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Max Engelstein

Publications and source records attributed to Max Engelstein.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

Square functions, non-tangential limits and harmonic measure in co-dimensions larger than one

In this paper, we characterize the rectifiability (both uniform and not) of an Ahlfors regular set, E, of arbitrary co-dimension by the behavior of a regularized distance function in the complement of that set. In particular, we establish a certain version of the Riesz transform characterization of rectifiability for lower-dimensional sets. We also uncover a special situation in which the regularized distance is itself a solution to a degenerate elliptic operator in the complement of E. This allows us to precisely compute the harmonic measure of those sets associated to this degenerate operator and prove that, in a sharp contrast with the usual setting of co-dimension one, a converse to the Dahlberg's theorem (see [Da] and [DFM2]) must be false on lower dimensional boundaries without additional assumptions.

math.AP↗
arXiv2019

Uniqueness of the blow-up at isolated singularities for the Alt-Caffarelli functional

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.

math.AP↗
arXiv2019

The Riemannian Quantitative Isoperimetric Inequality

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.

math.DG↗
arXiv2019

Minimizers for the thin one-phase free boundary problem

We consider the "thin one-phase" free boundary problem, associated to minimizing a weighted Dirichlet energy of the function in $\mathbb R^{n+1}_+$ plus the area of the positivity set of that function in $\mathbb R^n$. We establish full regularity of the free boundary for dimensions $n \leq 2$, prove almost everywhere regularity of the free boundary in arbitrary dimension and provide content and structure estimates on the singular set of the free boundary when it exists. All of these results hold for the full range of the relevant weight. While our results are typical for the calculus of variations, our approach does not follow the standard one first introduced in \cite{AltCaffarelli}. Instead, the nonlocal nature of the distributional measure associated to a minimizer necessitates arguments which are less reliant on the underlying PDE.

math.AP↗
arXiv2019

Regularity of the singular set in a two-phase problem for harmonic measure with Hölder data

In non-variational two-phase free boundary problems for harmonic measure, we examine how the relationship between the interior and exterior harmonic measures of a domain $Ω\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ influences the geometry of its boundary. This type of free boundary problem was initially studied by Kenig and Toro in 2006 and was further examined in a series of separate and joint investigations by several authors. The focus of the present paper is on the singular set in the free boundary, where the boundary looks infinitesimally like zero sets of homogeneous harmonic polynomials of degree at least 2. We prove that if the Radon-Nikodym derivative of the exterior harmonic measure with respect to the interior harmonic measure has a Hölder continuous logarithm, then the free boundary admits unique geometric blowups at every singular point and the singular set can be covered by countably many $C^{1,β}$ submanifolds of dimension at most $n-3$. This result is partly obtained by adapting tools such as Garofalo and Petrosyan's Weiss type monotonicity formula and an epiperimetric inequality for harmonic functions from the variational to the non-variational setting.

math.AP↗
arXiv2019

Free Boundary Regularity for Almost-Minimizers

In this paper we study the free boundary regularity for almost-minimizers of the functional \begin{equation*} J(u)=\int_{\mathcal O} |\nabla u(x)|^2 +q^2_+(x)χ_{\{u>0\}}(x) +q^2_-(x)χ_{\{u<0\}}(x)\ dx \end{equation*} where $q_\pm \in L^\infty(\mathcal O)$. Almost-minimizers satisfy a variational inequality but not a PDE or a monotonicity formula the way minimizers do (see [AC], [ACF], [CJK], [W]). Nevertheless we succeed in proving that, under a non-degeneracy assumption on $q_\pm$, the free boundary is uniformly rectifiable. Furthermore, when $q_-\equiv 0$, and $q_+$ is Hölder continuous we show that the free boundary is almost-everywhere given as the graph of a $C^{1,α}$ function (thus extending the results of [AC] to almost-minimizers).

math.AP↗
arXiv2018

(Log-)epiperimetric inequality and regularity over smooth cones for almost Area-Minimizing currents

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.

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

Parabolic NTA domains in $\mathbb R^2$

We show that each connected component of the boundary of a parabolic NTA domain in $\mathbb R^2$ is given by a graph. We then apply this observation to classify blowup solutions in $\mathbb R^2$ to a free boundary problem for caloric measure first considered by Hofmann, Lewis and Nyström (Duke Math J. 2004).

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

Quantitative stratification for some free-boundary problems

In this paper we prove the rectifiability of and measure bounds on the singular set of the free boundary for minimizers of a functional first considered by Alt-Caffarelli. Our main tools are the Quantitative Stratification and Rectifiable-Reifenberg framework of Naber-Valtorta, which allow us to do a type of "effective dimension-reduction." The arguments are sufficiently robust that they apply to a broad class of related free boundary problems as well.

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

Reifenberg Flatness and Oscillation of the Unit Normal Vector

We show (under mild topological assumptions) that small oscillation of the unit normal vector implies Reifenberg flatness. We then apply this observation to the study of chord-arc domains and to a quantitative version of a two-phase free boundary problem for harmonic measure previously studied by Kenig-Toro.

math.CA↗
arXiv2017

Structure of sets which are well approximated by zero sets of harmonic polynomials

The zero sets of harmonic polynomials play a crucial role in the study of the free boundary regularity problem for harmonic measure. In order to understand the fine structure of these free boundaries a detailed study of the singular points of these zero sets is required. In this paper we study how "degree $k$ points" sit inside zero sets of harmonic polynomials in $\mathbb R^n$ of degree $d$ (for all $n\geq 2$ and $1\leq k\leq d$) and inside sets that admit arbitrarily good local approximations by zero sets of harmonic polynomials. We obtain a general structure theorem for the latter type of sets, including sharp Hausdorff and Minkowski dimension estimates on the singular set of "degree $k$ points" ($k\geq 2$) without proving uniqueness of blowups or aid of PDE methods such as monotonicity formulas. In addition, we show that in the presence of a certain topological separation condition, the sharp dimension estimates improve and depend on the parity of $k$. An application is given to the two-phase free boundary regularity problem for harmonic measure below the continuous threshold introduced by Kenig and Toro.

math.CA↗
arXiv2016

A Two-Phase Free Boundary Problem for Harmonic Measure

We study a 2-phase free boundary problem for harmonic measure first considered by Kenig and Toro and prove a sharp Hölder regularity result. The central difficulty is that there is no a priori non-degeneracy in the free boundary condition. Thus we must establish non-degeneracy by means of monotonicity formulae.

math.AP↗
arXiv2015

A Free Boundary Problem for the Parabolic Poisson Kernel

We study parabolic chord arc domains, introduced by Hofmann, Lewis and Nyström, and prove a free boundary regularity result below the continuous threshold. More precisely, we show that a Reifenberg flat, parabolic chord arc domain whose Poisson kernel has logarithm in VMO must in fact be a vanishing chord arc domain (i.e. satisfies a vanishing Carleson measure condition). This generalizes, to the parabolic setting, a result of Kenig and Toro and answers in the affirmative a question left open in the aforementioned paper of Hofmann et al. A key step in this proof is a classification of "flat" blowups for the parabolic problem.

math.AP↗