by elliptic integrals, hypergeometric functions or otherwise? What transformations must be made to accomplish this? If this is not possible, can I transform it into something like Carlson's symmetric form for faster numerical integration?


*$z$ integral using elliptic integrals, Mathematica/mpmath convention: $$z=gF(\varphi,m)$$ $$m=\frac12\left(1+\sqrt{\frac3{4-s^2}}\right)$$ $$g=\frac1{\sqrt{AB}},A=\frac{4s}{s+2},B=\frac{2s}{1-s}\sqrt{\frac{3(2-s)}{s+2}}$$ $$\varphi=\cos^{-1}\frac{J-K}{J+K},J=2(1+s-w^2+sw^2),K=(1-w^2)\sqrt{3(4-s^2)}$$


The title was inspired by this other question of mine.

Parcly Taxel
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  • Do yo believe that humans can do better than Mathematica ? –  Oct 14 '20 at 15:34
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    @YvesDaoust What about Jack D'Aurizio? He found formulas that Mathematica couldn't. I don't have Mathematica - I worked out the $z$ integral by hand using Byrd & Friedman. – Parcly Taxel Oct 14 '20 at 15:35
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    Mathematica is running on top of Jack, during his idle time. –  Oct 14 '20 at 15:36
  • @YvesDaoust The human will always beat the machine in actually finding the right transformation. At least until Zeilberger-like systems and mathlib really mature. – Parcly Taxel Oct 14 '20 at 15:49
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    This title was inspired by $\ldots$ --- Cruel is also something self-imposed when I decided (without knowing anything about elliptic integrals or substitutions related to them) to spend nearly two weeks carefully researching and then writing a 2-part (due to character limitations) answer to How to integrate $ \int \frac{x}{\sqrt{x^4+10x^2-96x-71}}dx$? about two and a half years ago. – Dave L. Renfro Oct 16 '20 at 19:49
  • @DaveL.Renfro The actual inspiration for the two titles (this one, and the one on Bézier curves) is Dijkstra's On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science. – Parcly Taxel Oct 16 '20 at 19:59
  • The concern Dijkstra raised is also something I (mostly privately) complain about, in which the (unfortunately, the only realistic and reasonable) desire to deploy various software programs and such before fully understanding and removing bugs and incompatibility with other systems they're intended to interact with, although I'm not sure if I've read anything specific to Dijkstra about it. (I have almost no background or knowledge of computer science, other than basic internet, LaTeX, and "office applications" use.) Incidentally, I did everything by hand in that elliptic integral reduction. – Dave L. Renfro Oct 17 '20 at 09:14

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