A curvature flow for radially symmetric hypersurfaces in R^n+1 by non-symmetric speed of their principal curvatures

The paper under review studies the evolution of a convex compact hypersurface \(\Sigma\) in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) under a geometric flow involving the principal curvatures of \(\Sigma\). The evolution is described by the equation\N\[\N\frac{\partial X}{\partial t} = \left( k_1^{\alpha_1}+\ldots+k_n^{\alpha_n}\right) N,\N\]\Nwhere \(X\), \(N\), and \(k_1, \dots,k_n\) denote, respectively, the position vector, the unit normal and the principal curvatures of the evolving hypersurface, while \(\alpha_1, \dots,\alpha_n\) are fixed positive real numbers.\N\NIt is assumed that the evolved hypersurface is rotationally symmetric. Representing the profile curve of the hypersurface as the graph \(x^{n+1}=f(x^1;t)\) of a nonnegative smooth function \(f(x^1;t): [a(t),b(t)]\to \mathbb{R}\), the evolution reduces to the following equation:\N\[\Nf^\prime_t = -\sum\limits_{j=1}^{n-1}\frac{1}{f^{\alpha_j}\sqrt{1+(f^\prime_{x^1})^2}^{\alpha_j-1}} - \frac{(-f^{\prime\prime}_{x^1x^1})^{\alpha_n}}{\sqrt{1+(f^\prime_{x^1})^2}^{3\alpha_n-1}}\N\]\Nsubject to the boundary conditions\N\[\Nf(a(t))=0, \ f(b(t))=0, \qquad \lim\limits_{x^1\downarrow a(t)}f^\prime_{x^1}=+\infty,\ \lim\limits_{x^1\uparrow b(t)}f^\prime_{x^1}=-\infty.\N\]\NIn the general case, a short time existence theorem is proved: if a smooth initial function \(f_0 : [0, 1] \to \mathbb{R}\) satisfies \(f_0 > 0\) and \(f_0^{\prime\prime} < 0\) on \((0, 1)\), \(f_0(0) = f_0(1) = 0\), and meets the \(x^1\)-axis orthogonally, then there exists \(T> 0\) such that the scalar flow in question admits a smooth solution on \([a(t), b(t)]\times\{t\}\) for \(t\in [0, T )\), where \([a(t), b(t)] \in [0, 1]\).\N\NMost of the paper is devoted to the particular case of \(\alpha_1= \dots =\alpha_{n-1}=1\) and \(\alpha_n=\frac{1}{3}\), which leads to a simpler form of the evolution equation. First, it is shown that the flow preserves smoothness and convexity for all times of existence. Next, it is proved that the surface area of the evolving hypersurface decreases with time, so that the hypersurface collapses to a point. In particular, the time interval \([a(t), b(t)]\) shrinks in a finite time \(T \leq\frac{1}{2(n-1)}\max\limits_{x^1\in [0,1]} f_0^2\) to a point where \(f\) vanishes as well. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that if a time-dependent rescaling is applied so that the evolving hypersurface encloses a constant volume, then the rescaled solution converges to a closed convex hypersurface of revolution. Moreover, it is shown that if the initial hypersurface has no umbilical points other than the poles, then it will not become umbilical before the extinction time.\N\NAs illustrative examples, the paper discusses specific self-similar solutions represented by spheres and ellipsoids in the case of \(n=2\), \(\alpha_1=1\) and \(\alpha_2=\frac{1}{3}\).

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