The Singular Structure and Regularity of Stationary and Minimizing Varifolds

TL;DR

This paper proves rectifiability and regularity properties of singular sets in integral varifolds with bounded mean curvature, extending understanding of their structure and providing new estimates for second fundamental form and regularity scale.

Contribution

It establishes rectifiability of stratified singular sets in varifolds and introduces new estimates and theorems for their quantitative stratifications.

Findings

Singular sets $S^k$ are $k$-rectifiable.

Established $L^7_{weak}$ estimates for second fundamental form.

Proved Minkowski estimates for stratifications.

Abstract

If one considers an integral varifold $I^m\subseteq M$ with bounded mean curvature, and if $S^k(I)\equiv\{x\in M: \text{ no tangent cone at $x$ is }k+1\text{-symmetric}\}$ is the standard stratification of the singular set, then it is well known that $\dim S^k\leq k$. In complete generality nothing else is known about the singular sets $S^k(I)$. In this paper we prove for a general integral varifold with bounded mean curvature, in particular a stationary varifold, that every stratum $S^k(I)$ is $k$-rectifiable. In fact, we prove for $k$-a.e. point $x\in S^k$ that there exists a unique $k$-plane $V^k$ such that every tangent cone at $x$ is of the form $V\times C$ for some cone $C$. In the case of minimizing hypersurfaces $I^{n-1}\subseteq M^n$ we can go further. Indeed, we can show that the singular set $S(I)$, which is known to satisfy $\dim S(I)\leq n-8$, is in fact $n-8$ rectifiable with uniformly finite $n-8$ measure. An effective version of this allows us to prove that the second fundamental form $A$ has apriori estimates in $L^7_{weak}$ on $I$, an estimate which is sharp as $|A|$ is not in $L^7$ for the Simons cone. In fact, we prove the much stronger estimate that the regularity scale $r_I$ has $L^7_{weak}$-estimates. The above results are in fact just applications of a new class of estimates we prove on the quantitative stratifications $S^k_{\epsilon,r}$ and $S^k_{\epsilon}\equiv S^k_{\epsilon,0}$. Roughly, $x\in S^k_{\epsilon}\subseteq I$ if no ball $B_r(x)$ is $\epsilon$-close to being $k+1$-symmetric. We show that $S^k_\epsilon$ is $k$-rectifiable and satisfies the Minkowski estimate $Vol(B_r\,S_\epsilon^k)\leq C_\epsilon r^{n-k}$. The proof requires a new $L^2$-subspace approximation theorem for integral varifolds with bounded mean curvature, and a $W^{1,p}$-Reifenberg type theorem proved by the authors in \cite{NaVa+}.