Shape Optimization Problems for Metric Graphs

Abstract

We consider the shape optimization problem $$\min\big\{{\mathcal E}(Γ)\ :\ Γ\in{\mathcal A},\ {\mathcal H}^1(Γ)=l\ \big\},$$ where ${\mathcal H}^1$ is the one-dimensional Hausdorff measure and ${\mathcal A}$ is an admissible class of one-dimensional sets connecting some prescribed set of points ${\mathcal D}=\{D_1,\dots,D_k\}\subset{\mathbb R}^d$. The cost functional ${\mathcal E}(Γ)$ is the Dirichlet energy of $Γ$ defined through the Sobolev functions on $Γ$ vanishing on the points $D_i$. We analyze the existence of a solution in both the families of connected sets and of metric graphs. At the end, several explicit examples are discussed.