arXiv research

Using the reformulation in divergence form of the Euler-Lagrange equation for the Willmore functional as it was developed in "Analysis of the Willmore Functional" by T. Riviere (Invent. Math. 174), we study the limit of a local Palais-Smale sequence of weak Willmore immersions with locally square-integrable second fund…

The Willmore energy for Frenet curves in quaternionic projective space is the generalization of the Willmore functional for immersions into the 4-sphere. Critical points of the Willmore energy are called Willmore curves in quaternionic projective space. Using a Baecklund transformation on Willmore curves, we generalize…

An isometric immersion $x:M^n\rightarrow S^{n+p}$ is called Willmore if it is an extremal submanifold of the Willmore functional: $W(x)=\int_{M^n} (S-nH^2)^{\frac{n}{2}}dv$, where $S$ is the norm square of the second fundamental form and $H$ is the mean curvature. Examples of Willmore submanifolds in the unit sphere ar…

In this paper we study Willmore Legendrian surfaces (that is Legendrian surfaces which are critical points of the Willmore functional). We use an equality proved in \cite{Luo} to get a relation between Willmore Legendrian surfaces and contact stationary Legendrian surfaces in $\mathbb{S}^5$, and then we use this relati…

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 surfac…

Study examines surfaces with bounded fractional mean curvature, proving control over local parametrization.

The paper studies Willmore surfaces in 4D conformal manifolds and finds the Clifford torus is strictly Willmore-stable.

New symmetric Willmore tori emerge from Clifford torus in Berger spheres.

The paper proves global existence and convergence of Möbius-invariant Willmore flow in 3-sphere.

Study proposes a nonlocal approximation of the Willmore functional using fractional Allen-Cahn energies.

We consider the $L^2$ gradient flow for the Willmore functional in Riemannian manifolds of bounded geometry. In the euclidean case E.\;Kuwert and R.\;Schätzle [\textsl{Gradient flow for the Willmore functional,} Comm. Anal. Geom., 10: 307-339, 2002] established a lower bound of a smooth solution of such a flow, which d…

We show the existence of a smooth spherical surface minimizing the Willmore functional subject to an area constraint in a compact Riemannian three-manifold, provided the area is small enough. Moreover, we classify complete surfaces of Willmore type with positive mean curvature in Riemannian three-manifolds.

Ejiri's torus in $S^5$ is the first example of Willmore surface which is not conformally equivalent to any minimal surface in any space forms. Li and Vrancken classified all Willmore surfaces of tensor product in $S^{n}$ by reducing them into elastic curves in $S^3$, and the Ejiri torus appeared as a special example. I…

We consider the Willmore functional on graphs, with an additional penalization of the area where the curvature is non-zero. Interpreting the penalization parameter as a Lagrange multiplier, this corresponds to the Willmore functional with a constraint on the area where the graph is flat. Sending the penalization parame…

Noether's theorem and the invariances of the Willmore functional are used to derive conservation laws that are satisfied by the critical points of the Willmore energy subject to generic constraints. We recover in particular previous results independently obtained by R. Capovilla and J. Guven, and by T. Riviere. Several…

We give an overview of the constrained Willmore problem and address some conjectures arising from partial results and numerical experiments. Ramifications of these conjectures would lead to a deeper understanding of the Willmore functional over conformal immersions from compact surfaces.

Let $ X: M \hook S^5$ be a compact Legendrian surface in pseudoconformal(CR) 5-sphere. We introduce a pseudoconformally invariant Willmore type second order functional $ \W(X)$, and study its critical points called Willmore Legendrian surfaces. The fifth order structure equations show that Willmore dual can be defined …

We will study the blowup behavior of a surface sequence immersed in $R^2$ with bounded Willmore functional and fixed genus.

In this work we present new fundamental tools for studying the variations of the Willmore functional of immersed surfaces into $R^m$. This approach gives for instance a new proof of the existence of a Willmore minimizing embedding of an arbitrary closed surface in arbitrary codimension. We explain how the same approach…

We develop a bubble tree construction and prove compactness results for $W^{2,2}$ branched conformal immersions of closed Riemann surfaces, with varying conformal structures whose limit may degenerate, in a compact Riemannian manifold with uniformly bounded areas and Willmore energies. The compactness property is appli…

Study on stability of free boundary Willmore problem using new gradient inequality.

The paper proves inequalities for hypersurfaces in weighted manifolds.

We find analogues of the Willmore functional for each of the Thurston geometries with 4-dimensional isometry group such that the CMC-spheres in these geometries are critical points of these functionals.

We study the generalization of the Willmore functional for surfaces in the three-Heisenberg group. Its construction is based on the spectral theory of the Dirac operator coming to the Weierstrass representation of surfaces (see math.DG/0503707). By using surfaces of revolution we demonstrate that it resembles the Willm…

A new approach is proposed for study structure and properties of the total squared mean curvature $W$ of surfaces in ${\bf R}^3$. It is based on the generalized Weierstrass formulae for inducing surfaces. The quantity $W$ (Willmore functional) is shown to be invariant under the modified Novikov--Veselov hierarchy of in…

Constrained Willmore surfaces are conformal immersions of Riemann surfaces that are critical points of the Willmore energy $W=\int H^2$ under compactly supported infinitesimal conformal variations. Examples include all constant mean curvature surfaces in space forms. In this paper we investigate more generally the crit…

We consider a free boundary problem for the Willmore functional. Given a smooth domain $Ω$ in ${\mathbb R}^3$, we construct Willmore disks wich are critical in the class of surfaces meeting $\partial Ω$ orthogonally along their boundary and having small prescribed area. Using rescaling we first obtain constrained solut…

A neural flow method minimizes Willmore energy for 2-surfaces in 3D space.

This is the first comprehensive introduction to the authors' recent attempts toward a better understanding of the global concepts behind spinor representations of surfaces in 3-space. The important new aspect is a quaternionic-valued function theory, whose "meromorphic functions" are conformal maps into quaternions, wh…

Let $x:M\to S^{n+p}$ be an $n$-dimensional submanifold in an $(n+p)$-dimensional unit sphere $S^{n+p}$, $x:M\to S^{n+p}$ is called a Willmore submanifold to the following Willmore functional: $\int_M(S-nH^2)^{\frac{n}{2}}dv,$ where $S=\sum\limits_{α,i,j}(h^α_{ij})^2$ is the square of the length of the second fundam…

Delaunay tori minimize Willmore energy under isoperimetric constraints.

For a bounded smooth domain in the plane and smooth boundary data we consider the minimisation of the Willmore functional for graphs subject to Dirichlet or Navier boundary conditions. For $H^2$-regular graphs we show that bounds for the Willmore energy imply area and diameter bounds. We then consider the $L^1$-lower s…

Constrained Willmore surfaces are critical points of the Willmore functional under conformal variations. As shown in [5] one can associate to any conformally immersed constrained Willmore torus f a compact Riemann surface Σ, such that f can be reconstructed in terms of algebraic data on Σ. Particularly interesting exam…

We discuss the minimum of Willmore functional of torus in a Riemannian manifold $N$, especially for the case that $N$ is a product manifold. We show that when $N=S^2\times S^1$, the minimum of $W(T^2)$ is 0, and when $N=R^2\times S^1$, there exists no torus having least Willmore functional. When $N=H^2(-c)\times S^1$, …

Minimal existence time for Willmore flow established for smooth and weak Lipschitz initial data.

Motivated by a simple model for elastic cell membranes, we minimize the Willmore functional among two-dimensional spheres embedded in R^3 with prescribed isoperimetric ratio.

The tori $T_r = r S^1 \times s S^1 \subset S^3$, where $r^2 + s^2 = 1$, are constrained Willmore surfaces, i.e. critical points of the Willmore functional among tori of the same conformal type. We compute which of the $T_r$ are stable critical points.

Sharp criteria for 2-varifolds to be induced by smooth immersions.

Magnitude of Euclidean domains predicts Willmore energy in odd dimensions.

Proves strict inequality for minimizers of Willmore energy under isoperimetric constraints.

This paper is a continuation of [TY12] and [QTY13]. We show that both focal submanifolds of each isoparametric hypersurface in the sphere with six distinct principal curvatures are Willmore.

We consider the class of all conformal mappings from a compact Riemann surface into the threedimensional or fourdimensional Euclidean space. A sequence in this class with bounded Willmore functional is shown to have a sequence of conformal transformations of the target space, such that a subsequence of the transformed …

The paper proves a reverse isoperimetric inequality and applies it to analyze surface flows.

Study p-Willmore disks with boundary energies, finding equilibrium configurations.

Willmore surfaces are the extremals of the Willmore functional (possibly under a constraint on the conformal structure). With the characterization of Willmore surfaces by the (possibly perturbed) harmonicity of the mean curvature sphere congruence [Blaschke, Ejiri, Rigoli, Burstall-Calderbank], a zero-curvature formula…

The study classifies surfaces in Berger spheres as Willmore and Hopf tori.

We develop the calculus for hypersurface variations based on variation of the hypersurface defining function. This is used to show that the functional gradient of a new Willmore-like, conformal hypersurface energy agrees exactly with the obstruction to smoothly solving the singular Yamabe problem for conformally compac…

Functionals involving surface curvature are important across a range of scientific disciplines, and their extrema are representative of physically meaningful objects such as atomic lattices and biomembranes. Inspired in particular by the relationship of the Willmore energy to lipid bilayers, we consider a general funct…