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Luca Spolaor

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Spolaor.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Fine structure of the two-phase Bernoulli free boundaries in 2D

We prove that the branching set of a solution to a two-dimensional two-phase Bernoulli problem with constant coefficients is locally finite. We do this via a Weierstrass representation formula, which allows to transform the problem into a new geometric two-phase problem for capillary minimal surfaces. We also apply this method to the obstacle problem establishing a connection between the directional derivatives of solutions to the obstacle problem and the linear thin two-membrane problem.

math.AP

Stationary and stable varifolds with singularities

We construct minimal $m$-dimensional immersions in $\R^{m+1}$, equipped with a $C^{1, \alpha}$ metric, $\alpha\in [0,1)$, with a sequence of \emph{catenoidal necks} or \emph{floating disks} converging to an isolated, multiplicity $2$, singular flat point.

math.DG

Structure of two-dimensional mod$(q)$ area-minimizing currents near flat singularities: the codimension one case

We obtain a fine structural result for two-dimensional mod$(q)$ area-minimizing currents of codimension one, close to flat singularities. Precisely, we show that, locally around any such singularity, the current is a $C^{1,\alpha}$-perturbation of the graph of a radially homogeneous special multiple-valued function that arises from a superposition of homogeneous harmonic polynomials. Additionally, as a preliminary step towards an analogous result in arbitrary codimension, we prove in general that the set of flat singularities of density $\frac{q}{2}$, where the current is ``genuinely mod$(q)$", consists of isolated points.

math.AP

Rectifiability of the singular set and uniqueness of tangent cones for semicalibrated currents

We prove that the singular set of an $m$-dimensional integral current $T$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n + m}$, semicalibrated by a $C^{2, κ_0}$ $m$-form $ω$ is countably $(m - 2)$-rectifiable. Furthermore, we show that there is a unique tangent cone at $\mathcal{H}^{m - 2}$-a.e. point in the interior singular set of $T$. Our proof adapts techniques that were recently developed in [DLS23a, DLS23b, DLMS23] for area-minimizing currents to this setting.

math.AP

Unique continuation for nonlinear variational problems

This paper is dedicated to the unique continuation properties of the solutions to nonlinear variational problems. Our analysis covers the case of nonlinear autonomous functionals depending on the gradient, as well as more general double phase and multiphase functionals with $(2,q)$-growth in the gradient. We show that all these cases fall in a class of nonlinear functionals for which we are able to prove weak and strong unique continuation via the almost-monotonicity of Almgren's frequency formula. As a consequence, we obtain estimates on the dimension of the set of points at which both the solution and its gradient vanish.

math.AP

On the boundary branching set of the one-phase problem

We consider minimizers of the one-phase Bernoulli free boundary problem in domains with analytic fixed boundary. In any dimension $d$, we prove that the branching set at the boundary has Hausdorff dimension at most $d-2$. As a consequence, we also obtain an analogous estimate on the branching set for solutions to the two-phase problem under an analytic separation condition. Moreover, as a byproduct of our analysis we obtain strong boundary unique continuation results for quasilinear operators and thin-obstacle variational inequalities. The approach we use is based on the (almost-)monotonicity of a boundary Almgren-type frequency function, obtained via regularity estimates and a Calderón-Zygmund decomposition in the spirit of Almgren-De Lellis-Spadaro.

math.AP

Interior regularity for two-dimensional stationary $Q$-valued maps

We prove that $2$-dimensional $Q$-valued maps that are stationary with respect to outer and inner variations of the Dirichlet energy are Hölder continuous and that the dimension of their singular set is at most one. In the course of the proof we establish a strong concentration-compactness theorem for equicontinuous maps that are stationary with respect to outer variations only, and which holds in every dimensions.

math.AP

On the fine structure of the solutions to nonlinear thin two-membrane problems in 2D

We prove a structure theorem for the solutions of nonlinear thin two-membrane problems in dimension two. Using the theory of quasi-conformal maps, we show that the difference of the sheets is topologically equivalent to a solution of the linear thin obstacle problem, thus inheriting its free boundary structure. More precisely, we show that even in the nonlinear case the branching points can only occur in finite number. We apply our methods to one-phase free boundaries approaching a fixed analytic boundary and to the solutions of a one-sided two-phase Bernoulli problem.

math.AP

Excess decay for minimizing hypercurrents mod $2Q$

We consider codimension $1$ area-minimizing $m$-dimensional currents $T$ mod an even integer $p=2Q$ in a $C^2$ Riemannian submanifold $\Sigma$ of the Euclidean space. We prove a suitable excess-decay estimate towards the unique tangent cone at every point $q\in \mathrm{spt} (T)\setminus \mathrm{spt}^p (\partial T)$ where at least one such tangent cone is $Q$ copies of a single plane. While an analogous decay statement was proved in arXiv:2111.11202 as a corollary of a more general theory for stable varifolds, in our statement we strive for the optimal dependence of the estimates upon the second fundamental form of $\Sigma$. This technical improvement is in fact needed in arXiv:2201.10204 to prove that the singular set of $T$ can be decomposed into a $C^{1,\alpha}$ $(m-1)$-dimensional submanifold and an additional closed remaining set of Hausdorff dimension at most $m-2$.

math.AP

The symmetric (log-)epiperimetric inequality and a decay-growth estimate

We introduce a symmetric (log-)epiperimetric inequality, generalizing the standard epiperimetric inequality, and we show that it implies a growth-decay for the associated energy: as the radius increases energy decays while negative and grows while positive. One can view the symmetric epiperimetric inequality as giving a log-convexity of energy, analogous to the 3-annulus lemma or frequency formula. We establish the symmetric epiperimetric inequality for some free-boundary problems and almost-minimizing currents, and give some applications including a ``propagation of graphicality'' estimate, uniqueness of blow-downs at infinity, and a local Liouville-type theorem.

math.AP

Singular behavior and generic regularity of min-max minimal hypersurfaces

We show that for a generic $8$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with positive Ricci curvature, there exists a smooth minimal hypersurface. Without the curvature condition, we show that for a dense set of 8-dimensional Riemannian metrics there exists a minimal hypersurface with at most one singular point. This extends previous work on generic regularity that only dealt with area-minimizing hypersurfaces. These results are a consequence of a more general estimate for a one-parameter min-max minimal hypersurface $Σ\subset (M,g)$ (valid in any dimension): $$\mathcal H^{0} (\mathcal{S}_{nm}(Σ)) +{\rm Index}(Σ) \leq 1$$ where $\mathcal{S}_{nm}(Σ)$ denotes the set of singular points of $Σ$ with a unique tangent cone non-area minimizing on either side.

math.DG

Quantitative Stability for Minimizing Yamabe Metrics

On any closed Riemannian manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$, we prove that if a function nearly minimizes the Yamabe energy, then the corresponding conformal metric is close, in a quantitative sense, to a minimizing Yamabe metric in the conformal class. Generically, this distance is controlled quadratically by the Yamabe energy deficit. Finally, we produce an example for which this quadratic estimate is false.

math.AP

Fine structure of the singular set of area minimizing hypersurfaces modulo $p$

Consider an area minimizing current modulo $p$ of dimension $m$ in a smooth Riemannian manifold of dimension $m+1$. We prove that its interior singular set is, up to a relatively closed set of dimension at most $m-2$, a $C^{1,α}$ submanifold of dimension $m-1$ at which, locally, $N\leq p$ regular sheets of the current join transversally, each sheet counted with a positive multiplicity $k_i$ so that $\sum_i k_i = p$. This completes the analysis of the structure of the singular set of area minimizing hypersurfaces modulo $p$, initiated by J. Taylor for $m=2$ and $p=3$ and extended by the authors to arbitrary $m$ and all odd $p$ in arXiv:2105.08135. We tackle the remaining case of even $p$ by showing that the set of singular points admitting a flat blow-up is of codimension at least two in the current. First, we prove a structural result for the singularities of minimizers in the linearized problem, by combining an epiperimetric inequality with an analysis of homogeneous minimizers to conclude that the corresponding degrees of homogeneity are always integers; second, we refine Almgren's blow-up procedure to prove that all flat singularities of the current persist as singularities of the $\mathrm{Dir}$-minimizing limit. An important ingredient of our analysis is the uniqueness of flat tangent cones at singular points, recently established by Minter and Wickramasekera in arXiv:2111.11202.

math.AP

(Quasi-)conformal methods in two-dimensional free boundary problems

In this paper we study the local behavior of solutions to some free boundary problems. We relate the theory of quasi-conformal maps to the regularity of the solutions to nonlinear thin-obstacle problems; we prove that the contact set is locally a finite union of intervals and we apply this result to the solutions of one-phase Bernoulli problems with geometric constraint. We also introduce a new conformal hodograph transform, which allows to obtain the precise expansion at branch points of both the solutions to the one-phase problem with geometric constraint and a class of symmetric solutions to the two-phase problem, as well as to construct examples of free boundaries with cusp-like singularities.

math.AP