Double bubbles for immiscible fluids in \(\mathbb R^n\) (Q471995)

In [Pac. J. Math. 159, No. 1, 47--59 (1993; Zbl 0738.49023)], \textit{J. Foisy} et al. proved that a standard double bubble in the plane (that is, two overlapping disks separated by a circular arc or a line segment, with all bounding arcs meeting at \(120^\circ\) angles) has the least perimeter required to separately enclose two given amounts of area. In [Ann. Math. (2) 155, No. 2, 459--489 (2002; Zbl 1009.53007)], \textit{M. Hutchings} et al. analyzed all equilibrium double bubble surfaces of revolution and eliminated those that could not be minimizers because of instability of the equilibrium or because a fragment of a bubble was too small to prove that in \(\mathbb R^3\) standard double bubbles of unequal volumes also minimize the surface area. They also considered the problem of immiscible fluids and proved that for certain volumes and for nearly-unit weights on the surface area the minimizers are standard. In this paper, the author, using a new approach called unification, extends this result to all volume pairs and all weights in \(n\) dimensions. It is proved that standard weighted double bubbles in \(\mathbb R^n\) all minimize the weighted surface area among piecewise smooth boundaries of pairs of open regions with prescribed volume and these minimizers are unique. Also, the author presents a new symmetry argument for why a minimizing double bubble must be a surface of revolution and gives a new proof of the regular isoperimetric theorem in \(\mathbb R^n\) by showing that the unique minimizer of the surface area for enclosing a given volume in \(\mathbb R^n\) is a round ball.