CAREER: Fine Structure of the Singular Set in Some Geometric Variational Problems

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The study of Geometric Variational problems is one of the oldest and most fascinating topics in Mathematics. Solutions to these problems describe equilibrium configurations of physical systems and provide canonical tools to study the geometry and topology of manifolds. Physically this can be observed for instance when three soap bubbles merge on a common line forming a corner, or studying the structure of the transition region of an iceberg melting into water. The goal of this project is to investigate the structure of such singular solutions, which is often the major stumbling block in their application to Geometry, Topology and Physics. Central to the project is an integrated plan of educational activities. This consists in the organization of a REU program and a winter Graduate School at UCSD on recent trends in Geometric Analysis. The PI will invite experts in the field for five days stays at UCSD to increase the overall activity of the seminar, expose graduate students to the most interesting results and open questions, and encourage collaborations.This project will focus on two of the most classical and influential Geometric Variational problems: Minimal Surfaces and Free-Boundary problems. Minimal surfaces provides canonical objects to study the topology of manifolds and are a good model for soap films and partition problems. Free-Boundary problems are fundamental in modeling a wide range of physical phenomena, such as phase transition (e.g. the melting of ice into water), flows with jets and cavities, shape optimization type problems and the pricing of American options. Solutions to geometric variational problems are known to exhibit singularities. In the context of Minimal Surfaces, the PI will investigate the regularity of the singular set for Area Minimizing hypersurfaces and for surfaces in any codimension, both in the integer and modulo p cases. For Free-Boundary problems, the focus will be on the structure of the set of so-called branching points for the Two-Phase problem and the Vectorial Alt-Caffarelli problem, and its relation with the set of points of high frequency of solutions to the Signorini problem. This will be achieved refining some new techniques recently introduced by the PI and his collaborators, and by developing new ones, which will have an impact in many other problems in Geometric Analysis. One of the major goals of the REU program and the winter Graduate School is to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to these problems and techniques.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.