Geometric inequalities involving mean curvature for closed surfaces

Abstract

In this paper we prove some geometric inequalities for closed surfaces in Euclidean three-space. Motivated by Gage's inequality for convex curves, we first verify that for convex surfaces the Willmore energy is bounded below by some scale-invariant quantities. In particular, we obtain an optimal scaling law between the Willmore energy and the isoperimetric ratio under convexity. In addition, we also address Topping's conjecture relating diameter and mean curvature for connected closed surfaces. We prove this conjecture in the class of simply-connected axisymmetric surfaces, and moreover obtain a sharp remainder term which ensures the first evidence that optimal shapes are necessarily straight even without convexity.