The Riemannian Penrose inequality for asymptotically flat manifolds with non-compact boundary (Q6168528)

The Riemannian Penrose inequality is a quantitative version of the positive mass theorem and has been proved by \textit{G. Huisken} and \textit{T. Ilmanen} [J. Differ. Geom. 59, No. 3, 353--437 (2001; Zbl 1055.53052)] using the weak inverse mean curvature flow (IMCF). For a complete asymptotically flat Riemannian \(3\)-manifold with non-negative scalar curvature, let \(M'\subset M\) be an exterior region with total mass \(m_{ADM}\), and \(\Sigma\subset \partial M'\) be a connected component of \(\partial M'\). The Riemannian Penrose inequality says that \[ m_{ADM}\geq \sqrt{\frac{|\Sigma|}{16\pi}} \] with equality if and only if \((M',g)\) is one half of the spatial Schwarzschild manifold. \textit{S. Almaraz} et al. [Commun. Anal. Geom. 24, No. 4, 673--715 (2016; Zbl 1360.53035)] have investigated asymptotically flat half-spaces, which are asymptotically flat \(3\)-manifolds with non-compact boundary whose asymptotic region is modelled on a half-space. They defined a mass type quantity for such manifolds and called it \(m_{ABL}\). A version of the positive mass theorem for \(m_{ABL}\) was also proved, provided that the scalar curvature and the boundary mean curvature are non-negative, with equality if and only if the manifold is a flat Euclidean half-space. The purpose of the paper under review is to study a suitable version of the Riemannian Penrose inequality for \(m_{ABL}\) for asymptotically flat half-spaces. For an asymptotically flat half-space \((M^3,g)\) with nonnegative scalar curvature and nonnegative boundary mean curvature, let \(M'\subset M\) be an exterior region with total mass \(m_{ABL}\) and \(\Sigma\) be a connected free boundary component of the interior boundary. Then the main result of this paper states that \[ m_{ABL}\geq \sqrt{\frac{|\Sigma|}{32\pi}} \] with equality if and only if \((M',g)\) is one half of the spatial Schwarzschild half-space. For the proof, the author extends the argument of {G. Huisken} and {T. Ilmanen} [loc. cit.] to the free boundary case. The weak IMCF with free boundary was firstly studied by \textit{T. Marquardt} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 728, 237--261 (2017; Zbl 1371.53064)], who established the existence of the weak IMCF with free boundary supported on some convex graphs in Euclidean space. The monotonicity of a modified Hawking mass was also proved there. The new contribution of the paper under review is that the author can extend Marquardt's result to a more general setting, i.e., he establishes the existence of the weak IMCF with free boundary in a general asymptotically flat half-space. To obtain this existence result, the author introduces a new approximation scheme by adjusting the elliptic regularization equation \[ \overline{\mathrm{div}}\left(\frac{\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon}{\sqrt{|\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon|^2+\epsilon^2}}\right)=\sqrt{|\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon|^2+\epsilon^2} \] of IMCF (used by {G. Huisken} and {T. Ilmanen} [loc. cit.]) to \[ \overline{\mathrm{div}}\left(\frac{\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon}{\sqrt{|\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon|^2+\epsilon^2}}\right)=|\bar{\nabla}u_\epsilon|^\gamma \] for some parameter \(\gamma>1\). Under this new approximation scheme, the approximate solution is no longer a translating solution of the IMCF in a one-higher dimensional product space, but the author can still prove a modified monotonicity for the approximate Willmore energy, which leads to the monotonicity of the modified Hawking mass along the weak IMCF by passing to the limit \(\epsilon\to 0\). Finally, the author adapts the argument of {G. Huisken} and {T. Ilmanen} [loc. cit.] to estimate the limit of the modified Hawking mass by the ABL mass, and then completes the proof of the Penrose type inequality for asymptotically flat half-spaces. As an application, the author proves a non-optimal version of a Penrose-type inequality for asymptotically flat support surfaces (studied by \textit{A. Volkmann} in 2015 in his PhD thesis [``Free boundary problems governed by mean curvature'', \url{https://d-nb.info/1067442340/34}]).