In differential geometry, the Neovius surface is a triply periodic minimal surface originally discovered by Finnish mathematician Edvard Rudolf Neovius (the uncle of Rolf Nevanlinna).
The surface has genus 9, dividing space into two infinite non-equivalent labyrinths. Like many other triply periodic minimal surfaces it has been studied in relation to the microstructure of block copolymers, surfactant-water mixtures, and crystallography of soft materials.
It can be approximated with the level set surface
3 ( cos x + cos y + cos z ) + 4 cos x cos y cos z = 0 {\displaystyle 3(\cos x+\cos y+\cos z)+4\cos x\cos y\cos z=0}In Schoen's categorisation it is called the C(P) surface, since it is the "complement" of the Schwarz P surface. It can be extended with further handles, converging towards the expanded regular octahedron (in Schoen's categorisation)
References
E. R. Neovius, "Bestimmung zweier spezieller periodischer Minimalflächen", Akad. Abhandlungen, Helsingfors, 1883. http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?PPN591417707 http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?PPN591417707 ↩
Eric A. Lord, and Alan L. Mackay, Periodic minimal surfaces of cubic symmetry, Current science, vol. 85, no. 3, 10 August 2003 ↩
S. T. Hyde, Interfacial architecture in surfactant-water mixtures: Beyond spheres, cylinders and planes. Pure and Applied Chemistry, vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 1617–1622, 1992 ↩
AL Mackay, Flexicrystallography: curved surfaces in chemical structures, Current Science, 69:2 25 July 1995 ↩
Meinhard Wohlgemuth, Nataliya Yufa, James Hoffman, and Edwin L. Thomas. Triply Periodic Bicontinuous Cubic Microdomain Morphologies by Symmetries. Macromolecules, 2001, 34 (17), pp 6083–6089 ↩
Alan H. Schoen, Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS), http://schoengeometry.com/e-tpms.html http://schoengeometry.com/e-tpms.html ↩
Ken Brakke, C-P Family of Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces, http://www.susqu.edu/brakke/evolver/examples/periodic/cpfamily.html http://www.susqu.edu/brakke/evolver/examples/periodic/cpfamily.html ↩