An alternative solvability criterion for the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation and an application to the mean curvature flow

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Aiolfi, Ari J., Nunes, Giovanni da Silva, Ripoll, Jaime, Sauer, Lisandra, Soares, Rodrigo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Aiolfi, Ari J.
Nunes, Giovanni da Silva
Ripoll, Jaime
Sauer, Lisandra
Soares, Rodrigo
author_facet Aiolfi, Ari J.
Nunes, Giovanni da Silva
Ripoll, Jaime
Sauer, Lisandra
Soares, Rodrigo
contents We propose an alternative condition for the solvability of the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation that applies to non-mean convex domains. We introduce a structural condition, obtained from a second-order ordinary differential equation, which allows the construction of explicit boundary barriers and it can also be applied to unbounded domains. In the setting of Hadamard manifolds, this condition relates the geometry of the domain to the admissible boundary data in a direct way. In Euclidean space, the condition leads to solvability under geometric hypotheses of a different nature from those in the classical Jenkins-Serrin theory, and in some configurations it applies where the Jenkins-Serrin method does not. A central point of the present approach is that the geometric restrictions and the boundary data enter independently. The same barrier construction can be used for graphical mean curvature flow. This yields short-time existence with prescribed boundary values even when the boundary of the domain is not mean convex. When mean convexity is present, one recovers the classical graphical setting.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_09806
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An alternative solvability criterion for the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation and an application to the mean curvature flow
Aiolfi, Ari J.
Nunes, Giovanni da Silva
Ripoll, Jaime
Sauer, Lisandra
Soares, Rodrigo
Analysis of PDEs
Differential Geometry
We propose an alternative condition for the solvability of the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation that applies to non-mean convex domains. We introduce a structural condition, obtained from a second-order ordinary differential equation, which allows the construction of explicit boundary barriers and it can also be applied to unbounded domains. In the setting of Hadamard manifolds, this condition relates the geometry of the domain to the admissible boundary data in a direct way. In Euclidean space, the condition leads to solvability under geometric hypotheses of a different nature from those in the classical Jenkins-Serrin theory, and in some configurations it applies where the Jenkins-Serrin method does not. A central point of the present approach is that the geometric restrictions and the boundary data enter independently. The same barrier construction can be used for graphical mean curvature flow. This yields short-time existence with prescribed boundary values even when the boundary of the domain is not mean convex. When mean convexity is present, one recovers the classical graphical setting.
title An alternative solvability criterion for the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface equation and an application to the mean curvature flow
topic Analysis of PDEs
Differential Geometry
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.09806