The viscosity method for min-max free boundary minimal surfaces

DOI10.1007/S00205-022-01761-9MaRDI QIDQ2127909zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 21 April 2022

Published in Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06004

free boundary problem min-max theory minimal surfaces viscosity method

Viscosity solutions to PDEs (35D40) Minimal surfaces and optimization (49Q05) Differential geometry of immersions (minimal, prescribed curvature, tight, etc.) (53C42) Variational problems concerning minimal surfaces (problems in two independent variables) (58E12)

Abstract: We adapt the viscosity method introduced by Rivi`ere to the free boundary case. Namely, given a compact oriented surface

S i g m a

, possibly with boundary, a closed ambient Riemannian manifold

(m a t h c a l M^{m}, g)

and a closed embedded submanifold

m a t h c a l N^{n} s u b s e t m a t h c a l M

, we study the asymptotic behavior of (almost) critical maps

P h i

for the functional �egin{align*} &E_sigma(Phi):=operatorname{area}(Phi)+sigmaoperatorname{length}(Phi|_{partialSigma})+sigma^4int_Sigma|{mathrm {I!I}}^Phi|^4,operatorname{vol}_Phi end{align*} on immersions

P h i : S i g m a o m a t h c a l M

with the constraint

P h i (p a r t i a l S i g m a) s u b s e t e q m a t h c a l N

, as

s i g m a o 0

, assuming an upper bound for the area and a suitable entropy condition. As a consequence, given any collection

m a t h c a l F

of compact subsets of the space of smooth immersions

(S i g m a, p a r t i a l S i g m a) o (m a t h c a l M, m a t h c a l N)

, assuming

m a t h c a l F

to be stable under isotopies of this space we show that the min-max value �egin{align*} &�eta:=inf_{Ainmathcal{F}}max_{Phiin A}operatorname{area}(Phi) end{align*} is the sum of the areas of finitely many branched minimal immersions

P h i_{(i)} : S i g m a_{(i)} o m a t h c a l M

with

p a r t i a l_{u} P h i_{(i)} p e r p T m a t h c a l N

along

p a r t i a l S i g m a_{(i)}

, whose (connected) domains

S i g m a_{(i)}

can be different from

S i g m a

but cannot have a more complicated topology. We adopt a point of view which exploits extensively the diffeomorphism invariance of

E_{s} i g m a

and, along the way, we simplify several arguments from the original work. Some parts generalize to closed higher-dimensional domains, for which we get a rectifiable stationary varifold in the limit.

Review text

Let \(\Sigma\) be a compact oriented surface with boundary, \((\mathcal{M},g)\) a closed Riemannian manifold, and \(\mathcal{N}\) a closed embedded submanifold of \(\mathcal{M}\). Consider immersions \(\Phi :\Sigma \to \mathcal{M}\) constrained such that \(\Phi(\partial \Sigma) \subset\mathcal{N}\). The author studies the asymptotic behavior of the critical maps \(\Phi\) for the functional \[ E_\sigma(\Phi) :=\mathrm{area}(\Phi)+ \sigma\mathrm{length}(\Phi|_{\partial\Sigma})+\sigma^4\int_\Sigma ||\mathrm{II}^\Phi ||\mathrm{vol}_\Phi,\] as the parameter \(\sigma\) approaches \(0\). Here, \(\mathrm{II}^\Phi\) is the second fundamental form of the immersion \(\Phi\), and \(\mathrm{vol}_\Phi\) is the volume form for the metric induced on \(\Sigma\) by \(\Phi\). In this paper he adapts \textit{T. Rivière}'s viscosity method in the min-max theory of minimal surfaces [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 126, 177--246 (2017; Zbl 1387.53084)] to the free boundary problem described above.

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