Epsilon-regularity for almost-minimizers of anisotropic free interface problem with Hölder dependence on the position (Q6920693)

This work establishes an \(\varepsilon\)-regularity result for almost-minimizers of a class of free interface variational problems involving both bulk and surface energies. The bulk energy is of Dirichlet type, while the surface energy is anisotropic and defined via an ellipsoidal density that is Hölder continuous in the spatial variable. The authors prove that, under these conditions, the free boundary is a \(C^{1,\sigma}\)-hypersurface outside a closed singular set of small Hausdorff dimension.\N\NFree interface problems with both bulk and interfacial energies arise in many applied contexts, such as materials science, image segmentation, and phase transitions. A classical model is the energy functional\N\[\N\int_{\Omega} \sigma_E(x)|\nabla u|^2 dx + P(E; \Omega),\N\]\Nwhere \(E \subset \Omega\) is a set of finite perimeter and \(u\) is a scalar function. The regularity of minimizers -- especially of the free boundary \(\partial E\) -- has been extensively studied. In this work, the authors consider a more general anisotropic surface energy of the form\N\[\N\Phi_A(E; \Omega) = \int_{\Omega \cap \partial^* E} \langle A(x) \nu_E, \nu_E \rangle^{1/2} d\mathscr{H}^{n-1},\N\]\Nwhere \(A(x)\) is a uniformly elliptic matrix with Hölder-continuous coefficients.\N\NThe main result (Theorem 1.2) states that if \((E, u)\) is a \((\kappa, \mu)\)-almost minimizer of the functional \(\mathcal{F}_A\), then:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item There exists a relatively open subset \(\Gamma \subset \partial E\) that is a \(C^{1,\sigma}\)-hypersurface for all \(0 < \sigma < \frac{\mu}{2}\).\N\item The singular set \(\Sigma(E) = \partial E \setminus \Gamma\) satisfies \(\mathscr{H}^{n-1-\eta}(\Sigma(E)) = 0\) for some \(\eta > 0\).\N\end{itemize}\NThis extends previous results by De Philippis-Figalli and Fusco-Julin to the anisotropic setting with minimal regularity assumptions on the coefficients.\N\NThe proof relies on a careful analysis of the interaction between the bulk and surface energies. Key steps include:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item[1.] Transformation and Scaling: The authors use an affine change of variables \(T_{x_0}\) that maps the Wulff shape of the anisotropic energy to a ball, allowing them to work in a nearly isotropic setting.\N\item[2.] Density and Energy Estimates: They establish Ahlfors regularity and decay estimates for the rescaled Dirichlet energy.\N\item[3.] Lipschitz Approximation: When the excess is small, the free boundary is approximated by the graph of a Lipschitz function.\N\item[4.] Reverse Poincaré Inequality: This is used to control the excess at smaller scales by the flatness of the boundary.\N\item[5.] Excess Improvement: A blow-up argument and a careful first-variation analysis lead to an iterative decay estimate for the excess.\N\end{itemize}\N\NThe authors also include an application to a volume-constrained problem via a penalization method.