Near-sphere lattices with constant nonlocal mean curvature

Abstract

We are concerned with unbounded sets of $$\mathbb {R}^N$$ whose boundary has constant nonlocal (or fractional) mean curvature, which we call CNMC sets. This is the equation associated to critical points of the fractional perimeter functional under a volume constraint. We construct CNMC sets which are the countable union of a certain bounded domain and all its translations through a periodic integer lattice of dimension $$M\le N$$ . Our CNMC sets form a $$C^2$$ branch emanating from the unit ball alone and where the parameter in the branch is essentially the distance to the closest lattice point. Thus, the new translated near-balls (or near-spheres) appear from infinity. We find their exact asymptotic shape as the parameter tends to infinity.