Classification of branched Willmore spheres in codimension 1

Given a branched Willmore immersion from a closed Riemann surface into <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="double-struck upper R cubed"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="double-struck">R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\mathbb {R}^3</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> , we show that Bryant’s quartic is holomorphic. Consequently, this quartic vanishes when the underlying surface is a sphere and we obtain that all branched Willmore spheres are conformal transformation of branched minimal surfaces in <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="double-struck upper R cubed"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="double-struck">R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\mathbb {R}^3</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> . To do so, we show that the asymptotic expansion in the <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper C squared"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>C</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">C^2</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> -topology of the conformal Gauss map at a branched point is a null straight line.