Minimal surfaces with self-intersections along straight lines. I. Derivation and properties

A special kind of three-periodic minimal surface has been studied, namely surfaces that are generated from disc-like-spanned skew polygons and that intersect themselves exclusively along straight lines. A new procedure for their derivation is introduced in this paper. Several properties of each such surface may be deduced from its generating polygon: the full symmetry group of the surface, its orientability, the symmetry group of the oriented surface, the pattern of self-intersections, the branch points of the surface, the symmetry and periodicity of the spatial subunits demarcated by the surface, and the Euler characteristics both of the surface and of the spatial subunits. The corresponding procedures are described and illustrated by examples.