Volume preserving mean curvature flows near strictly stable sets in flat torus (Q2219042)

The author considers the volume preserving mean curvature flow (VMCF) of hypersurfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) given as boundaries of smooth compact sets \((E_t)\). The outer normal velocity of \(\partial E_t\) is given by \(\bar H_t-H_t\) where \(H_t\) is the mean curvature of \(\partial E_t\) and \(\bar H_t\) is its integral average over \(\partial E_t\). As the name suggests, the enclosed volume \(|E_t|\) is preserved under this flow. Short-time existence for this flow is well known, but in general the flow may develop singularities in finite time. The classical results of \textit{M. Gage} [Contemp. Math. 51, 51--62 (1986; Zbl 0608.53002)] for \(n=2\) and \textit{G. Huisken} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 382, 35--48 (1987; Zbl 0621.53007)] for \(n\ge 3\) show that for smooth uniformly convex initial sets the flow exists for all time and \(E_t\) converges exponentially fast in the \(C^\infty\) sense to a closed ball of volume \(|E_0|\) as \(t\rightarrow\infty\). \textit{J. Escher} and \textit{G. Simonett} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 126, No. 9, 2789--2796 (1998; Zbl 0909.53043)] have used centre manifold analysis to show long-time existence and convergence to a ball if \(\partial E_0\) is \(C^{1,\alpha}\) close to a sphere. More recently, \textit{H. Li} [Pac. J. Math. 243, No. 2, 331--355 (2009; Zbl 1182.53061)] has proved long-time existence and convergence to a ball for smooth compact initial sets with \(\partial E_0\) satisfying an integral pinching condition on the traceless second fundamental form. Here the author focusses on periodic smooth sets which amounts to studying VMCF in the flat torus \(\mathbb{T}^n\) in place of \(\mathbb{R}^n\). This leads to the consideration of a larger class of compact critical sets than in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), called \textit{strictly stable sets} (with respect to perimeter). These include (besides balls, cylinders and strips) sets having a Schwarz surface as boundary. \textit{E. Acerbi} et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 322, No. 2, 515--557 (2013; Zbl 1270.49043)] have proved that strictly stable sets in \(\mathbb{T}^n\) are always isolated local perimeter minimizers. In contrast, the only smooth local perimeter minimizers in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) are single balls. The author's main theorem is a stability result for VMCFs near strictly stable sets in \(\mathbb{T}^n\) with \(n=3,4\). It states that if \(F\) is a strictly stable set, then for any initial set \(E_0\) such that \(\partial E_0\) is sufficiently close to \(\partial F\) in the \(H^3(\partial F)\) norm when represented as a normal graph over \(\partial F\), the VMCF starting at \(E_0\) exists for all time and converges to a translate \(F+p\) of \(F\) exponentially fast in the \(W^{2,5}\) sense from the point of view of \(F+p\). Moreover, \(|p|\rightarrow 0\) as \(\partial E_0 \rightarrow \partial F\) in \(H^3(\partial F)\) in the sense of normal graphs over \(\partial F\). The techniques used are motivated by the paper of \textit{E. Acerbi} et al. [J. Differ. Geom. 113, No. 1, 1--53 (2019; Zbl 07104702)] who proved similar stability results for other volume preserving flows, such as the modified Mullins-Sekerka flow and the surface diffusion flow in \(\mathbb{T}^3\).