A new proof of the compactness theorem for integral currents (Q919263): Difference between revisions

The compactness theorem states that, for any \(k<\infty\), the set of integer-multiplicity rectifiable currents with mass and boundary mass bounded by k is compact with respect to the weak topology. The compactness theorem is an immediate consequence of the Banach-Alaoglu theorem and the closure theorem which states that the set of integer- multiplicity rectifiable currents with mass and boundary mass bounded by k is closed with respect to the weak topology in the space of all currents. The discovery of these theorems, in 1960, by \textit{H. Federer} and \textit{W. Fleming} [see Ann. Math., II. Ser. 72, 458-520 (1960; Zbl 0187.313)] was a milestone in the development of the subject now known as geometric measure theory. Federer and Fleming's proof relied in an essential way on the structure theorem for sets of finite Hausdorff measure which is itself a deep and difficult result. In 1984, \textit{B. Solomon} published a proof of the closure theorem [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 33, 393-418 (1984; Zbl 0512.28007)] and thus also the compactness theorem, which did not require the structure theorem. Instead, Solomon made use of the theory of multiple-valued functions, which was being developed by \textit{F. Almgren} [in: Geometric measure theory and the calculus of variations, Proc. Summer. Inst., Arcata/Calif. 1984, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 44, 29-30 (1986; Zbl 0595.49028)]. The author proves the closure and compactness theorems without using either the structure theorem or multiple-valued functions. The tools needed are simply the constancy theorem, Poincaré's inequality, and the fact that a set of finite n-dimensional Hausdorff measure has upper n- dimensional density less than or equal to one almost everywhere. The proof is an elegant induction.