Life span of a smooth solution for the surface diffusion flow (Q1431015)

The author studies the maximal time of existence of the surface diffusion flow \(\phi:M \times [0,T) \rightarrow \mathbb R^{n+1}\) \[ {\partial \phi \over dt}=(\Delta H)\nu ,\quad \phi (,0) = \phi_0, \] where \(\phi_0\) is a closed immersed hypersurface, \(H\) is the mean curvature, and \(\nu\) is the unit normal vector field. Using a priori estimates, he finds a lower bound on \(T\) that depends only on the concentration of curvature at time 0. More precisely, he shows that there exist constants \(\varepsilon_0>0\) and \(C(n)<\infty\), so that if the second fundamental form \(A\) satisfies \(\int_{B_\rho(x)} | A_0| ^2 \,d\mu_0 <\varepsilon_0\) for every \(x \in \mathbb R^{n+1}\), then \(T\geq {1\over C} \rho^4\).