Some remarks on the analyticity of minimizers of free discontinuity problems. (Q1408903)

The paper is concerned with the analyticity of the discontinuity sets of local minimizers of a class of free discontinuity problems in dimension two of the type \[ F(u)=\int_\Omega f(\nabla u)\,dx_1dx_2+\beta{\mathcal H}^1(S(u)\cap\Omega), \] defined on the space \(SBV(\Omega)\) of special functions of bounded variation. In the definition of \(F\), \(\Omega\) is a bounded open subset of \({\mathbb R}^2\), \(S(u)\) is the jump set of \(u\), and \(f:{\mathbb R}^2\to[0,+\infty[\) is a strictly convex, analytic function such that, for some \(p>1\) and \(C>0\), \[ 0\leq f(z)\leq C(1+| z| ^p). \] As a particular case, the Mumford-Shah functional \[ MS(u)=\int_\Omega | \nabla u| ^2\,dx_1dx_2+\beta{\mathcal H}^1(S(u)\cap\Omega) \] can be framed in this setting. The analyticity of the discontinuity set of local minimizers of the Mumford-Shah functional was conjectured by Ennio De Giorgi who claimed that, if \(u\) is a local minimizer of \(MS\), and if \(S(u)\cap A\) is a \(C^{1,\gamma}\) manifold for some open set \(A\), then \(S(u)\cap A\) is analytic. In the paper a partial answer to the conjecture is given. In a more general setting, it is proved that, if \(u\) is a local minimizer of \(F\), and if \(S(u)\cap A\) is a \(C^{1,\gamma}\) curve for some open set \(A\), then \(S(u)\cap A\) is analytic with the exception of at most a countable set of isolated points. The key ingredient in the proof of the analyticity result is the hodograph transform used in the study of the regularity in free boundary problems.