Partial regularity for holonomic minimisers of quasiconvex functionals (Q303704)

The paper deals with a partial regularity result for local minimizers of quasiconvex integral functionals of the form \[ F(v,\Omega)= \int_{\Omega} f(x,v,Dv)\,dx \] over a class of Sobolev mappings into a compact Riemannian manifold, to which such mappings are said to be holonomically constrained. More precisely, a map \(u \in W^{1,p}_{\mathrm{loc}} (\Omega,\mathcal{M})\) is a holonomically constrained local minimizer of the functional \(F\) if \[ F(u,\Omega')\leq F(v,\Omega') \] for all \(v \in (u_0 + W^{1,p}(\Omega',R^N))\cap W^{1,p}(\Omega',\mathcal{M})\) and all open \(\Omega'\Subset\Omega\). Under suitable regularity assumptions on the quasiconvex function \(f\), the author proves that the holonomically constrained local minimizer of \(F\) belongs to \(C^{1,\beta}( \Omega/ \mathrm{Sing }u, \mathcal{M})\) for \(0<\beta<1\) and \(\mathrm{Sing }u \subset \Omega\) with Lebesgue measure zero. It is interesting to observe that the regularity is established on the level of the gradient. The arguments of the proof use the lifting of Sobolev mappings to the universal covering space, the connectedness property of the covering space, an application of Ekeland's variational principle and a certain tangential \(\mathbb{A}\)-harmonic approximation lemma obtained directly via a Lipschitz approximation argument. Some applications to variational problems in condensed matter physics with broken symmetries are also discussed, in particular those concerning the superfluidity of liquid helium-\(3\) and nematic liquid crystals.