Convex relaxation of a class of vertex penalizing functionals (Q2251199)

The authors ``investigate a class of variational problems that incorporate in some sense curvature information of the level lines'' and ``discuss two particular instances: one instance that minimizes the total number of vertices of the level lines and another instance that minimizes the total sum of the absolut exterior angles between the line segments.'' The authors ``show that these problems can be solved approximately by means of a tractable convex relaxation in higher dimensions'' (quotations taken from authors' abstract). Numerical results are also given.