Length-constrained and length-penalised curve diffusion flows of planar curves inside cones

Abstract

We study families of smooth, embedded, regular planar curves $ \alpha : \left [-1,1 \right ]\times \left [0,T \right )\to \mathbb{R}^{2}$ with generalised Neumann boundary conditions inside cones, satisfying three variants of the fourth-order nonlinear curve diffusion flow: (1) curve diffusion flow with a length penalisation, (2, 3) two forms of constrained curve diffusion flow with fixed length. We prove in cases (2) and (3) for cone angle less than $\pi$, if the initial curve has small oscillation of curvature and the initial curve is sufficiently far from the cone tip, then the solution exists for all time and converges exponentially in the $C^\infty$-topology to a circular arc with the same length as the initial curve. In case (1), a similar result holds under suitable rescaling. In all cases, the limiting arc is centred at the cone tip.