On the uniqueness of stable ultimate shapes for the anisotropic curve-shortening problem (Q1575060)

The authors investigate the existence and the uniqueness of self-similar curves in the anisotropic curve-shortening problem. This problem leads to the search of a \(2 \pi\)-periodic solution of the following ordinary differential equation \[ u_{xx}+u=c \frac {R}{u^{p+1}}, \] where \(R\) is a positive function, \(p+1>0\) and to some variational problem. The main theorem gives conditions on \(R\) and \(p\), such that there exists a unique maximizer of the functional. Examples for the nonuniqueness are given too.