A direct approach to the anisotropic Plateau problem (Q1739069)

If $\mathcal{H}^k$ is the $k$-Hausdorff measure, $A\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is a measurable set $A\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, then $|A|=\mathcal{H}^{n+1}(A)$ is its Lebesgue measure and $U_r(A)$ is an open tubular neighborhood of $A$ of radius $r$. A set $K$ is said to be $n$-rectifiable if it can be covered by countably many $C^1$ $n$-dimensional submanifolds. The Grassmannian of unoriented $n$-dimensional hyperplanes in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is denoted by $G=G(n+1,n)$. If $K$ is an $n$-rectifiable set, then $T_K(x)$ is the approximate tangent space of $K$ at $x$, which exists for $\mathcal{H}^n$-almost every point $x\in K$. A continuous map $F:\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\times G\ni(x,\pi)\mapsto F(x,\pi)\in\mathbb{R}^+$ with $0<\lambda\le F(x,\pi)\le\Lambda$ is called an anisotropic Lagrangian. If $K$ is an $n$-rectifiable set and $U\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is an open subset, then $\mathbf{F}(K,U)=\int\limits_{K\cap U}F(x,T_K(x))d\mathcal{H}^nx$ with $\mathbf{F}(K)=\mathbf{F}(K,\mathbb{R}^{n+1})$. If $H\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is a closed set and $\mathcal{P}(H)$ is a class of relatively closed $n$-rectifiable subsets $K$ of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H$, then the anisotropic Plateau problem is the question whether the infimum $m_0=\inf\{\mathbf{F}(K);\ K\in\mathcal{P}(H)\}$ is attained by some set satisfying additional regularity properties. A family $\mathcal{P}(\mathbf{F},H)$ of relatively closed $n$-rectifiable subsets $K\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H$ is called a good class if for any $K\in\mathcal{P}(\mathbf{F},H)$, the infimum $\inf\{\mathbf{F}(J);\ J\in \mathcal{P}(\mathbf{F},H)\}$ is bounded above. If $\mathcal{C}_H=\{\gamma:\mathbb{S}^1\to\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H\}$ is the family of smooth embeddings for a closed set $H$, then $\mathcal{C}\subset\mathcal{C}_H$ is said to be closed by homotopy if $\mathcal{C}$ contains all elements $\gamma'\in\mathcal{C}_H$ belonging to the same homotopy class $[\gamma]\in\pi_1(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H)$ of any $\gamma\in\mathcal{C}$. The family of relatively closed subsets $K$ of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H$ such that $K\cap\gamma\ne\emptyset$ for every $\gamma\in\mathcal{C}$ is denoted by $\mathcal{F}(H,\mathcal{C})$. \par In this paper, the authors study the anisotropic Plateau problem. They prove that if $H\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is closed, $\mathcal{P}(\mathbf{F},H)$ is a good class, $\{K_j\}\subset\mathcal{P}(\mathbf{F},H)$ is a minimizing sequence, and $m_0$ is finite, then the measures $\mu_j=F(\cdot,T_{K_j}(\cdot))\mathcal{H}^n\llcorner K_j$ converge weakly* in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\backslash H$ to a measure $\mu=\theta\mathcal{H}^n\llcorner K$, where $K=\text{spt}\mu$ is an $n$-rectifiable set and $\theta\ge c_0$ for some constant $c_0$. Moreover, if $F$ is elliptic, then $\theta(x)\ge F(x,T_K(x))$. Additionally, the authors show that if $\mathcal{C}$ is closed by homotopy with respect to $H$, and $\mathcal{P}(H)=\{K\in\mathcal{F}(H,\mathcal{C})\}$ with $K$ $n$-rectifiable, then $\mathcal{F}(H,\mathcal{C})$ is a good class for any functional $\mathbf{F}$, and if $\{K_j\}\subset\mathcal{F}(H)$ is a minimizing sequence and $K$ is any set associated to $\{K_j\}$, then $K\in \mathcal{P}(H)$ and $K$ is a minimizer.