Area quasi-minimizing partitions with a graphical constraint: relaxation and two-dimensional partial regularity (Q2083232)

The paper is dedicated to the description and investigation of a variational model for periodic partitions of the upper half-space into three regions, where two of them have prescribed volume and are subject to the geometric constraint that their union is the subgraph of a function, whose graph is a free surface. The energy functional of a configuration is given by the weighted sum of the areas of the interfaces between the different regions. A general volume-order term is also included in the total energy. The existence of minimizing configurations is established via relaxation of the energy involved, in any dimension. Moreover, partial regularity results for volume-constrained minimizers in dimensions two are proved. Finally, the description of equilibrium configurations of thin films of diblock copolymers is discussed as a possible application of the variational model.