Properly embedded, area-minimizing surfaces in hyperbolic $3$-space

Abstract

We prove prove a bridge principle at infinity for area-minimizing surfaces in the hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^3$, and we use it to prove that any open, connected, orientable surface can be properly embedded in $\mathbb{H}^3$ as an area-minimizing surface. Moreover, the embedding can be constructed in such a way that the limit sets of different ends are disjoint.

25 pages, 3 figures. This revised version will appear in Journal of Differential Geometry