{\L}ojasiewicz-Simon inequalities for minimal networks: stability and convergence

TL;DR

This paper establishes Lojasiewicz-Simon inequalities for planar networks with triple junctions, demonstrating stability and convergence of curvature-driven flows near minimal networks, and constructs an example of infinite-time convergence to a degenerate network.

Contribution

It proves new gradient inequalities for planar networks with triple junctions and applies them to show stability and convergence of curvature flows near minimal networks.

Findings

Lojasiewicz-Simon inequalities hold for networks close to minimal configurations.

Stable evolution of networks under curvature flow converges smoothly to minimal networks.

An example of curvature flow converging to a degenerate network in infinite time.

Abstract

We investigate stability properties of the motion by curvature of planar networks. We prove Lojasiewicz-Simon gradient inequalities for the length functional of planar networks with triple junctions. In particular, such an inequality holds for networks with junctions forming angles equal to $\tfrac23\pi$ that are close in $H^2$-norm to minimal networks, i.e., networks whose edges also have vanishing curvature. The latter inequality bounds a concave power of the difference between length of a minimal network $\Gamma_*$ and length of a triple junctions network $\Gamma$ from above by the $L^2$-norm of the curvature of the edges of $\Gamma$. We apply this result to prove the stability of minimal networks in the sense that a motion by curvature starting from a network sufficiently close in $H^2$-norm to a minimal one exists for all times and smoothly converges. We further rigorously construct an example of a motion by curvature having uniformly bounded curvature that smoothly converges to a degenerate network in infinite time.