Monotonicity and separation for the Mumford-Shah problem (Q697666)

This paper is an important contribution to the understanding of the regularity properties of minimizers of the Mumford-Shah functional \[ J(u,K):=\int_{\Omega\setminus K}| \nabla u| ^2+\alpha (u-g)^2\,dx+ \beta{\mathcal H}^1(K). \] We know after Bonnet's paper that the (partial) regularity of the jump set \(K\) could be achieved if we had a classification of the so-called global Mumford-Shah minimizers. We know also, after previous work by Bonnet-David and Alberti-Bouchitté-Dal Maso, that the list of global minimizers contains the empty set, the half line, the full line, and the propeller (three half lines meeting with equal angles). One of the main results of the paper is that the only minimizers \(K\) for which the complement of \(K\) is not connected are the line and the propeller. This reduces the classification problem to the sets \(K\) such that their complement is connected. The proof is based on new monotonicity estimates for the normalized energy \[ {2\over r}\int_{B_r(x)\setminus K}| \nabla u| ^2\,dx+ {1\over r}{\mathcal H}^1(K\cap B_r(x)). \] Another result is that the classification can indeed be achieved for global minimizers contained in a sector. As a byproduct, by a standard blow-up argument, the authors obtain the boundary regularity of the jump set of minimizers. This last result has also been obtained independently by Maddalena and Solimini.