A Navier boundary value problem for Willmore surfaces of revolution∗

We study a boundary value problem for Willmore surfaces of revolution, where the position and the mean curvature H = 0 are prescribed as boundary data. The latter is a natural datum when considering critical points of the Willmore functional in classes of functions where only the position at the boundary is fixed. For specific boundary positions, catenoids and a suitable part of the Clifford torus are explicit solutions. Numerical experiments, however, suggest a much richer bifurcation diagram. In the present paper we verify analytically some properties of the expected bifurcation diagram. Furthermore, we present a finite element method which allows the calculation of critical points of the Willmore functional irrespective of their stability properties.