Area Quasi-minimizing Partitions with a Graphical Constraint: Relaxation and Two-Dimensional Partial Regularity

Abstract

We consider a variational model for periodic partitions of the upper half-space into three regions, where two of them have prescribed volume and are subject to the geometric constraint that their union is the subgraph of a function, whose graph is a free surface. The energy of a configuration is given by the weighted sum of the areas of the interfaces between the different regions and a general volume-order term. We establish existence of minimizing configurations via relaxation of the energy involved, in any dimension. Moreover, we prove partial regularity results for volume-constrained minimizers in two space dimensions. Thin films of diblock copolymers are a possible application and motivation for considering this problem.