Second order rectifiability of integral varifolds of locally bounded first variation

In this work it is shown that every integral varifold in an open subset of Euclidian space of locally bounded first variation can be covered by a countable collection of submanifolds of class C^2. Moreover, the mean curvature of each member of the collection agrees with the mean curvature of the varifold almost everywhere with respect to the varifold.Comment: v1: 34 pages, no figures; v2: revised presentation, material of 0909.3253 and 0808.3665 reorganised, parts moved to 0909.3253v2, parts from 0909.3253v1 included, this version now depends on 0909.3253v2, comparison to Hutchinson's second fundamental form added, 40 pages, no figures; v3: introduction and 4.5 revised, 3.8 and one reference added, one reference updated, 40 pages, no figure

Pointwise differentiability of higher order for sets

The present paper develops two concepts of pointwise differentiability of higher order for arbitrary subsets of Euclidean space defined by comparing their distance functions to those of smooth submanifolds. Results include that differentials are Borel functions, higher order rectifiability of the set of differentiability points, and a Rademacher result. One concept is characterised by a limit procedure involving inhomogeneously dilated sets. The original motivation to formulate the concepts stems from studying the support of stationary integral varifolds. In particular, strong pointwise differentiability of every positive integer order is shown at almost all points of the intersection of the support with a given plane.Comment: Description of subsequent work added to the introduction, references and affiliations updated, typographical corrections made; 34 page

Sobolev functions on varifolds

This paper introduces first order Sobolev spaces on certain rectifiable varifolds. These complete locally convex spaces are contained in the generally nonlinear class of generalised weakly differentiable functions and share key functional analytic properties with their Euclidean counterparts. Assuming the varifold to satisfy a uniform lower density bound and a dimensionally critical summability condition on its mean curvature, the following statements hold. Firstly, continuous and compact embeddings of Sobolev spaces into Lebesgue spaces and spaces of continuous functions are available. Secondly, the geodesic distance associated to the varifold is a continuous, not necessarily H\"older continuous Sobolev function with bounded derivative. Thirdly, if the varifold additionally has bounded mean curvature and finite measure, the present Sobolev spaces are isomorphic to those previously available for finite Radon measures yielding many new results for those classes as well. Suitable versions of the embedding results obtained for Sobolev functions hold in the larger class of generalised weakly differentiable functions.Comment: Version initially accepted by Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3). The final printed version will be different. 55 pages, no figure

A novel type of Sobolev-Poincar\'e inequality for submanifolds of Euclidean space

For functions on generalised connected surfaces (of any dimensions) with boundary and mean curvature, we establish an oscillation estimate in which the mean curvature enters in a novel way. As application we prove an a priori estimate of the geodesic diameter of compact connected smooth immersions in terms of their boundary data and mean curvature. These results are developed in the framework of varifolds. For this purpose, we establish that the notion of indecomposability is the appropriate substitute for connectedness and that it has a strong regularising effect; we thus obtain a new natural class of varifolds to study. Finally, our development leads to a variety of questions that are of substance both in the smooth and the nonsmooth setting.Comment: 35 pages, no figure

An isoperimetric inequality for diffused surfaces

For general varifolds in Euclidean space, we prove an isoperimetric inequality, adapt the basic theory of generalised weakly differentiable functions, and obtain several Sobolev type inequalities. We thereby intend to facilitate the use of varifold theory in the study of diffused surfaces.Comment: Awaiting publication in Kodai Math. J. The final printed version will be different. 14 pages, no figure

Some applications of the isoperimetric inequality for integral varifolds

In this work the isoperimetric inequality for integral varifolds of locally bounded first variation is used to obtain sharp estimates for the size of the set where the density quotient is small and to generalise Calderón's and Zygmund's theory of first order differentiability for functions in Lebesgue spaces from Lebesgue measure to integral varifold

Weakly differentiable functions on varifolds

The present paper is intended to provide the basis for the study of weakly differentiable functions on rectifiable varifolds with locally bounded first variation. The concept proposed here is defined by means of integration by parts identities for certain compositions with smooth functions. In this class the idea of zero boundary values is realised using the relative perimeter of superlevel sets. Results include a variety of Sobolev Poincar\'e type embeddings, embeddings into spaces of continuous and sometimes H\"older continuous functions, pointwise differentiability results both of approximate and integral type as well as coarea formulae. As prerequisite for this study decomposition properties of such varifolds and a relative isoperimetric inequality are established. Both involve a concept of distributional boundary of a set introduced for this purpose. As applications the finiteness of the geodesic distance associated to varifolds with suitable summability of the mean curvature and a characterisation of curvature varifolds are obtained.Comment: 84 pages, no figure