Global curvature for surfaces and area minimization under a thickness constraint (Q2492652)

In this paper, continuous parametric surfaces \(X:{\mathbb R^2}\supset {\mathbb B^2}\to{\mathbb R^3}\) that possess a tangent plane on a dense subset \(G\subset {\mathbb B^2}\) are investigated. The authors define the global radius of the curvature \(\Delta[X]\) of the surface \(X\) as the infimum of radii of all spheres touching the surface \(X(\overline{\mathbb B}^2)\) in one point \(X(w)\), \(w\in G\), and containing at least one other point of the surface. It turns out that a positive lower bound \(\Delta[X]\geq\theta> 0\) provides the surface with a thickness of magnitude \(\theta\), it serves as an excluded volume constraint for \(X\), prevents self-intersections, and implies that the image of \(X\) is an embedded \(C^{\,1}\)-manifold with a Lipschitz continuous normal. The authors also obtain a convergence and a compactness result for such thick surfaces and show one possible application to variational problems for embedded surfaces: the existence of thickest surfaces having fixed area and prescribed isotopy class.