On the generalised ideal flow of closed planar curves

TL;DR

This paper classifies critical points of generalized elastic energies for planar curves and analyzes their gradient flows, showing convergence to circles under various initial conditions for all integer m ≥ 1.

Contribution

It provides a complete classification of critical points for all m ≥ 1 and establishes convergence results for the gradient flows, extending known results from m=0 and m=1 to higher m.

Findings

Critical points are round multiply-covered circles for all m ≥ 1.

Gradient flows starting below a curvature-oscillation threshold are immortal and converge to circles.

Flows with bounded length converge to the corresponding circle, even from rough initial data.

Abstract

For each integer $m\ge0$ we study the $m$-ideal energy \[ E_m[\gamma]:=\frac12\int_\gamma k_{s^m}^2\,ds \] on closed immersed planar curves, where $k$ is signed curvature and $s$ is arclength; $k^2_{s^m} := (k_{s^m})^2$. The $m$-ideal energies contain Euler's elastic energy and the Dirichlet energy for the curvature scalar as special cases ($m=0,1$). We completely classify the closed smooth critical points of $E_m$ for all $m\ge1$: they are precisely the round multiply-covered circles. For the steepest descent $L^2(ds)$-gradient flow of $E_m$, the \emph{$m$-ideal flow}, we prove that for each nonzero turning number there is a curvature-oscillation threshold such that every canonical relaxed flow starting from $W^{2,2}$ initial data below this threshold is immortal and exponentially asymptotic in the smooth topology to a round multiply-covered circle. We also prove that every immortal canonical relaxed trajectory with bounded unnormalised length converges to the corresponding circle. We furthermore treat rough initial data of class $W^{2,2}$; such data typically has infinite $E_m$ energy when $m\ge1$. In the small-curvature-oscillation basin, every such curve generates a unique canonical relaxed length-normalised flow, smooth for every positive time, continuously dependent on the initial data, and smoothly convergent to the multiply-covered circle. These results are known in the $m=0$ case, substantially strengthen existing work in the $m=1$ case, and are new for $m>1$.