A free boundary problem for capillary surfaces (Q1201418)

The author considers the problem of minimizing a functional \({\mathcal F}(E)\) defined on open subsets \(E\) of \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) lying between two parallel hyperplanes, which in the 3-dimensional case represents the energy of a liquid drop of constant density trapped between two horizontal planes, where the energy includes surface tension, wetting energy at the planes, and gravitational energy. It is shown that a rotationally symmetric minimizing set \(E_ 0\) exists. The regularity of \(E_ 0\) is described in terms of the function \(\rho_{E_ 0}\) giving the radius of the cross section of \(E_ 0\) as a function of the height above the lower of the two hyperplanes. As long as the radius of the contact set with both hyperplanes is positive, it is shown that \(\rho_{E_ 0}\) is the restriction of an analytic function to a closed interval. Finally, stability is considered in the gravity free case.