Globally minimal currents and surfaces in Riemannian manifolds (Q1083728): Difference between revisions

In the present paper the author uses the concept of generalized forms defined as continuous linear functionals on the vector space of the currents with finite mass ({\S}{\S} 1 and 2) and obtains the following ''modern Euler equation'' (Theorem 3.1) and ''Huygens algorithm'' (Theorem 3.2): if a current S is absolutely (resp. homologically) minimal with respect to a functional J and the differential \(J_ S\) is convex and bounded above in a neighbourhood of some point then there exists a quasi- exact (resp. closed) generalized form \(\omega\), such that \(J_ S(T)- \omega (T)\geq 0\) for any current T; if for a functional J and for a current S there exists a quasi-exact (resp. closed) generalized form \(\omega\), such that J(T)-\(\omega\) (T)\(\geq J(S)-\omega (S)\) for any current T, then the current S is absolutely (resp. homologically) minimal with respect to J. In the particular case when J is convex, Theorem 3.4 gives a necessary and sufficient condition for the global minimality of currents. Further, if J is an integrand, the author reduces the global condition for minimality to a family of ''pointwise'' requirements (Lemma 3.1 and Theorem 3.6). For problems with symmetric integrands the technique for studying ''bunches of the minimal directions'' by far improved in {\S} 4 gives many concrete applications in {\S} 5 (minimal currents on Kähler manifolds and on symmetric spaces).