Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Annalisa Massaccesi

Publications and source records attributed to Annalisa Massaccesi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

$\mathscr{A}$-free measures and the Rank-one Theorem in Carnot Groups

We establish a structure theorem for measures satisfying left-invariant PDE constraints in Carnot groups. Our generalization, that takes inspiration from the paper arxiv:1601.06543 by the first named author and F. Rindler, requires the introduction of the hypoelliptic wave cone, a sub-Riemannian version of the wave cone from the theory of Compensated Compactness, and it employs classical results in Harmonic Analysis on homogeneous spaces. Then, we utilize this result to extend the Rank-one Theorem for functions of bounded horizontal variation ($BV_H$) to all Carnot groups. This is achieved by considering a suitable curl-type left-invariant operator, that provides necessary differential constraints for horizontal gradients, and by studying the hypoellipticity of said constraints.

math.AP↗
arXiv2025

Variational models of robust optimal transport

This paper introduces two variational formulations for a model of robust optimal transport, that is, the problem of designing optimal transport networks that are resilient to potential damages, balancing construction costs against the benefit of maintaining partial functionality when parts of the network are damaged. We propose a Eulerian formulation, where the network is modeled by a rectifiable measure and recovery plans are represented by 1-dimensional normal currents. This framework allows for changes in the direction of the transportation in response to damages but restricts damages to be characteristic functions of closed sets. We also propose a Lagrangian formulation, where the network is a traffic plan (that is, a measure on the space of Lipschitz curves) and recovery plans are sub-traffic plans. This approach prescribes the network's orientation but allows for a wider class of damages. We prove existence of minimizers in both settings. The two models are compared through examples that illustrate their main differences: the Eulerian formulation's necessity for an unoriented network to achieve existence, the Lagrangian formulation's ability to handle general damages and its requirement for a positive distance between the supports of the source and target measures.

math.AP↗
arXiv2025

Frobenius theorem and fine structure of tangency sets to non-involutive distributions

In this paper we provide a complete answer to the question whether Frobenius' Theorem can be generalized to surfaces below the $C^{1,1}$ threshold. We study the fine structure of the tangency set in terms of involutivity of a given distribution and we highlight a tradeoff behavior between the regularity of a tangent surface and that of the tangency set. First of all, we prove a Frobenius-type result, that is, given a $k$-dimensional surface $S$ of class $C^1$ and a non-involutive $k$-distribution $V$, if $E$ is a Borel set contained in the tangency set $τ(S,V)$ of $S$ to $V$ and $\mathbb1_E\in W^{s,1}(S)$ with $s>1/2$ then $E$ must be $\mathscr{H}^k$-null in $S$. In addition, if $S$ is locally a graph of a $C^1$ function with gradient in $W^{α,q}$ and if a Borel set $E \subset τ(S,V)$ satisfies $ \mathbb1_E\in W^{s,1}(S)$ with \[ s \in \bigl(0,\tfrac{1}{2}\bigr]\qquad\text{and}\qquadα\;>\; 1 - \Bigl(2 - \tfrac{1}{q}\Bigr) \, s, \] then $\mathscr{H}^k(E) = 0$. We show this exponents' condition to be sharp by constructing, for any $α< 1 - \bigl(2 - \tfrac{1}{q}\bigr) s$, a surface $S $ in the same class as above and a set $E \subset τ(S,V)$ with $\mathbb1_E \in W^{s,1}(S)$ and $\mathscr{H}^k(E) > 0$. Our methods combine refined fractional Sobolev estimates on rectifiable sets, a Stokes-type theorem for rough forms on finite-perimeter sets, and a generalization of the Lusin's Theorem for gradients.

math.DG↗
arXiv2025

Tangency sets of non-involutive distributions and unrectifiability in Carnot-Carathéodory spaces

In this paper, we establish refined versions of the Frobenius Theorem for non-involutive distributions and use these refinements to prove an unrectifiability result for Carnot-Carathéodory spaces. We also introduce a new class of metric spaces that extends the framework of Carnot-Carathéodory geometry and show that, within this class, Carnot-Carathéodory spaces are, in some sense, extremal. Our results provide new insights into the relationship between integrability, non-involutivity, and rectifiability in both classical and sub-Riemannian settings.

math.DG↗
arXiv2024

Besicovitch's 1/2 problem and linear programming

We consider the following classical conjecture of Besicovitch: a $1$-dimensional Borel set in the plane with finite Hausdorff $1$-dimensional measure $\mathcal{H}^1$ which has lower density strictly larger than $\frac{1}{2}$ almost everywhere must be countably rectifiable. We improve the best known bound, due to Preiss and Tišer, showing that the statement is indeed true if $\frac{1}{2}$ is replaced by $\frac{7}{10}$ (in fact we improve the Preiss-Tišer bound even for the corresponding statement in general metric spaces). More importantly, we propose a family of variational problems to produce the latter and many other similar bounds and we study several properties of them, paving the way for further improvements.

math.CA↗
arXiv2023

Energy minimizing maps with prescribed singularities and Gilbert-Steiner optimal networks

We investigate the relation between energy minimizing maps valued into spheres having topological singularities at given points and optimal networks connecting them (e.g. Steiner trees, Gilbert-Steiner irrigation networks). We show the equivalence of the corresponding variational problems, interpreting in particular the branched optimal transport problem as a homological Plateau problem for rectifiable currents with values in a suitable normed group. This generalizes the pioneering work by Brezis, Coron and Lieb [10].

math.OC↗
arXiv2022

On the geometric structure of currents tangent to smooth distributions

It is well known that a k-dimensional smooth surface in a Euclidean space cannot be tangent to a non-involutive distribution of k-dimensional planes. In this paper we discuss the extension of this statement to weaker notions of surfaces, namely integral and normal currents. We find out that integral currents behave to this regard exactly as smooth surfaces, while the behaviour of normal currents is rather multifaceted. This issue is strictly related to a geometric property of the boundary of currents, which is also discussed in details.

math.DG↗
arXiv2021

On the boundary behavior of mass-minimizing integral currents

Let $Σ$ be a smooth Riemannian manifold, $Γ\subset Σ$ a smooth closed oriented submanifold of codimension higher than $2$ and $T$ an integral area-minimizing current in $Σ$ which bounds $Γ$. We prove that the set of regular points of $T$ at the boundary is dense in $Γ$. Prior to our theorem the existence of any regular point was not known, except for some special choice of $Σ$ and $Γ$. As a corollary we answer to a question of Almgren about the connectivity of minimizers.

math.AP↗
arXiv2021

A multi-material transport problem with arbitrary marginals

In this paper we study general transportation problems in $\mathbb{R}^n$, in which $m$ different goods are moved simultaneously. The initial and final positions of the goods are prescribed by measures $μ^-$, $μ^+$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ with values in $\mathbb{R}^m$. When the measures are finite atomic, a discrete transportation network is a measure $T$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ with values in $\mathbb{R}^{n\times m}$ represented by an oriented graph $\mathcal{G}$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ whose edges carry multiplicities in $\mathbb{R}^m$. The constraint is encoded in the relation ${\rm div}(T)=μ^--μ^+$. The cost of the discrete transportation $T$ is obtained integrating on $\mathcal{G}$ a general function $\mathcal{C}:\mathbb{R}^m\to\mathbb{R}$ of the multiplicity. When the initial data $\left(μ^-,μ^+\right)$ are arbitrary (possibly diffuse) measures, the cost of a transportation network between them is computed by relaxation of the functional on graphs mentioned above. Our main result establishes the existence of cost-minimizing transportation networks for arbitrary data $\left(μ^-,μ^+\right)$. Furthermore, under additional assumptions on the cost integrand $\mathcal{C}$, we prove the existence of transportation networks with finite cost and the stability of the minimizers with respect to variations of the given data. Finally, we provide an explicit integral representation formula for the cost of rectifiable transportation networks, and we characterize the costs such that every transportation network with finite cost is rectifiable.

math.AP↗
arXiv2020

The oriented mailing problem and its convex relaxation

In this note we introduce a new model for the mailing problem in branched transportation in order to allow the cost functional to take into account the orientation of the moving particles. This gives an effective answer to [Problem 15.9] of the book "Optimal transportation networks" by Bernot, Caselles, and Morel. Moreover we define a convex relaxation in terms of rectifiable currents with group coefficients. With such approach we provide the problem with a notion of calibration. Using similar techniques we define a convex relaxation and a corresponding notion of calibration for a variant of the Steiner tree problem in which a connectedness constraint is assigned only among a certain partition of a given set of finitely many points.

math.AP↗
arXiv2019

A multi-material transport problem and its convex relaxation via rectifiable $G$-currents

In this paper we study a variant of the branched transportation problem, that we call multi-material transport problem. This is a transportation problem, where distinct commodities are transported simultaneously along a network. The cost of the transportation depends on the network used to move the masses, as it is common in models studied in branched transportation. The main novelty is that in our model the cost per unit length of the network does not depend only on the total flow, but on the actual quantity of each commodity. This allows to take into account different interactions between the transported goods. We propose an Eulerian formulation of the discrete problem, describing the flow of each commodity through every point of the network. We provide minimal assumptions on the cost, under which existence of solutions can be proved. Moreover, we prove that, under mild additional assumptions, the problem can be rephrased as a mass minimization problem in a class of rectifiable currents with coefficients in a group, allowing to introduce a notion of calibration. The latter result is new even in the well studied framework of the "single-material" branched transportation.

math.AP↗
arXiv2018

Boundary regularity of mass-minimizing integral currents and a question of Almgren

This short note is the announcement of a forthcoming work in which we prove a first general boundary regularity result for area-minimizing currents in higher codimension, without any geometric assumption on the boundary, except that it is an embedded submanifold of a Riemannian manifold, with a mild amount of smoothness ($C^{3, a_0}$ for a positive $a_0$ suffices). Our theorem allows to answer a question posed by Almgren at the end of his Big Regularity Paper. In this note we discuss the ideas of the proof and we also announce a theorem which shows that the boundary regularity is in general weaker that the interior regularity. Moreover we remark an interesting elementary byproduct on boundary monotonicity formulae.

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

Rank-one theorem and subgraphs of BV functions in Carnot groups

We prove a rank-one theorem à la G. Alberti for the derivatives of vector-valued maps with bounded variation in a class of Carnot groups that includes Heisenberg groups $\mathbb H^n$ for $n\geq 2$. The main tools are properties relating the horizontal derivatives of a real-valued function with bounded variation and its subgraph.

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

On some geometric properties of currents and Frobenius theorem

In this note we announce some results, due to appear in [2], [3], on the structure of integral and normal currents, and their relation to Frobenius theorem. In particular we show that an integral current cannot be tangent to a distribution of planes which is nowhere involutive (Theorem 3.6), and that a normal current which is tangent to an involutive distribution of planes can be locally foliated in terms of integral currents (Theorem 4.3). This statement gives a partial answer to a question raised by Frank Morgan in [1].

math.DG↗
arXiv2016

Is a nonlocal diffusion strategy convenient for biological populations in competition?

We study the convenience of a nonlocal dispersal strategy in a reaction-diffusion system with a fractional Laplacian operator. We show that there are circumstances - namely, a precise condition on the distribution of the resource - under which a nonlocal dispersal behavior is favored. In particular, we consider the linearization of a biological system that models the interaction of two biological species, one with local and one with nonlocal dispersal, that are competing for the same resource. We give a simple, concrete example of resources for which the equilibrium with only the local population becomes linearly unstable. In a sense, this example shows that nonlocal strategies can become successful even in an environment in which purely local strategies are dominant at the beginning, provided that the resource is sufficiently sparse. Indeed, the example considered presents a high variance of the distribution of the dispersal, thus suggesting that the shortage of resources and their unbalanced supply may be some of the basic ingredients that favor nonlocal strategies.

math.AP↗
arXiv2014

Modeling of dislocations and relaxation of functionals on 1-currents with discrete multiplicity

In the modeling of dislocations one is lead naturally to energies concentrated on lines, where the integrand depends on the orientation and on the Burgers vector of the dislocation, which belongs to a discrete lattice. The dislocations may be identified with divergence-free matrix-valued measures supported on curves or with 1-currents with multiplicity in a lattice. In this paper we develop the theory of relaxation for these energies and provide one physically motivated example in which the relaxation for some Burgers vectors is nontrivial and can be determined explicitly. From a technical viewpoint the key ingredients are an approximation and a structure theorem for 1-currents with multiplicity in a lattice.

math.AP↗