Stable surfaces with constant anisotropic mean curvature and circular boundary (Q2846907)

Let a positive smooth function \(\gamma:S^2\to\mathbb R^+\) on the unit sphere \(S^2\subset \mathbb R^3\) be viewed as an anisotropic surface density, that is, \(\gamma(\nu)\) gives the unit energy per unit area of a surface element having normal \(\nu\). The anisotropic surface energy of a surface \(\Sigma\) is \({\mathcal F}=\int\limits_\Sigma\gamma(\nu)\,d\,\Sigma\). There is a canonical closed convex surface associated with \({\mathcal F}\) defined as \(W=\partial\!\!\underset{n\in S^2}\cap\{Y\in\mathbb R^3;\;Y\cdot n\leq\gamma(n)\}\) and called the Wulff shape. The surface \(W\) is the absolute minimizer of \({\mathcal F}\) among all closed surfaces which enclose the same three dimensional volume as \(W\). A surface with constant anisotropic mean curvature is said to be stable if the second variation of the anisotropic surface energy \({\mathcal F}\) is non-negative for all compactly supported variations of the surface which fix the enclosed oriented three-volume.NEWLINENEWLINEIn this paper, the authors prove that if \({\mathcal F}\) is a convex anisotropic energy with axially symmetric Wulff shape \(W\), \(D\) is the unit disc in \(\mathbb R^2\), \(S^1\) is a round circle which lies in a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of \(W\), and \(X:(D,\partial D)\to(\mathbb R^3,S^1)\) is an immersion of a stable surface with constant anisotropic mean curvature, then \(X(D)\subset rW\) for some \(r>0\), or \(X(D)\) is a flat disc.