We consider a closed surface in $\mathbb{R}^3$ evolving by the volume-preserving Willmore flow and prove a lower bound for the existence time of smooth solutions. For spherical initial surfaces with Willmore energy below $8π$ we show long time existence and convergence to a round sphere by performing a suitable blow-up and by proving a constrained Lojasiewicz-Simon inequality.
We consider the area-preserving Willmore evolution of surfaces that are close to a half-sphere with a small radius, sliding on the boundary S of a domain while meeting it orthogonally. We prove that the flow exists for all times and keeps a 'half-spherical' shape. Additionally, we investigate the asymptotic behaviour of the flow and prove that for large times the barycenter of the surfaces approximately follows an explicit ordinary differential equation. Imposing additional conditions on the mean curvature of S, we then establish convergence of the flow.
The well-posedness of a phase-field approximation to the Willmore flow with volume constraint is established. The existence proof relies on the underlying gradient flow structure of the problem: the time discrete approximation is solved by a variational minimization principle.
The well-posedness of a phase-field approximation to the Willmore flow with area and volume constraints is established when the functional approximating the area has no critical point satisfying the two constraints. The existence proof relies on the underlying gradient flow structure of the problem: the time discrete approximation is solved by a variational minimization principle. The main difficulty stems from the nonlinearity of the area constraint.
We show the short-time existence and uniqueness of solutions for the motion of an evolving hypersurface in contact with a solid container driven by volume-preserving mean curvature flow (MCF) taking line tension effects on the boundary into account. Difficulties arise due to dynamic boundary conditions and due to the contact angle and the non-local nature of the resulting second order, nonlinear PDE. In addition, we prove the same result for the Willmore flow with line tension, which results in a nonlinear PDE of fourth order. For both flows we will use a Hanzawa transformation to write the fl…
We prove a quantitative reverse isoperimetric inequality for embedded surfaces with Willmore energy bounded away from $8π$. We use this result to analyze the negative $L^2$ gradient flow of the Willmore energy plus a positive multiple of the inclosed volume. We show that initial surfaces of Willmore energy less than $8π$ with positive inclosed volume converge to a round point in finite or infinite time.
In this paper we study the steepest descent $L^2$-gradient flow of the functional $\SW_{λ_1,λ_2}$, which is the the sum of the Willmore energy, $λ_1$-weighted surface area, and $λ_2$-weighted enclosed volume, for surfaces immersed in $\R^3$. This coincides with the Helfrich functional with zero `spontaneous curvature'. Our first results are a concentration-compactness alternative and interior estimates for the flow. For initial data with small energy, we prove preservation of embeddedness, and by directly estimating the Euler-Lagrange operator from below in $L^2$ we obtain that the maximal tim…
This work investigates the formation of singularities under the steepest descent $L^2$-gradient flow of the functional $\mathcal W_{λ_1, λ_2}$, the sum of the Willmore energy, $λ_1$ times the area, and $λ_2$ times the signed volume of an immersed closed surface without boundary in $\mathbb R^3$. We show that in the case that $λ_1>1$ and $λ_2=0$ any immersion develops singularities in finite time under this flow. If $λ_1 >0$ and $λ_2 > 0$, embedded closed surfaces with energy less than $$8π+\min\{(16 πλ_1^3)/(3λ_2^2), 8π\}$$ and positive volume evolve singularities in finite time. If in this ca…
We introduce a notion of generalized Willmore functionals motivated by the Hawking energy of General Relativity and bending energies of membranes. An example of a bending energy is discussed in detail. Using results of Y. Chen and J. Li, we present a compactness result for branched, immersed, haunted, stratified surface with bounded area and Willmore energy. This allows us to prove the existence of area constrained minimizers for generalized Willmore functionals in the class of haunted, branched, immersed bubble trees by direct minimization. Here a haunted, stratified surfaces are introduced, …
The isoperimetric ratio of an embedded surface in $R^3$ is defined as the ratio of the area of the surface to power three to the squared enclosed volume. The aim of the present work is to study the minimization of the Willmore energy under fixed isoperimetric ratio when the underlying abstract surface has fixed genus $g\geq 0$. The corresponding problem in the case of spherical surfaces, i.e. $g=0$, was recently solved by Schygulla with different methods.
In this paper we study the functional $\SW_{λ_1,λ_2}$, which is the the sum of the Willmore energy, $λ_1$-weighted surface area, and $λ_2$-weighted volume, for surfaces immersed in $\R^3$. This coincides with the Helfrich functional with zero `spontaneous curvature'. Our main result is a complete classification of all smooth immersed critical points of the functional with $λ_1\ge0$ and small $L^2$ norm of tracefree curvature. In particular we prove the non-existence of critical points of the functional for which the surface area and enclosed volume are positively weighted.
In this note, we derive a stability and weak-strong uniqueness principle for volume-preserving mean curvature flow. The proof is based on a new notion of volume-preserving gradient flow calibrations, which is a natural extension of the concept in the case without volume preservation recently introduced by Fischer et al. [arXiv:2003.05478]. The first main result shows that any strong solution with certain regularity is calibrated. The second main result consists of a stability estimate in terms of a relative entropy, which is valid in the class of distributional solutions to volume-preserving m…
We study the phase field method for the volume preserving mean curvature flow. Given an initial $C^1$ hypersurface we proved the existence of the weak solution for the volume preserving mean curvature flow via the reaction diffusion equation with a nonlocal term. We also show the monotonicity formula and the density upper bound for the reaction diffusion equation.
In this article, by following the method in \cite{PT}, combining Willmore energy with isoperimetric inequalities, we construct two examples of singularities under mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{H}^3$. More precisely, there exists a torus, which must develop a singularity under MCF before the volume it encloses decreases to zero. There also exists a topological sphere in the shape of a dumbbell, which must develop a singularity in the flow before its area shrinks to zero. Simultaneously, by using the flow, we proved an isoperimetric inequality for some domains in $\mathbb{H}^3$.
We consider the evolution of a closed convex hypersurface under a volume preserving curvature flow. The speed is given by a power of the m-th mean curvature plus a volume preserving term, including the case of powers of the mean curvature or of the Gauss curvature. We prove that if the initial hypersurface satisfies a suitable pinching condition, the solution exists for all times and converges to a round sphere.
We consider curvature flows in hyperbolic space with a monotone, symmetric, homogeneous of degree 1 curvature function F. Furthermore we assume F to be either concave and inverse concave or convex. For compact initial hypersurfaces, which are strictly convex by horospheres, we show the long time existence of mixed volume preserving curvature flows. Furthermore we show that these flows converge exponentially in the C-infinity topology to a geodesic sphere.
We consider the dynamic property of the volume preserving mean curvature flow. This flow was introduced by Huisken who also proved it converges to a round sphere of the same enclosed volume if the initial hypersurface is strictly convex in Euclidean space. We study the stability of this flow in hyperbolic space. In particular, we prove that if the initial hypersurface is hyperbolically mean convex and close to an umbilical sphere in the $L^2$-sense, then the flow exists for all time and converges exponentially to an umbilical sphere.
We investigate the formation of singularities for surfaces evolving by volume preserving mean curvature flow. For axially symmetric flows - surfaces of revolution - in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with Neumann boundary conditions, we prove that the first developing singularity is of Type I. The result is obtained without any additional curvature assumptions being imposed, while axial symmetry and boundary conditions are justifiable given the volume constraint. Additional results and ingredients towards the main proof include a non-cylindrical parabolic maximum principle, and a series of estimates on geometr…
We study the exponential map of group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms on closed orientable surfaces via the vorticity formulation of the incompressible Euler equation. We present an alternative, fluid dynamical proof of the theorem of Ebin--Misiołek--Preston: the exponential is a nonlinear Fredholm mapping of index zero. We extend Shnirelman's rigidity result for the exponential map from 2-dimensional flat torus to arbitrary orientable closed surfaces. That is, we prove that the exponential map is Fredholm quasiregular.
In this article, we continue the work in \cite{GL} and study a normalized hypersurface flow in the more general ambient setting of warped product spaces. This flow preserves the volume of the bounded domain enclosed by a graphical hypersurface, and monotonically decreases the hypersurface area. As an application, the isoperimetric problem in warped product spaces is solved for such domains.
We show that the discrete approximate volume preserving mean curvature flow in the flat torus $\mathbb{T}^N$ starting near a strictly stable critical set $E$ of the perimeter converges in the long time to a translate of $E$ exponentially fast. As an intermediate result we establish a new quantitative estimate of Alexandrov type for periodic strictly stable constant mean curvature hypersurfaces. Finally, in the two dimensional case a complete characterization of the long time behaviour of the discrete flow with arbitrary initial sets of finite perimeter is provided.
We consider the flow of closed convex hypersurfaces in Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with speed given by a power of the $k$-th mean curvature $E_k$ plus a global term chosen to impose a constraint involving the enclosed volume $V_{n+1}$ and the mixed volume $V_{n+1-k}$ of the evolving hypersurface. We prove that if the initial hypersurface is strictly convex, then the solution of the flow exists for all time and converges to a round sphere smoothly. No curvature pinching assumption is required on the initial hypersurface.
A quantitative Brenier decomposition shows that the deviation of a map from volume preserving is bounded by the deviation of the derivative from volume preserving. A study of the matrix nearness problem for $SL(n)$ and $Sp(2n)$ relates the estimate to incompressible deformations of elastic materials.
In this paper we analyse the Euler implicit scheme for the volume preserving mean curvature flow. We prove the exponential convergence of the scheme to a finite union of disjoint balls with equal volume for any bounded initial set with finite perimeter.
In this paper, we construct global distributional solutions to the volume-preserving mean-curvature flow using a variant of the time-discrete gradient flow approach proposed independently by Almgren, Taylor and Wang (SIAM J. Control Optim. 31(2): 387- 438, 1993) and Luckhaus and Sturzenhecker (Calc. Var. Partial Differential Equations 3(2): 253-271, 1995).
We show stability of spherical caps (SCs) lying on a flat surface, where the motion is governed by the volume-preserving Mean Curvature Flow (MCF). Moreover, we introduce a dynamic boundary condition that models a line tension effect on the boundary. The proof is based on the generalized principle of linearized stability
We consider the volume preserving geometric evolution of the boundary of a set under fractional mean curvature. We show that smooth convex solutions maintain their fractional curvatures bounded for all times, and the long time asymptotics approach round spheres. The proofs are based on apriori estimates on the inner and outer radii of the solutions.
In this work we consider the global existence of volume-preserving crystalline curvature flow in a non-convex setting. We show that a natural geometric property, associated with reflection symmetries of the Wulff shape, is preserved with the flow. Using this geometric property, we address global existence and regularity of the flow for smooth anisotropies. For the non-smooth case we establish global existence results for the types of anisotropies known to be globally well-posed.
We consider the volume constrained fractional mean curvature flow of a nearly spherical set, and prove long time existence and asymptotic convergence to a ball. The result applies in particular to convex initial data, under the assumption of global existence. Similarly, we show exponential convergence to a constant for the fractional mean curvature flow of a periodic graph.
We study the evolution of star-shaped sets in volume preserving mean curvature flow. Constructed by approximate minimizing movements, our solutions preserve a strong version of star-shapedness. We also show that the solutions converges to a ball as time goes to infinity. For asymptotic behavior of the solutions we use the gradient flow structure of the problem, whereas a modified notion of viscosity solutions is introduced to study the geometric properties of the flow by moving planes method.
In this paper we establish a new stability result for the smooth volume preserving mean curvature flow in flat torus $\mathbb T^n$ in low dimensions $n=3,4$. The result says roughly that if the initial set is near to a strictly stable set in $\mathbb T^n$ in $H^3$-sense, then the corresponding flow has infinite lifetime and converges exponentially fast to a translate of the strictly stable (critical) set in $W^{2,5}$-sense.
We characterize the long time behaviour of a discrete-in-time approximation of the volume preserving fractional mean curvature flow. In particular, we prove that the discrete flow starting from any bounded set of finite fractional perimeter converges exponentially fast to a single ball. As an intermediate result we establish a quantitative Alexandrov type estimate in the fractional setting for normal deformations of a ball. Finally, we provide existence for flat flows as limit points of the discrete flow when the time discretization parameter tends to zero.
We consider a mass conserved Allen-Cahn equation $u_t=Δu+ \e^{-2} (f(u)-\eλ(t))$ in a bounded domain with no flux boundary condition, where $\eλ(t)$ is the average of $f(u(\cdot,t))$ and $-f$ is the derivative of a double equal well potential. Given a smooth hypersurface $γ_0$ contained in the domain, we show that the solution $u^\e$ with appropriate initial data approaches, as $\e\searrow0$, to a limit which takes only two values, with the jump occurring at the hypersurface obtained from the volume preserving mean curvature flow starting from $γ_0$.
In this work we first prove, by formal arguments, that the diffusion limit of nonlinear kinetic equations, where both the transport term and the turning operator are density-dependent, leads to volume-exclusion chemotactic equations. We generalise an asymptotic preserving scheme for such nonlinear kinetic equations based on a micro-macro decomposition. By properly discretizing the nonlinear term implicitly-explicitly in an upwind manner, the scheme produces accurate approximations also in the case of strong chemosensitivity. We show, via detailed calculations, that the scheme presents the foll…