Counterexample to regularity in average-distance problem

Slepčev, Dejan

Annales de l'I.H.P. Analyse non linéaire, Tome 31 (2014) no. 1, pp. 169-184.

The average-distance problem is to find the best way to approximate (or represent) a given measure μ on ${ℝ}^d$ by a one-dimensional object. In the penalized form the problem can be stated as follows: given a finite, compactly supported, positive Borel measure μ, minimize

$$E\left(\Sigma \right)=\underset{{ℝ}^d}{\int }d(x,\Sigma )d\mu \left(x\right)+\lambda {\mathscr{H}}^1\left(\Sigma \right)$$

among connected closed sets, Σ, where $\lambda >0$, $d(x,\Sigma )$ is the distance from x to the set Σ, and ${\mathscr{H}}^1$ is the one-dimensional Hausdorff measure. Here we provide, for any $d⩾2$, an example of a measure μ with smooth density, and convex, compact support, such that the global minimizer of the functional is a rectifiable curve which is not $C^1$. We also provide a similar example for the constrained form of the average-distance problem.

Classification : 49Q20, 49K10, 49Q10, 05C05, 35B65
Mots clés : Average-distance problem, Nonlocal variational problem, Regularity

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