Rigidity of the ball for an isoperimetric problem with strong capacitary repulsion (Q6947386)

The authors study a geometric variational problem arising from models of electrically charged liquid drops, where surface tension competes with a nonlocal capacitary repulsion. For parameters \(\alpha\in(0,N)\) and \(Q>0\), the energy functional is\N\[\NF_{\alpha,Q}(E) = P(E) + Q^2\,I_{\alpha}(E),\N\]\Nwhere \(P(E)\) denotes the De~Giorgi perimeter of a set \(E\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) and \(I_{\alpha}(E)\) the inverse \(\alpha\)-capacity, defined as the infimum of the Riesz interaction energy \(\iint|x-y|^{\alpha-N}\,d\mu(x)\,d\mu(y)\) over probability measures \(\mu\) supported on~\(E\). Because \(I_\alpha\) is not well-defined under the standard Lebesgue-a.e.\ identification of sets of finite perimeter (two sets differing on a Lebesgue-null set of positive \(\alpha\)-capacity may have different values of \(I_\alpha\)), minimization is carried out in the class \(\mathcal{S}\) of compact sets \(E\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) satisfying \(P(E)=\mathcal{H}^{N-1}(\partial E)\), a choice already adopted in the planar case in [\textit{C. B. Muratov} et al., Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 71, No. 6, 1049--1073 (2018; Zbl 1394.49046)].\N\NThe paper addresses the regime of strong short-range repulsion \(\alpha\in(0,1]\), completing the program initiated in [\textit{M. Goldman} et al., Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 217, No. 1, 1--36 (2015; Zbl 1328.76031)], where the same authors showed that for \(\alpha\in(1,N)\) the problem is ill-posed: the infimum over smooth competitors equals the perimeter of the unit ball, regardless of~\(Q\). The case \(N=2\), \(\alpha=1\) had been settled separately by Muratov et al. [loc. cit.] via a combination of convexification and Brunn-Minkowski arguments, a method that is intrinsically limited to dimension two.\N\NThe main result (Theorem~1.1) states that for every \(N\ge2\) and \(\alpha\in(0,1]\) there exists \(Q_0=Q_0(N,\alpha)>0\) such that, for \(Q\le Q_0\), balls are the unique minimizers of \(F_{\alpha,Q}\) under the volume constraint \(|E|=\omega_N\). The proof follows the general strategy of [\textit{C. B. Muratov} and \textit{H. Knüpfer}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 67, No. 12, 1974--1994 (2014; Zbl 1302.49064)] (see also [\textit{A. Figalli} et al., Commun. Math. Phys. 336, No. 1, 441--507 (2015; Zbl 1312.49051)] for related approaches), adapted to the capacitary setting, and proceeds in three stages.\N\N\textit{Existence.} The capacitary term \(I_\alpha\) is regularized by penalizing concentration of the charge through an \(L^2\) term, yielding a functional well defined in \(L^1\). Generalized minimizers for the regularized problem are obtained via a concentration-compactness argument, and passage to the limit as the regularization parameter tends to zero relies on uniform density estimates. The key ingredient is a first almost-minimality property: if \(E\) is a minimizer and \(E\triangle F\subset B_r\), then\N\[\NP(E) \le P(F) + C(Q^2 + r^\alpha)\,r^{N-\alpha}.\N\]\NFor \(\alpha<1\) this yields generalized minimizers for every \(Q>0\); for \(\alpha=1\), existence is established for \(Q\) sufficiently small.\N\N\textit{Regularity.} When \(\alpha<1\), the first almost-minimality property falls within the scope of the classical regularity theory for perimeter almost-minimizers (see [\textit{F. Maggi}, Sets of finite perimeter and geometric variational problems. An introduction to geometric measure theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2012; Zbl 1255.49074)]), giving \(C^{1,\frac{1}{2}(1-\alpha)}\) regularity, uniform in~\(Q\). The borderline case \(\alpha=1\), identified by the authors as the main technical contribution of the paper, requires a substantially different approach. The first almost-minimality property alone only yields Reifenberg flatness of minimizers, via the recent result [\textit{M. Goldman} et al., Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 150, No. 3, 1153--1165 (2022; Zbl 1497.49052)]. Upgrading this to \(C^{1,\gamma}\) regularity for any \(\gamma<\tfrac12\) requires a second almost-minimality property (Proposition~3.16) involving the \(L^{2N/(N+1)}\)-norm of the equilibrium measure \(\mu_E\), together with the key integrability estimate\N\[\N\Bigl(\int_{B_r}\mu_E^{2N/(N+1)}\Bigr)^{(N+1)/N} \lesssim r^{N-1+2\gamma},\N\]\Nproved for Reifenberg-flat domains via the Alt-Caffarelli-Friedman monotonicity formula (Lemmas~3.17--3.18). This estimate extends to irregular domains the boundary regularity theory for the fractional Laplacian, and is sharp as can be seen from the case of the ball.\N\N\textit{Rigidity.} Uniform \(C^{1,\gamma}\) regularity, combined with the quantitative isoperimetric inequality, shows that for small~\(Q\) every minimizer is nearly spherical, in the sense that \(\partial E = \{(1+\phi(x))x : x\in\partial B_1\}\) for a small function \(\phi\in C^{1,\gamma}(\partial B_1)\). A quantitative stability estimate for \(I_\alpha\) around the ball, namely\N\[\NI_\alpha(B_1) - I_\alpha(E) \lesssim [\phi]^2_{H^{\alpha/2}(\partial B_1)} + [\phi]^2_{H^{(2-\alpha)/2}(\partial B_1)},\N\]\Nthen concludes the proof via a Fuglede-type second-order expansion of the energy (Theorem~1.5).\N\NAs a further consequence of the regularity theory, the paper establishes \(C^{1,\gamma}\) regularity with optimal singular set for all \(\Lambda\)-minimizers of \(F_{1,Q}\) (Theorem~1.4), answering a question left open in [\textit{C. B. Muratov} et al., Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 243, No. 3, 1773--1810 (2022; Zbl 1489.49025)]. A non-existence result for large charges in dimension two is also proved (Theorem~1.6), based on a cutting argument that compares the energy of a minimizer with that of its two half-space sections sent to infinity.