Local foliation of manifolds by surfaces of Willmore-type (Q2027744)

The authors obtain the Euler-Lagrange equation \(\Delta H + H|\tilde A|^2 + H\,\mathrm{Ric}(\nu,\nu)=\lambda\,H\) for the Willmore functional \(J(\Sigma_a)=\frac14\int_{\Sigma_a} H^2 d\mu\) for surfaces \(\Sigma_a\) immersed in a 3-dimensional Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) and having area \(a>0\). Here, \(H\) denotes the sum of the principal curvatures, \(\tilde A\) is the trace free part of the second fundamental form \(A\), and \(\nu\) is a unit normal of \(\Sigma_a\). The first two authors have shown in [the first two authors, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2010, No. 19, 3786--3813 (2010; Zbl 1202.53056); Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 30, No. 3, 497--518 (2013; Zbl 1290.49090); the first author et al., Math. Ann. 350, No. 1, 1--78 (2011; Zbl 1222.53028)] that if \((M, g)\) is compact then there exists a small \(a_0>0\) depending only on \((M, g)\) such that the infimum in \(J(\Sigma_a)\) is attained for all \(a\in(0, a_0)\) on smooth surfaces \(\Sigma_a\). In Section 2, they find (Proposition~2.1) the expansion of the above Willmore equation on small geodesic spheres. In Section 3, the authors use the implicit function theorem to solve the Willmore equation around non-degenerate critical points of the scalar curvature (Theorem 1.1) in a similar manner to [\textit{R. Ye}, Pac. J. Math. 147, No. 2, 381--396 (1991; Zbl 0722.53022)]. In Section 5, they prove (Corollaries 5.1 and 5.2) a local uniqueness result for the \(\Sigma_a\) as solutions to the Willmore equation.