Parabolic equations for curves on surfaces. II: Intersections, blow-up and generalized solutions (Q1174487)

[For part I see ibid. 132, No. 3, 451-483 (1990).] The author continues his study on families of closed oriented immersed curves \(\gamma(t)\) (\(0\leq t < t_ 0\)) on an orientable surface \((M,g)\), whose normal velocity \(v^ \perp\) satisfies \[ v^ \perp=V(t_{\gamma(t)}, k_{\gamma(t)}) \] for some function \(V: S^ 1(M)\times \mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\). Here \(t_{\gamma(t)}\in S^ 1(M)\) is the unit tangent to \(\gamma(t)\) and \(k_{\gamma(t)}\) is its curvature. This problem is a generalization of the so-called ``curve shortening problem'', where \(V(t,k)=k\).