Blow-up of optimal sets in the irrigation problem (Q2577093)

The paper deal with some regularity issue for the minimizers of the so called irrigation problem which for the aim of this article is formulated as follows \[ \min \{\int_\Omega d(x, \Sigma)d \mu(x)\;| \;\Sigma \subset \Omega \;\text{compact and connected}, \;H^1(\Sigma) \leq l\} \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded open and convex subset of \({\mathbb R}^n\), \(\mu\) is a probability measure in \(\Omega\) and \(l\) is a given positive number. The authors prove for a minimizer \(\Sigma\): The sequence of blow-up in the neighborhood of any given point \(x_0\) of \(\Sigma\) converges in the sense of Hausdorff. The blow-up's limit may be characterized depending on the nature of the point \(x_0 \in \Sigma\). Every branch of \(\Sigma\) is a \(C^{1,1}\) arc near points which satisfies a suitable (and reasonable) geometric condition. Some applications are listed at the end of the introduction.