Global regularity for minimal sets near a union of two planes (Q507097)

For a closed set \(E\) in an open subset \(U\) of \(\mathbb R^n\) and an integer \(d\), \((d\leq n-1)\), a closed set \(F\subset U\) is said to be an Almgren competitor for \(E\) if \(F=\varphi_1(E)\), where \(\varphi_t:U\to U\) is a family of continuous mappings such that {\parindent=8mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] \(\varphi_0=\mathrm{id}_U\), \item[(ii)] the mapping \([0,1]\times U\to U\), \((t,x)\mapsto \varphi_t(x)\) is continuous, \item[(iii)] \(\varphi_1\) is Lipschitz and such that the set \(\bigcup_{0\leq t\leq 1} [W_t\cup \varphi_t(W_t)] \) is relatively compact in \(U\), where \(W_t: \{x\in U:\varphi_t(x)\neq x\}\). \end{itemize}} A closed set \(E\) in \(U\) is said to be Almgren minimal of dimension \(d\) in \(U\) if{\parindent=8mm \begin{itemize}\item[(iv)] \(\mathcal{H}^d(E\cap B)<+\infty\) for every compact ball \(B\subset U\), and \item[(v)] \(\mathcal{H}^d(E\smallsetminus F)\leq \mathcal{H}^d(F\smallsetminus E)\) for all Almgren competitors \(F\) for \(E\), where \(\mathcal{H}^d\) is the Hausdorff measure. \end{itemize}} A set \(Y\) is a \(\mathbb Y\)-set if it is the union of three half-planes with a common boundary \(L\) meeting along the line \(L\) with \(120^\circ\) angles, and \(Y\) is a \(\mathbb T\)-set if it is the cone over the \(1\)-skeleton of a regular tetrahedron centered at \(0\). It is known that that if \(E\) is a minimal set, \(x\in E\), and \(\theta_x(r)\) is a constant function, then \(E\) is a minimal cone centered on \(x\), where \(\theta_x(r)=r^{-1}\mathcal{H}^d(E,B(x,r))\) is the density function. For each \(x\in E\), at some very small scales around each \(x\), \(E\) looks like some Almgren minimal cone \(C\) of density \(\theta(x)\). So the problem of minimality will be solved if it can be proven that every minimal cone \(C\) satisfies the following property: \((*)\) There exists \(\varepsilon=\varepsilon_C>0\), such that for every minimal set \(E\), if \(d_{0,1}(C,E)<\varepsilon\), then there exists \(x\in E\cap B(0,1)\) whose density \(\theta(x)\) is the same as that of \(C\) at the origin, where \[ d_{x,r}(E,F)=\frac1r\max\big\{\sup\{d(y,F); y\in E\cap B(x,r)\}, \sup\{d(y,F); y\in F\cap B(x,r)\}\big\}. \] It is unknown in general whether the product of two Almgren minimal sets is minimal. In [J. Funct. Anal. 266, No. 10, 6007--6054 (2014; Zbl 1298.49068)], the present author made an important contribution to the study of this question by showing that the above statement concerning the product of two Almgren minimal sets holds in the particular case of the product \(Y\times Y\). It is known that planes and \(\mathbb Y\) sets satisfy \((*)\) but there are at least two minimal cones, \(\mathbb T\) sets and minimal product sets \(Y\times Y\) that it is not known whether \((*)\) is satisfied. In this paper, the author proves the property \((*)\) for the union of two almost orthogonal planes. It is shown that there exist an angle \(\theta_1\in[\theta_0,\pi/2)\subset(0,\pi/2)\) and \(\lambda>0\), such that for any \(\alpha\in(\alpha_1,\alpha_2)\) with \(\theta_1\leq\alpha_1\), if \(E\) is a \(2\)-dimensional Almgren minimal set in \(U\subset\mathbb R^4\), \(B(x,r)\subset U\), and there is a minimal cone \(P_\alpha+x\) centered at \(x\) such that \(d_{x,r}(E,P_\alpha+x)\leq \lambda\), then \(E\cap B(x,r/100)\) contains at least one \(2\mathbb P\) type point.