Mean curvature flow with generic low-entropy initial data (Q6566366)

Mean curvature flow is the natural heat equation for submanifolds. A family of hypersurfaces \(M(t) \subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) flows by mean curvature if\N\[\N\left( \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \mathbf{x} \right)^{\perp} = \mathbf{H}_{M(t)}(\mathbf{x}) \ ,\N\]\Nwhere \(\mathbf{H}_{M(t)}(\mathbf{x})\) denotes the mean curvature vector of \(M(t)\) at \(\mathbf{x}\). When \(M(0)\) is compact, mean curvature flow is guaranteed to become singular in finite time. A well-known conjecture of Huisken suggests that the singularities of a generic mean curvature flow should be as simple as possible, namely, spherical and cylindrical.\N\NThe main results of the paper completely resolve Huisken's conjecture in three and four dimensions for low-entropy initial data:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item If \(M^{2}\subset \mathbb{R}^{3}\) is a closed embedded surface with entropy \(\lambda(M) \leq 2\), then there exist arbitrarily small \(C^{\infty}\) graphs \(M'\) over \(M\) so that the mean curvature flow starting from \(M'\) has only multiplicity-one spherical and cylindrical singularities;\N\item If \(M^{3}\subset \mathbb{R}^{4}\) is a closed embedded hypersurface with entropy \(\lambda(M) \leq \lambda(S^{1} \times \mathbb{R}^{2})\), then there exist arbitrarily small \(C^{\infty}\) graphs \(M'\) over \(M\) so that the mean curvature flow starting from \(M'\) has only multiplicity-one spherical and cylindrical singularities.\N\end{itemize}\N\NCombining this result with a surgery construction, one obtains a Schoenflies-type theorem: if \(M^{3} \subset \mathbb{R}^{4}\) is an embedded \(3\)-sphere with entropy \(\lambda(M) \leq \lambda(S^{1} \times \mathbb{R}^{2})\), then \(M\) is smoothly isotopic to the round \(S^{3}\).