The Cheeger constant of curved tubes (Q1737366)

If $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d$, $d\ge 1$, is an open connected set, then the Cheeger constant of $\Omega$ is the number $h(\Omega)=\inf\limits_{S\subset\Omega}\frac{|\partial S|}{|S|}$, where the infimum is taken over all non-empty bounded sets $S\subset\Omega$, $|S|$ is the volume of $S$, and $|\partial S|$ is the perimeter of $S$. Any minimiser of $h$, if it exists, is called a Cheeger set of $\Omega$ and is denoted by $\mathcal{C}_\Omega$. If $\Gamma$ is a closed smooth curve in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and $a$ is a positive number, then the set $\Omega_a=\{x\in\mathbb{R}^d;\ \text{dist}(x,\Gamma)< a\}$ is called a curved tube. $\Omega_a$ is said to be not overlapping itself if the map $\Gamma\times(0,a)\ni (q,t)\mapsto q+tN(q)$ induces a smooth diffeomorphism for any smooth normal vector field $N$ along $\Gamma$. In [Pac. J. Math. 254, No. 2, 309--333 (2011; Zbl 1247.28003)], the first author and \textit{A. Pratelli} showed that if $d=2$, then $h(\Omega_a)=\frac{1}{a}$ and $\mathcal{C}_{\Omega_a}=\Omega_a$. \par In this paper the authors extend these results to the case of $d\ge 2$ and they prove that if $\Gamma$ is a closed smooth curve in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and a positive number $a$ is so small that $\Omega_a$ does not overlap itself, then $h(\Omega_a)=\frac{d-1}{a}$ and $\mathcal{C}_{\Omega_a}=\Omega_a$. The second goal of this paper is to raise a challenging open problem about determining the Cheeger constant of tubular neighbourhoods of general submanifolds $M$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$. If $M$ is a spherical shell, then the authors show that for two positive radii $r<R$, the spherical shell $A_{r,R}=\{x\in\mathbb{R}^d;\ r<|x|< R\}$ is a minimal Cheeger set, and $h(A_{r,R})=d\frac{R^{d-1}+r^{d-1}}{R^d-r^d}$.