Radial graphs of constant curvature and prescribed boundary (Q2403780)

The authors consider the following Plateau-type problem: given a smooth symmetric function \(f\) of \(n(\geq 2)\) variables and a \((n-1)\)-dimensional compact embedded submanifold \(\Lambda\) of \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\), decide whether there exists a hypersurface \(\Sigma\) of constant curvature \(f(\kappa[\Sigma])=c\) with boundary \(\partial\Sigma=\Lambda\), where \(\kappa[\Sigma]=(\kappa_1,\dots,\kappa_n)\) denotes the principal curvatures of \(\Sigma\). In this paper, the authors deal with this problem in the following framework. Let \(\Omega\) be a smooth domain in \(\mathbb{S}^n\subset\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) with boundary \(\partial\Omega\), their question is to seek for a smooth hypersurface \(\Sigma\) that can be represented as a radial graph \[ X(x)=\rho(x)x,\qquad \rho>0,\quad x\in \overline{\Omega} \] with prescribed curvature and boundary \[ f(\kappa_\Sigma[X])=\psi(x),\quad x\in\Omega;\qquad X(x)=\phi(x),\quad x\in \partial\Omega, \] where \(\kappa_\Sigma[X]=(\kappa_1,\dots,\kappa_n)\) denotes the principal curvatures of \(\Sigma\) at \(X(x)\) with respect to the inward unit normal, \(\psi\in C^\infty(\overline{\Omega})\), \(\phi\in C^\infty(\partial\Omega)\), \(\psi,\phi>0\), and \(f\) is a high-order curvature function. The main result of this paper is the following theorem. Theorem 1.1. Let \(\Omega\) be a smooth domain whose closure is contained in an open hemisphere of \(\mathbb{S}^n\). Suppose the mean curvature of \(\partial \Omega\) as a submanifold of \(\Omega\), computed with respect to the unit normal pointing to the interior of \(\Omega\), is nonnegative. If there exists a smooth admissible radial graph \(\overline{\Sigma}:\overline{X}(x)=\overline{\rho}(x)x\) over \(\overline{\Omega}\) that is locally strictly convex (up to the boundary) in a neighbourhood of \(\partial \Omega\) and satisfies \[ f(\kappa_{\overline{\Sigma}}[\overline{X}])>\psi(x),\quad x\in\Omega;\qquad \rho=\phi,\quad \text{on}\;\partial\Omega, \] then the above question has a solution, i.e., there exists a smooth radial graph with prescribed curvature and boundary.