arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Luca Spolaor.
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.
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.
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.
We prove that for minimizers of the vectorial Alt-Caffarelli functional the two-phase singular set of the free boundary is rectifiable and the blow-up is unique almost everywhere on it. While the first conclusion is an application of the recent techniques developed by Naber and Valtorta, the uniqueness part follows from the rectifiability and a new application of the Alt-Caffarelli-Friedman monotonicity formula.
We give three different proofs of the log-epiperimetric inequality at singular points for the obstacle problem. In the first, direct proof, we write the competitor explicitly; the second proof is also constructive, but this time the competitor is given through the solution of an evolution problem on the sphere. We compare the competitors obtained in the different proofs and their relation to other similar results that appeared recently. Finally, in the appendix, we give a general theorem, which can be applied also in other contexts and in which the construction of the competitor is reduced to finding a flow satisfying two differential inequalities.
We prove a regularity theorem for the free boundary of minimizers of the two-phase Bernoulli problem, completing the analysis started by Alt, Caffarelli and Friedman in the 80s. As a consequence, we also show regularity of minimizers of the multiphase spectral optimization problem for the principal eigenvalue of the Dirichlet Laplacian.
In this paper we prove uniqueness of blow-ups and $C^{1,\log}$-regularity for the free-boundary of minimizers of the Alt-Caffarelli functional at points where one blow-up has an isolated singularity. We do this by establishing a (log-)epiperimetric inequality for the Weiss energy for traces close to that of a cone with isolated singularity, whose free-boundary is graphical and smooth over that of the cone in the sphere. With additional assumptions on the cone, we can prove a classical epiperimetric inequality which can be applied to deduce a $C^{1,α}$ regularity result. We also show that these additional assumptions are satisfied by the De Silva-Jerison-type cones, which are the only known examples of minimizing cones with isolated singularity. Our approach draws a connection between epiperimetric inequalities and the Łojasiewicz inequality, and, to our knowledge, provides the first regularity result at singular points in the one-phase Bernoulli problem.
Hardt-Simon proved that every area-minimizing hypercone $\mathbf{C}$ having only an isolated singularity fits into a foliation of $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ by smooth, area-minimizing hypersurfaces asymptotic to $\mathbf{C}$. In this paper we prove that if a stationary $n$-varifold $M$ in the unit ball $B_1 \subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ lies sufficiently close to a minimizing quadratic cone (for example, the Simons' cone $\mathbf{C}^{3,3}$), then $\mathrm{spt} M \cap B_{1/2}$ is a $C^{1,α}$ perturbation of either the cone itself, or some leaf of its associated foliation. In particular, we show that singularities modeled on these cones determine the local structure not only of $M$, but of any nearby minimal surface. Our result also implies the Bernstein-type result of Simon-Solomon, which characterizes area-minimizing hypersurfaces asymptotic to a quadratic cone as either the cone itself, or some leaf of the foliation.
We answer a question left open in [Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 230 (1) (2018), 125-184] and [Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 230 (2) (2018), 783-784], by proving that the blow-up limit of minimizers $u$ of the lower dimensional obstacle problem is unique at generic point of the free-boundary.
We study the Riemannian quantiative isoperimetric inequality. We show that direct analogue of the Euclidean quantitative isoperimetric inequality is--in general--false on a closed Riemannian manifold. In spite of this, we show that the inequality is true generically. Moreover, we show that a modified (but sharp) version of the quantitative isoperimetric inequality holds for a real analytic metric, using the Lojasiewicz-Simon inequality. A main novelty of our work is that in all our results we do not require any a priori knowledge on the structure/shape of the minimizers.
In this paper we prove a $C^{1,α}$ regularity result in dimension two for almost-minimizers of the constrained one-phase Alt-Caffarelli and the two-phase Alt-Caffarelli-Friedman functionals for an energy with variable coefficients. As a consequence, we deduce the complete regularity of solutions of a multiphase shape optimization problem for the first eigenvalue of the Dirichlet-Laplacian up to the fixed boundary. One of the main ingredient is a new application of the epiperimetric-inequality of Spolaor-Velichkov [CPAM, 2018] up to the boundary. While the framework that leads to this application is valid in every dimension, the epiperimetric inequality is known only in dimension two, thus the restriction on the dimension.
We consider various versions of the obstacle and thin-obstacle problems, we interpret them as variational inequalities, with non-smooth constraint, and prove that they satisfy a new constrained Lojasiewicz inequality. The difficulty lies in the fact that, since the constraint is non-analytic, the pioneering method of L. Simon (Ann. of Math. 118(3), 1983) does not apply and we have to exploit a better understanding on the constraint itself. We then apply this inequality to two associated problems. First we combine it with an abstract result on parabolic variational inequalities, to prove the convergence at infinity of the strong global solutions to the parabolic obstacle and thin-obstacle problems to a unique stationary solution with a rate. Secondly, we give an abstract proof, based on a parabolic approach, of the epiperimetric inequality, which we then apply to the singular points of the obstacle and thin-obstacle problems.
We prove a new logarithmic epiperimetric inequality for multiplicity-one stationary cones with isolated singularity by flowing in the radial direction any given trace along appropriately chosen directions. In contrast to previous epiperimetric inequalities for minimal surfaces (e.g. those of Reifenberg, Taylor and White), we need no a priori assumptions on the structure of the cone (e.g. integrability). Moreover, if the cone is integrable (not only through rotations), we recover the classical epiperimetric inequality. As a consequence we deduce a new $\varepsilon$-regularity result for almost area-minimizing currents at singular points, where at least one blow-up is a multiplicity-one cone with isolated singularity. This result is similar to the one for stationary varifolds of Leon Simon, but independent from it since almost minimizers do not satisfy any equation.
We adapt the method of Simon [JDG '93] to prove a $C^{1,α}$-regularity theorem for minimal varifolds which resemble a cone $\bf{C}_0^2$ over an equiangular geodesic net. For varifold classes admitting a "no-hole" condition on the singular set, we additionally establish $C^{1,α}$-regularity near the cone $\bf{C}_0^2 \times \mathbb R^m$. Combined with work of Allard [Ann. of Math. '72], Simon [JDG '93], Taylor [Ann. of Math. '76], and Naber-Valtorta [Ann. of Math. '17], our result implies a $C^{1,α}$-structure for the top three strata of minimizing clusters and size-minimizing currents, and a Lipschitz structure on the $(n-3)$-stratum.
For the thin obstacle problem, we prove by a new direct method that in any dimension the Weiss' energies with frequency $\frac32$ and $2m$, for $m\in \mathbb N$, satisfy an epiperimetric inequality, in the latter case of logarithmic type. In particular, at difference from the classical statements, we do not assume any a priori closeness to a special class of homogeneous functions. In dimension $2$, we also prove the epiperimetric inequality at any free boundary point. As a first application, we improve the set of admissible frequencies for blow ups, previously known to be $λ\in \{\frac32\} \cup [2,\infty)$, and we classify the global $λ$-homogeneous minimizers, with $λ\in [\frac32,2+c]\cup\bigcup_{m\in \mathbb N}(2m-c_m^-,2m+c_m^+)$, showing as a consequence that the frequencies $\frac32$ and $2m$ are isolated. Secondly, we give a short and self-contained proof of the regularity of the free boundary previously obtained by Athanasopoulos-Caffarelli-Salsa (Amer. J. Math., 130(2) (2008), 485-498) for regular points and Garofalo-Petrosyan (Invent. Math., 177(2) (2009), 415-461) for singular points, by means of an epiperimetric inequality of logarithmic type which applies for the first time also at all singular points of thin-obstacle free boundaries. In particular we improve the $C^1$ regularity of the singular set with frequency $2m$ by an explicit logarithmic modulus of continuity.
We construct a branched center manifold in a neighborhood of a singular point of a $2$-dimensional integral current which is almost minimizing in a suitable sense. Our construction is the first half of an argument which shows the discreteness of the singular set for the following three classes of $2$-dimensional currents: area minimizing in Riemannian manifolds, semicalibrated and spherical cross sections of $3$-dimensional area minimizing cones.
For the general obstacle problem, we prove by direct methods an epiperimetric inequality at regular and singular points, thus answering a question of Weiss (Invent. Math., 138 (1999), 23--50). In particular at singular points we introduce a new tool, which we call logarithmic epiperimetric inequality, which yields an explicit logarithmic modulus of continuity on the $C^1$ regularity of the singular set, thus improving previous results of Caffarelli and Monneau.
Using a direct approach, we prove a $2$-dimensional epiperimetric inequality for the one-phase problem in the scalar and vectorial cases and for the double-phase problem. From this we deduce, in dimension $2$, the $C^{1,α}$ regularity of the free-boundary in the scalar one-phase and double-phase problems, and of the reduced free-boundary in the vectorial case, without any restriction on the sign of the component functions. Furthermore we show that in the vectorial case the free boundary can end in a cusp.